Hope College alumnus Josh Quinlan and his jazz trio will present two events at Hope College on Saturday, Oct. 13: a clinic at 5:30 p.m. and a concert at 7:30 p.m., both in Wichers Auditorium of Nykerk Hall of Music.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
The performers will include Quinlan, saxophone/keys; Patrick McDevitt, bass; and Alejandro Castaño, drums. Of the trio’s latest recording, “The Westwood” in Denver has said, “Quinlan and company come out swinging.”
Quinlan, who is a saxophonist, composer and educator based in Colorado, attended Hope in the latter 1990s as a member of the college’s Class of 1999. He subsequently graduated from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music with a Bachelor of Music degree. He also holds an MMA from DePaul University and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in jazz studies from the University of Colorado.
He is currently a jazz instructor at the University of Colorado, music faculty member at Denver School of the Arts, a P. Mauriat endorsed saxophone artist, director of education for the Colorado non-profit Gift of Jazz, director of the Dazzle Recordings label and co-director of the Telluride Jazz Celebration Educational Program.
Recent performance highlights include a two-week tour of Costa Rica with clinics at the National University and the National Institute of Music, shows at the majors jazz clubs in San Jose (CR), a two week US tour in promotion of the new quintet album (“Mountain Time Standards”) that included shows at the Jazz Education Network Conference and major US jazz clubs, performances at Jazz Aspen Snowmass with Natalie Cole, Telluride Jazz Celebration, 5 Points Jazz Festival, Denver Jazz Festival, Peru Jazz Festival en Lima, concerts with the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra and collaboration with Michigan Poet Laureate Linda Nemec Foster. As well, in the spring of 2012 Quinlan produced a two-day music festival that featured more than 20 bands from the Dazzle Recordings jazz record label in Denver, Colo.
Quinlan has performed with many jazz greats, including Bob Brookmeyer, Jim McNeeley, Louis Bellson, Bob Mintzer, Natalie Cole, Bobby Shew, Steve Wilson, Greg Gisbert, Fred Wesley, Brad Goode, The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Maria Schneider, Claudio Roditi and others.
Nykerk Hall of Music is located in the central Hope campus at the former 127 E. 12th Street between College and Columbia avenues.
The clinic and concert are among several activities that will be taking place during the college’s Homecoming Weekend, which runs Friday-Sunday, Oct. 12-14. Additional information about the weekend, which includes a variety of lectures, arts events and athletic competitions open to the community, as well as reunion activities for graduates from 1984 through 2012, is available online at hope.edu/homecoming.