Jazz Digs JABA Presents: John D’earth & UVA Jazz Ensemble

Wearing a mask while inside the Theater is optional.

JABA is proud to announce that legendary trumpet player John D’earth, along with the UVA Jazz Ensemble and internationally acclaimed French pianist Damien Groleau, will be headlining the Jazz Digs JABA event on April 28th.

This special concert will include additional special guest performances, including the “Three Tenors,” and hosted by Mistress of Ceremonies Terri Allard.

VIP TICKETS: A limited number of VIP tickets include a special reception catered by The C&O Restaurant and a meet and greet with John D’earth. VIP tickets are $125, and $50 of the price is tax deductible. Proceeds will go to JABA services and programs.

About John D’earth
Jazz trumpeter and composer John D’earth has performed and recorded internationally and appeared on hundreds of recordings spanning the analog and digital eras on vinyl, CDs, film, and video. He has played with many jazz luminaries including Buddy Rich, Lionel Hampton, Gunter Hampel’s Galaxie Dream Band, Miles Davis/Quincy Jones at Montreaux, Tito Puente, Emily Remler, Bennie Wallace, Eddie Gomez, The George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band (European and China tours), Bob Moses, Pat Metheny, Joe Henderson, Clark Terry,  John Scofield, and John Abercrombie, as well as pop stars Bruce Hornsby, Bonnie Raitt, and Dave Matthews.  His career has called upon his ability to feel at home, creatively, in many genres. 

An avid composer and arranger with hundreds of compositions to his credit including full-length works for orchestra and other large ensembles, D’earth has written music for the Kronos String Quartet, the Kandinsky Trio, Bruce Hornsby, the Dave Matthews Band, the San Diego, Atlanta, Richmond, and Roanoke Symphony Orchestras, the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival, the University of Virginia Jazz Ensemble, Doug Richards’ Great American Music Ensemble, and the Charlottesville-Albemarle Youth Orchestra.

D’earth is the Director of Jazz Performance at the University of Virginia where he teaches improvisation, jazz trumpet, jazz composition, and directs the UVA Jazz Ensemble. His career in music is documented in the Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz (Oxford Press) by Leonard Feather and Ira Gitler.

About Damien Groleau
Damien Groleau is a pianist, flautist, and French composer. Familiar from early childhood with the keyboard and improvisation, he studied, alongside the improvised piano, the classical piano with Igor Blagodatov in Besançon. At 16 years old, he won the national contest of Jeunesses musicales de France, as well as the Jeunes Talents contest of L’Illiade in Strasbourg, with his first trio of compositions and improvisations “Sunjazz”. His career on stage began as a teenager with numerous engagements in jazz groups and Cuban music in France and Switzerland (Festival Rencontres et Racines, Montreux Jazz festival).

Since 2004, he has been practicing his profession as a stage and studio musician, drawing a furrow made of very personal artistic projects, meetings, and fruitful sharing. He released six albums of compositions in his name, and fifteen as a sideman. He also lends himself, as a pianist, performer, flautist, and composer to various collaborations for theater, international dance performances, cinema, and or documentaries.

Damien is mainly influenced by the pianistic playing style of Bill Evans, Chick Corea, Errol Garner, more generally by American jazz, but also by European romantic music and Latin music. A musician who “touches everything,” he never ceases through multiple influences to develop a personal voice, unique from the different traditions which he soaks up.

About JABA
JABA offers information and a wide range of services that help older adults and individuals with disabilities remain active in the community.

JABA serves older adults, individuals with disabilities, and caregivers at all income levels in Charlottesville, and Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, and Nelson counties.