St. Bonaventure's Quick Center to SparkleWith the Sounds of Holiday Jazz

Combo Nuvo, one of New York’s leading jazz ensembles, will perform a holiday program at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 4, in the fourth concert of the Friends of Good Music season at St. Bonaventure University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts.

This unique improvisational ensemble is composed of some of New York City’s leading jazz artists, such as Dave Schroeder, artistic director and harmonica specialist, special guest saxophonist and Grammy winner Billy Drewes, and renowned arranger and composer Rich Shemaria.

For this performance, Drewes replaces Lenny Pickett, musical director for NBC-TV’s “Saturday Night Live.” Pickett was originally scheduled as one of the guest artists, but is committed to that night’s live airing of SNL.

Combo Nuvo will perform some of the original compositions from the CD “Nouveau Sketches” along with their own arrangements of beloved holiday songs. The group is featured on the forthcoming CD “Christmas from the Blue Note,” recorded at New York City’s legendary jazz club by an array of accomplished guest artists. The CD release show is slated for Nov. 29 at The Blue Note and the CD will be on sale at Combo Nuvo’s concert at the Quick Center.

Based at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, Combo Nuvo combines influences ranging from jazz and classical to blues and world music. Individually, these artists have performed with such music legends as Miles Davis, Ravi Shankar, Elton John, Yo Yo Ma, Paul Simon, Natalie Cole, Randy Brecker and Tower of Power.

A specialty of Combo Nuvo is its collaboration with symphony orchestras around the world. These performances have proven to be a symbiotic experience where the orchestra becomes integral to the compositions. Recent collaborations have included the Orchestra del Teatro Verdi in Florence and on tour through Italy; the Costa Rican National Symphony; and the United Arab Emirates Philharmonic, on tour through the Middle East.

This performance is supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts.

Tickets are $20 at full cost, $16 for St. Bonaventure staff and senior citizens, and $5 for students. For tickets and information, call The Quick Center box office at (716) 375-2494.

For each Friends of Good Music performance, The Quick Center will open its galleries one hour before the performance and keep them open throughout the intermission. Regular gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Museum admission is free and open to the public year round. For more information, visit www.sbu.edu/quickcenter.