The University of Minnesota Jazz Ensemble I, directed by Dean Sorenson, and Jazz Combo I, directed by Phil Hey, will present a concert of music associated with the great drummer and bandleader Art Blakey on Thursday Oct. 13, at 7:30 p.m. Sponsored by the Twin Cities Jazz Society as part of its “Jazz from J to Z” series, the concert will be held at the Ted Mann Concert Hall, 2128 South Fourth Street in Minneapolis. Admission is free.

  Art Blakey was a towering figure in jazz, leading one of the most influential and longest-running groups in jazz history, The Jazz Messengers. The list of alumni from the group that many called “The University of Art Blakey” includes Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Curtis Fuller, Benny Golson, Bobby Watson, and Wynton Marsalis. The Messengers always featured original compositions written by band members. Blakey himself drove the group with his powerful style of drumming.

by Andrea Canter

  Minnesota’s “First Family of Music” is now four generations deep, and at least three generations will be represented when the TCJS “Jazz from J to Z” season opens with the Peterson Family and “Our Love Is Here to Stay” at the Schneider Theater in the Bloomington Center for the Arts Sept. 25, at 2 p.m. Co-sponsored with the Bloomington Center of Arts as part of its 2011-2012 concert season, this concert celebrates the music of the Gershwins and the talents of matriarch Jeanne Arland Peterson, offspring Patty, Linda and Billy Peterson, Russ Peterson, and grandson Isaac.