
The free program will feature pianist Steve Allee, bassist Nick Tucker, drummer Steve Houghton and trombonist Freddie Mendoza, the school’s new director of jazz studies who has performed with many of the greatest names in jazz for the past quarter century.
The university’s Jazz Concert Series opens at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 24, at the center with tenor saxophonist Rob Dixon.
A frequent performer at UIndy and the city’s top jazz venues, he has worked with such artists as Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, Rufus Reid, the Illinois Jacquet Big Band, the Count Basie Orchestra and the Smithsonian Masterworks Jazz Orchestra.
Dixon records on the local Owl Studios label and leads the funk-jazz group Triology +1. In addition to working full time as a musician, he directs the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra Youth Jazz Ensemble and is one of the principal organizers of Indy Jazz Fest.
Poet Todd Davis will be featured when the Kellogg Writers Series opens at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 23, at Schwitzer Student Center.
Davis, who has authored four full-length collections of poetry and a limited-edition chapbook, teaches at Penn State University’s Altoona College. His award-winning poetry has been published in journals and magazines while being featured on public radio’s “The Writer’s Almanac.”
More information about the free programs is available by calling 788-3251 or visiting www.indy.edu/arts.