Renowned Jazz Guitarist Earl Klugh Visits the DSU Jazz Ensemble
9/6/13
With a concert in Dover later in the evening, famed jazz guitarist Earl Klugh took the afternoon of Sept. 6 to pay the DSU Jazz Ensemble a visit and conduct a workshop setting with them in the Education and Humanities Theatre on campus.
|
|
Earl Klugh played his version of "Alfie" for the DSU jazz studentsArriving with his Paul McGill acoustic guitar, Mr. Klugh performed some songs for the students and talked a bit about his life as a musician.
He told the students that his mother wanted him to be a classical guitarist.
“But the problem was I kept jazzing up the classic pieces I would play,” Mr. Klugh said.
The jazz guitarist said he enjoys working with young musicians when he’s on the road.
“I do a lot of traveling, and when I get an opportunity I like to stop and see what the kids are doing,” Mr. Klugh said. “We’ve got to keep the children alive with music.”
Noting he began learning the piano at age three, he said his passions later moved to the guitar. By age 15 he was already in the recording studio, performing on Yusef Lateef’s Suite 16 album. He later appeared on George Benson’s 1971 White Rabbit album and then joined his touring band.
|
|
A photo opp with the jazz great: Dr. Marshall Stevenson, dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences; Jeff East of the Delaware Charitable Music; Earl Klugh; Butch Cannon of Delaware Charitable Music; DSU Associate Provost Bradley Skelcher; and Randolph Johnson, DSU director of Bands.He recorded his first album named after himself, Earl Klugh, and a second, Living Inside Your Love, both in 1976. Since then he has recorded more than 30 albums, including 23 Top Ten charting records – five of them No. 1 – on Billboard’s Jazz Album chart. In 2008, his The Spice of Life Album earned his 12th Grammy nomination.
Later in the evening, Mr. Klugh did a concert at the Schwartz Center for the Arts in Downtown Dover.
The workshop with Earl Klugh was made possible by Delaware Charitable Music.