Purdue Jazz Festival 2013 Guest Artists

Delfeayo Marsalis Octet | Jeff Coffin | Lennie Foy
Purdue Jazz Band | M.T. "Mo" Trout

Delfeayo Marsalis Octet

Delfeayo Marsalis is one of the top trombonists, composers and producers in jazz today. In January 2011, Delfeayo and the Marsalis family (father Ellis and brothers Branford, Wynton and Jason) earned the nation's highest jazz honor - a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award. Marsalis attended the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts high school, was classically trained at the Eastern Music Festival and Tanglewood Institute, and majored in both performance and audio production at the Berklee College of Music.

From the age of 17 until the present, Marsalis has produced over 100 recordings for major artists including Harry Connick, Jr, Marcus Roberts, Spike Lee, Terence Blanchard, Marcus Roberts, Adam Makowicz, Nicholas Payton, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the projects of Ellis, Branford and Wynton Marsalis.

In a tour with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, he was filmed as part of the Ken Burns documentary, Jazz and he was an integral part of Marsalis Family: A Jazz Celebration, a DVD that assembled all of the musical Marsalis' for the first time and was featured on PBS.

As a bandleader, Marsalis has earned wide acclaim for his first three albums as a leader: Pontius Pilate's Decision (1992), Musashi (1997) and Minions Dominion (2006). His January 2011 release Sweet Thunder, his most ambitious project yet, is a modern interpretation of the Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn suite Such Sweet Thunder.

Marsalis has also been long involved in work as an educator. In 2004, he earned an MA in jazz performance at the University of Louisville and was conferred a doctorate by New England College in 2009. He lectured in schools in 1995 on behalf of the Dallas Opera and the Bravo cable network. Marsalis served as director of the Foundation for Artistic and Musical Excellence summer program in Lawrenceville, New Jersey (1998-2002), founded the Uptown Music Theatre in 2000, and implemented its Kidstown After School in three New Orleans grammar schools in 2009. He has composed over 80 songs that help introduce kids to jazz.

Jeff Coffin

Jeff Coffin is an internationally recognized saxophonist, bandleader, composer and educator and has been traveling the globe since the late 20th Century. He is a 3x Grammy Award winner from Bela Fleck & the Flecktones and played with them from 1997-2010. In July 2008, Jeff began touring with Dave Matthews Band, and officially joined the group in 2009 following the tragic passing of founding member LeRoi Moore. When not on the road with DMB, Coffin fronts his own group, Jeff Coffin & the Mu'tet.

Some of the artists Coffin has shared the stage and the recording studio include a “who's who” of musicians such asBela Fleck & the Flecktones, Dave Matthews Band, Branford Marsalis, Bob Mintzer, DJ Logic, New Orleans Social Club, Maceo Parker, McCoy Tyner, Baaba Maal, Phish, Mike Clark's Prescription Trio, Galactic, Kirk Whalum, My Morning Jacket, Widespread Panic, Chris Thile, Willie Nelson, Chester Thompson, Garth Brooks, Van Morrison, J.D. Souther, Vinnie Colaiuta, The Dixie Chicks, ‘Rakalam' Bob Moses, Stanton Moore, Brooks and Dunn, Tuvan Throat Singers - the Alash Ensemble & Konger Ol Ondar, George Porter Jr., Umphrey's McGee, Del McCoury, John Scofield, Yonder Mountain String Band, Marc Broussard, Martina McBride, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Wailersand many, many others.

Jeff is a heavily in-demand clinician, a Yamaha Performing Artist and, since 2001, has presented nearly 300 solo and Mu'tet music clinics from Farmington, Maine to Perth, Australia to students of all ages to raving reviews.

Living in Nashville, TN since 1991, Coffin graduated with a music education degree from the prestigious University of North Texas in 1990 where he played in the acclaimed One O'Clock Lab Band. He also studied with sax great Joe Lovano on a National Endowment for the Arts grant.

Lennie Foy

Leonard Foy is Professor of Trumpet at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana where his duties include teaching trumpet, jazz history, jazz combo, jazz improvisation, trumpet pedagogy, brass quintet, and brass techniques. Lennie, a university teacher since 1985, began this profession while pursuing doctoral studies in brass pedagogy at the Indiana University School of Music and completion of his Bachelor Degree, Master Degree, and the Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music. His trumpet teachers include Charles Gorham, Barbara Butler, Vincent DiMartino, Louis Davidson, and Stanley Friedman. His jazz instructors include David Baker, Ray Wright, Bill Dobbins, and Raymond Ricker.

In addition to an engaging role as university professor, Lennie maintains an active professional career in jazz and classical performance arts as a trumpeter and clinician. His recorded trumpet performances include membership with the Nashville Symphony and Pops Orchestras, Nashville Opera, Lafayette Symphony Orchestra, New Brass Quintet, Stones River Chamber Players, Columbus Jazz Orchestra, and the Arts Center Jazz Collective. His solo appearances include concerto performance tours with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra and Indianapolis Philharmonic Orchestra, various works with numerous high school and college ensembles, and featured solos in recent CD recordings with the DePauw University Band and the Hal Leonard Jazz Orchestra conducted by John Clayton. As a freelance musician he has performed in major venues including the Kennedy Center, Pori International Brass Festival, and the Spoleto Music Festival and accompanied artists including Joe Williams, Oscar Peterson, Quincy Jones, Al Jarreau, James Moody, and Roland Hanna. He continually records and tours as a member of the internationally acclaimed Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra (since 1991) and the Brass Band of Battle Creek (since 2003).

During the summer months he serves as trumpet faculty of Birch Creek Music Academy, Interlochen Arts Camp, and the Shell Lake Arts and Education Center. Mr. Foy is a Conn-Selmer clinician with recent clinician appearances including the Ravinia Festival, Interlochen Arts Academy, Tennessee Music Educators Conference, Ohio International Trumpet Guild Conference, Purdue University Jazz Festival, and the Illinois (Chicago area) Honors Jazz Festival.

Purdue Jazz Band

Known internationally, the Purdue Jazz Band boasts a long and rich tradition of performing with some of the top artists in jazz today. It travels extensively each year and has twice performed at the Montreux International Jazz Festival in Switzerland with the last time in July 2000. That summer it topped all jazz bands in competition at the Alpine International Jazz Festival in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, and played club gigs in Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands.

In April 2005 the Purdue Jazz Band was invited to participate in the North Texas Jazz Festival. In February 2008 it was invited to perform in Naples, FL, and in May 2008 it made a two-week tour of Italy. Each February the band competes at the Elmhurst Jazz Festival in the Chicago area.

Each January, Purdue University Bands, hosts the three-day Purdue Jazz Festival. Among the many guest artists to appear with the Purdue Jazz Band are Bill Watrous, Freddie Hubbard, Howie Smith, Denis DeBlasio, Ed Shaughnessy, Marvin Stamm, Cecil Bridgewater, Gary Burton, Allen Vizzutti, Chris Vadala, Howard Levy, Conrad Herwig, Terell Stafford, Jim Pugh, Ingrid Jensen, Teri Lyne Carrington, James Williams, Bob Mintzer, Michael Philip Mossman, Steve Weist, Bobby Watson, Claudio Roditi, Dave Samuels, Eric Marienthal, Steve Houghton, Gary Smulyan, Ryan Cohan, The Jazz Ambassadors of the U.S. Army Band, Eddie Daniels, Dave Holland and Mark Colby.

M.T. "Mo" Trout

Director of Purdue Jazz Band and Festival Coordinator

Dr. Marion T. "Mo" Trout, Assistant Professor of Bands, has been the director of the Purdue Jazz Band and coordinator of Purdue's Jazz Studies Program as well as the Purdue Jazz Festival since 1996. His Doctor of Musical Arts degree (Trumpet Performance, 1991) is from the University of North Texas. His master's degree (also from the University of North Texas) is in Music Education, as is his bachelor's degree which is from Texas Christian University.

Trout performs as a free-lance trumpeter in jazz and classical settings throughout Indiana and leads his own popular jazz quintet. Trout has directed All-State Jazz Bands in Indiana and Oklahoma, and is an active clinician, adjudicator, soloist and guest conductor for jazz bands, concert bands and orchestras throughout the Midwest and Southwest.