Stage 8 presents: Jay Hoggard

(WTNH) - Renowned musician Jay Hoggard performs.

An Adjunct Professor of Music, Mr. Hoggard received both his B.A. and M.A. from Wesleyan University, and has been the director of the Wesleyan University Jazz Orchestra for the past 20 years.

The Jay Hoggard Quartet will be performing on Saturday, April 28, at 8pm in Crowell Concert Hall, located at 50 Wyllys Avenue on the Wesleyan campus in Middletown.

The group will be joined by special guests, including Wesleyan Professor of Music and saxophonist Anthony Braxton, percussionist Kwaku Kwaakye Martin Obeng, bassist Santi Debriano, woodwind player Marty Erlich, and harpist Brandee Younger, to perform Hoggard's compositions.

Admission is $15 for the general public; $12 for senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty/staff, and non-Wesleyan students; and $6 for Wesleyan students. Tickets are available online at http:// www.wesleyan.edu / cfa , by phone at (860) 685-3355, or in person at the Wesleyan University Box Office, located in the Usdan University Center, 45 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown.

Jay majored in the renowned World Music program, and toured Europe and played at Carnegie Hall during his freshman year. In his junior year, he traveled to Tanzania to study East African marimba music.

After graduation in 1976, Jay returned to New York City where he was proclaimed "the most dazzling new vibraphonist in jazz" by Robert Palmer in The New York Times.

Mr. Hoggard’s music has touched the hearts and souls of listeners around the world for thirty years.

Jay has performed in special concert collaborations with vibraphone masters Lionel Hampton, Milt Jackson, Tito Puente and Bobby Hutcherson. He has recorded and toured with creative artists such as Kenny Burrell, Dr. Billy Taylor, Max Roach, James Newton, Hilton Ruiz, Oliver Lake, Bennie Maupin, Sam Rivers, Jorge Dalto, Terumasa Hino, Dwight Andrews, Geri Allen, Anthony Davis, Henry Threadgill, Vishnu Wood, Chico Freeman, Muhal Richard Abrams, Sherry Winston, and Ahmed Abdullah; and was a guest artist with the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band. Jay has accompanied singers, instrumentalists, and poets; and has performed with gospel, theater, dance, percussion, and orchestral ensembles.

Stage 8 is presented by Neal's Wood Flooring.