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Press Release
July 9, 2002
Memphis Jazz Master Gene Rush to Play Monday Jazz Project
Jazz pianist, mentor, and composer Gene Rush is set to play the Monday Jazz at the Afterthought, July 15, 2002, 8 p.m., $5 cover. He will be accompanied during the Afterthought performance by Joe Vick on bass, and Dave Roger at the drums.
Like George Benson, Art Blakey, Kenny Clarke, Errol Garner, Ahmad Jamal, and the Turrentine Brothers, Gene was born and grew up in the Pittsburgh area. He has been a member of the groups of a number of international jazz recording artists, including Eddie Harris, Andrew White, Robben Ford/Quintessence, Lloyd McNeill/ASHA, the Hot Cotton Jazz Band, and he was pianist and music director of The Trio ESP, on Enterprise Records. His recording credits include 23 albums, either as pianist, composer/arranger, or conductor. Additionally, he has performed with a multitude of jazz titans from John Abercrombie, to Attila Zoller. In the spring of 2000 his trio, The Thrio GRT, was selected as a U.S. State Dept./Kennedy Center Jazz Ambassadors group & toured West Africa for six weeks, presenting 23 concerts, 11 jazz workshops and several radio/TV appearances in the countries of Benin, Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal.
In 1981 he assisted Attila in the founding of the Vermont Jazz Center and has been Director of Instructional Programs since its inception. He's been a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) for 18 years and was chairman of the Memphis Chapter's composition/arranging craft committee and served as a member of the chapter's Board of Governors for eight years.
From 1973 to 1978 Gene was Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Denver and for the past 23 years has been a Professor of Jazz and Studio Music at the University of Memphis, ten of these as coordinator of the program, and 10 as coordinator of graduate jazz studies. He took early retirement in May 1998, in order to devote his time to performing and writing. He continues to teach the graduate and upper-division undergraduate jazz piano students at the university.
Dr. Rush teaches Piano/Theory/Compositional Studies as Director of Instructional Programs, Professor Emeritus, at the University of Memphis (formerly Memphis State University). Bio taken from www.vtjazz.org/ed/facultybio.html.
The Monday Jazz Project at the Afterthought is presented by the Arkansas Jazz Heritage Foundation, The Little Rock Hilton, and the Afterthought, every Monday Night at 2721 Kavanaugh, Little Rock, Arkansas, (501) 663-1196. For further information call (501) 228-9999.
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