For Immediate Release

Date: March 23, 2006 

BLOOMSBURG— Jazz musician T.S. Monk will perform in Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania’s seventh annual Jazz Festival Friday, April 7, at 7:30 p.m. in Haas Center for the Arts, Mitrani Hall. The performance, presented as the final program in the 2005-06 Celebrity Artist Series, also will feature an opening act, the Bloomsburg University Jazz Ensemble, at 7 p.m.

Son of jazz pioneer Theolonius Monk, T.S. is a drummer, bandleader, composer and vocalist who started performing before he was 10 years old. After graduating from high school, the younger Monk joined his father’s trio on tour, remaining with the combo until his retirement in 1975.

He formed the Theolonius Institute of Jazz to honor his father’s legacy after his death in 1982 and is active in creating music education programs. Now recording for his own label, Theolonius Records, T.S. follows the release of his album “Higher Ground” with “Songs of our Fathers,” which reflects his wide spectrum of styles and pays tribute to his father. 

The BU Jazz Festival is an educational experience in which middle and high school bands perform for a panel of clinicians and work with them to improve their sound. Clinics are offered throughout the day for each section of the ensemble.

As the featured guest artist at the Jazz Festival, T.S. Monk will perform with the BU Jazz Ensemble at noon in a program open to the public free of charge. Tickets for the evening concert can be purchased for $10. For details or tickets, call the box office at (570)389-4409 or check www.bloomu.edu/tickets. 

Bloomsburg University is one of 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. The university serves approximately 8,000 students and offers 65 bachelor’s, 18 master’s and one doctoral degree.

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