UW News

January 31, 2008

Jazz duets in Brechemin Auditorium Feb. 7

A concert of jazz duets is slated for 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7, in Brechemin Auditorium. Faculty artist Tom Collier will play vibes, with guest artists Marc Seales on piano and Dan Dean on electric bass.


Collier is director of percussion studies at the UW School of Music and has performed and recorded with many important classical, jazz, and popular artists in addition to recording and performing with his own jazz group. He is a veteran of more than 50 years in music — his first public appearance was at age 5, on xylophone, and his first professional performances were made as a 9-year-old marimba virtuoso.


Although his primary focus in recent years has been jazz, Collier has continued to perform occasionally as a featured mallet soloist with the Seattle Symphony, Spokane Symphony, Bellevue Philharmonic, Northwest Chamber Orchestra, and the Denver Symphony.


A noted pianist and composer who has shared stages with many of the great players of the last two decades, Marc Seales is a key member of “New Stories,” a much acclaimed trio that regularly wins many critics’ best-of-the-year lists. New Stories’ recording of In a Silent Way, featuring Seales, was included in the Starbucks CD Repertoire: A Starbucks Collection of Unforgettable Piano Jazz (1999). He is also a mainstay in the bands of bop legend Don Lanphere, with whom he has toured Europe and recorded half a dozen albums, several featuring Seales’ compositions. A winner of numerous Earshot Jazz awards, Seales received the 1999 Earshot Jazz Golden Ear Award for “Northwest instrumentalist of the year.”


Dan Dean has achieved national and international recognition as a bassist, producer, composer, and audio and recording engineer.


A member of ASCAP, the Society of Composers and Lyricists, and the Audio Engineering Society, Dean also has made major contributions to music education. He is the author of several books in the Hal Leonard Series for Electric Bass Method and the Hal Leonard Electric Bass Studio Series and has taught jazz studies and electric bass at Western Washington University, Olympic College, and Shoreline Community College. Dean received his bachelor’s degree in 1975 from the University of Washington, where he majored in English composition and literature.


Tickets for the concert are $10 at the door. For further information, call 206-685-8384.