By David West

NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State University Jazz Orchestra will perform in concert Wednesday, March 16 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. Admission is free and open to the public. Galindo Rodriguez conducts the orchestra.

The guest artist for the concert is Graham Breedlove, a trumpet soloist with the Army Blues jazz ensemble, part of The United States Army Band, “Pershing’s Own” in Washington, D.C. Breedlove has appeared as a soloist, composer/arranger or lead player on five CDs with the Army Blues. He also appears as musical director, soloist and composer/arranger on “Voodoo Boogaloo,” the debut recording by Swamp Romp, a Louisiana-music group comprised of members of the Army Blues.

In an effort to promote jazz, Breedlove has presented clinics, masterclasses, and appeared as a guest soloist at colleges and universities across the country, and he has served on the faculties of Towson University, Catholic University of America and the National Jazz Workshop.  He appears on the Hal Leonard Jazz Play Along Series, an educational book/CD series with over 125 volumes currently available in music stores around the world. During the 2008 holiday season, Breedlove volunteered to participate in a USO concert tour of Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan, performing for thousands of military men and women with country singers Mark Wills and Craig Morgan, comedian Louis CK and model/TV personality Leann Tweeden. In 2011 he was honored by his undergraduate alma mater when he was inducted into the LSU Alumni Association Hall of Distinction as the 2011 Young Alumnus of the Year.

The program will include compositions and arrangements by Breedlove and compositions by Tom Kubis, Dizzy Gillespie, Ted Snyder, Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, L. Bonfa, Maria Toledo, George Allen and Chano Pozo.