This year marks 50 years since the first Cameron University Jazz Festival. To celebrate this milestone, the university has invited award-winning trumpeter, vocalist and songwriter Bria Skonberg to join the CU Jazz Ensemble and the Lawton Jazz Orchestra for a night of music on March 10.
Skonberg will perform many of her own compositions during the jazz festival, which begins at 7:30 p.m. in the University Theatre. This year’s event is made possible by a generous contribution from CU Lectures and Concerts.
The Cameron University Jazz Festival is free, but reservations are required. These can be made by calling 580-581-2346, or online at https://www.cameron.edu/art-music-and-theatre/events/buy-tickets. The University Theatre box office is open weekdays from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.
Opening the concert will be the Aggie Jazz Academy Band performing “I’m Beginning to See the Light” and “April in Paris.” The band, which is in its sixth year, is comprised of talented teenage musicians from Cache, Central High, Duncan, Elgin Lawton Eisenhower and Lawton MacArthur high schools.
Cameron music professor JD Little directs the academy band, as well as the jazz ensemble and orchestra.
The CU Jazz Ensemble will open its portion of the event with “When You’re Smiling,” sung by Mvnte July, followed by “Willow Weep for Me,” sung by Winston Hartley.
Skonberg will join the ensemble to perform “Love Me or Leave Me” and “Elbow Bump,” an original composition featuring Ryley Balius on sousaphone. Up next will be the jazz standard, “Dindi,” featuring Lillie Wright on vocals, and another original composition called “Blackout” featuring Skonberg on vocals and trumpet along with Lillie Wright on vocals.
After a brief intermission, the Lawton Jazz Orchestra will take the stage, opening with the Alan Baylock composition “Skyscraper,” featuring trumpeters Brian Francis and Jeremiah Phillips, and then Sammy Nestico’s “Basie Straight Ahead” from the Count Basie library. Skonberg will join the group to perform a trio of her original compositions, “In the House,” “So is the Day” and “Villain Vanguard.” She will close out the program singing the ballad “Stardust,” then closing with her original composition, “Time to Go.”
About Bria Skonberg
Skonberg has been called the “shining hope of hot jazz” by the New York Times. The Wall Street Journal considers her “one of the most versatile and imposing musicians of her generation.” She has been featured at hundreds of festivals and stages the world over, including New Orleans Jazz Heritage, Kobe, Monterey, Breda, Newport and Montreal Jazz Festivals and Carnegie Hall.
A Juno-award winning artist, 10-time Downbeat Rising Star and recipient of the Legend Award by the Society for the Preservation of the Great American Songbook, Skonberg was a 2025 nominee for the European "Academie du Jazz" awards.
Her debut album reached No. 5 on the Billboard jazz charts and her seventh album, “What it Means,” received a rare five-star Downbeat review. Her music has been streamed more 25 million times.
A professional band leader since a teen growing up in British Columbia, Skonberg moved to Vancouver and obtained a degree in trumpet performance from Capilano University. Since arriving in New York in 2010, she has been at the forefront of a revival of classic American music as both a performer and educator, programming concerts and workshops for students of all ages on behalf of Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Louis Armstrong House Museum and Jazz House Kids.
Skonberg co-produced the NY Hot Jazz Camp, now in its 11th year. She is an active member of the Women in Jazz Organization, the International Trumpet Guild, and is a Bach Conn-Selmer artist.
The musicians
Aggie Jazz Academy personnel are Taylor Aubrey and Bianca Bui, Cache, Julian Findley, Central High, Brianna Blazek, Duncan, and Aiden Guitierrez, Elgin, on saxophone; Mia Cardenas, Jacob Griner and Johnny Griner, Cache, Maja King, Elgin, and Braylen Tousant, MacArthur High, on trumpet; and Izzy Cardenas, Cache, and Elijay Samuels, Eisenhower High, on trombone.
Making up the CU Jazz Ensemble are Kyle Daugherty, Cache, Darien King, Duncan, Collin Fallon, Hayley Kousman and Angel Romero, Lawton, and Irmtraud Bryant, Meers, on saxophone; Rolen Mayes, Lawton, on clarinet; Owen Ellis, Elgin, and Nicolas Raso, Lawton, on trumpet; Isaiah Moncrief, Altus, and Tavien Todd, Lawton, on trombone; and the rhythm section made up of bassist Melody Veloz, Elgin, pianist Reece Henderson and drummer Damien Shugard, Lawton, and guitarist Alex Miller, Germany.
The Lawton Jazz Orchestra is made up of Collin Fallon, Ed Hefti, Michele Jones, Megan Levendosky and JD Little, on saxophone; Brian Francis, Peter Garcia, Janette Garton and Jeremiah Phillips, on trumpet; Mallory Davis, Derik Daubenspeck, Pam Francis, Richard Mills and Isaiah Moncrief, on trombone, and the rhythm section made up of bassist K Kay Alsobrook, drummer Monty Booker, pianist David Jackson, and guitarist Steve Story.
PR#26-018
