FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 23, 2024

ADAM SCHROEDER & MARK MASTERS CELEBRATE ALBUM RELEASE AT VIC’S LAS VEGAS MARCH 4

WHO:             Baritone saxophonist, bandleader, and UNLV Professor Adam Schroeder and composer/arranger Mark Masters will perform to celebrate the recent release of CT!, their new album featuring thirteen tunes in the Basie/Ellington/Strayhorn style, all composed by renowned trumpeter Clark Terry.

All About Jazz’ Pierre Giroux states, “In jazz, where the past intertwines with the present and the future, few figures were as influential as the legendary trumpeter Clark Terry. During his playing career, he developed a creative, bouncy style with an irrepressible rhythmic verve that was entirely his own. The album CT! with baritone saxophonist Adam Schroeder and arranger Mark Masters serves as a heartfelt homage to this jazz icon, presenting fresh and invigorating arrangements of 13 Clark Terry originals skillfully performed by a 12-piece ensemble.”

WHEN:            Monday, March 4, 2024, 7 p.m.

No cover. No minimum purchase required. Reservations are encouraged.

WHERE:         Vic’s Las Vegas
355 Promenade Place in Symphony Park

ABOUT ADAM SCHROEDER
Baritone Saxophonist Adam Schroeder has established his influence as a major voice and force within the global jazz community becoming the first call for a multitude of musical situations in addition to his dedication and devotion towards extensive educational outreach. Schroeder’s third release as a leader, “CT! Adam Schroeder & Mark Masters celebrate Clark Terry,” (CAPRI 2024) was released on Jan. 19, 2024, and is already gaining critical acclaim around the globe. His debut release, “A Handful of Stars,” (CAPRI 2010) reached #10 on the JazzWeek Radio Chart and was also recognized as one of the “Top 100 Releases for 2010.”  “Let’s,” (CAPRI 2014) his second release as a leader was recognized by the JazzWeek National Jazz Radio Chart as one of the “Top 100 Releases for 2014.” Holding a BM in Jazz Studies from Texas State University, San Marcos and a MM in Jazz Studies from the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music, California State University, Long Beach, Schroeder presently serves as an Associate Professor of Jazz & Commercial Music at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and was just awarded the States Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) 2023 Regents’ Award for Creative Activities. Earlier that same year, Schroeder was awarded an “Project Grant for Artists” from the Nevada Arts Council.  In 2022, he was also awarded UNLV’s “Charles Vanda Award for the Excellence in the Arts.”

As a Yamaha Artist, a D’Addario Reeds Artist and a Capri Records Artist, Adam; voted a “Rising Star” on the Baritone Saxophone in Down Beat Magazine’s 59^th, 63^rd, 64^th, 65^th, 66^th, 67^th, 70^th and 71^st Annual Critic’s Poll and furthermore recognized in Down Beat Magazine’s 76^th, 79^th, 80^th, 82^nd and 84^th Annual Reader’s Polls, regularly leads his own quartet performing throughout the nation in addition to serving as a guest artist and clinician for jazz camps and festivals around the globe.  Recently John Beasley’s MONK’estra, one of the many large ensembles Adam is a core and featured member of, was up for their 7^th and 8^th Grammy nominations.  These nominations resulted in a 2021 Grammy Win for this ensemble.  Mr. Schroeder is also the former Director of the School of Jazz at the Nevada School of the Arts.  Performance highlights include contributions to many GRAMMY-Award winning and nominated albums, playing with Lady Gaga’s “Jazz & Piano Shows,” Quincy Jones, the Los Angeles & Las Vegas Philharmonic’s, the Ray Charles Orchestra, Vince Mendoza, Chucho Valdés, Michael Bublé, John Beasley’s MONK’estra, the Bob Mintzer Big Band, the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, the Count Basie Orchestra and with Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band amongst others.  Schroeder can also be recognized for his network television appearances on NBC’s “The Voice,” “X-Factor,” “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “The Ellen DeGeneres Show;” ABC’s “The Middle,” FOX’s “American Idol,” Disney’s “Dodo Beach,” “Elena of Avalor” and “Tangled,” Showtime’s “Penny Dreadful,” the 64^th Annual Grammy Awards, the 20^th Annual Latin Grammy Awards and in film credits including “Let Them All Talk,” “Storks,” “The Good Dinosaur,” “Purl,” “Small Town Crime,” “SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run,” and “Own The Room.”  Schroeder created and curated three seasons of the concert series “Journey Through Jazz” at the Las Vegas Clark County Library District in conjunction with the Las Vegas Jazz Society, the Jazz Education Network, the Nevada School of the Arts, and the Clark County School District.  Schroeder recently completed the 16-day European tour with the Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orchestra featuring B-3 organist Akiko Tsuruga.  Other highlighted performances from 2023 include the Lady Gaga Jazz & Piano Shows; the Lou Ruvo ‘Power of Love, Keep the Memory Alive’ Gala; the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra at Walt Disney Concert Hall, at CSUN, at Hitkor Studios featuring Haley Reinhart, and at the Hollywood Bowl featuring Diana Krall; the Latin Music Awards; and Vince Mendoza with Luciana Souza at the Ford Amphitheatre.  For more information, please visit www.lowblowschroe.com.

ABOUT MARK MASTERS

Mark Masters is an inventive and prolific composer and arranger from southern California.  He organized his first ensemble in 1982.  In 1990, Masters wrote the album PRIESTESS (Capri 74031) to feature Billy Harper and Jimmy Knepper.  A subsequent recording with Knepper, THE JIMMY KNEPPER SONGBOOK (Focus 1001, 1993) featured arrangements by Masters of Knepper’s compositions.

The most recent recording by Masters, OUR METIER (Capri 74150, 2018), features Andrew Cyrille, Oliver Lake, Gary Foster, Mark Turner, Tim Hagans, Putter Smith, and Dave Woodley in a large ensemble setting.  Michael Ullman calls OUR METIER “…an eclectic and beautifully accomplished big band recording that is made up of, for once, Masters’ originals.” DOWNBEAT magazine awarded the recording four stars in its December 2018 issue.  FAREWELL WALTER DEWEY REDMAN (Capri 74089, 2008) features Masters’ “in and out” approach and re-casts Dewey Redman’s music while retaining its substance.  The project features Oliver Lake, Tim Hagans, Dave Carpenter, and Peter Erskine. Other recordings include WISH ME WELL (Capri 74078, 2005), with Steve Kuhn, Gary Smulyan, Gary Foster, and Tim Hagans, EXPLORATION (Capri 74068, 2004) with Grachan Moncur III’s octet arranged by Masters, ONE DAY WITH LEE (Capri 74064, 2004) featuring alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, and THE CLIFFORD BROWN PROJECT (Capri 74059, 2003) featuring Jack Montrose, Gary Smulyan, Tim Hagans, Cecilia Coleman, and Joe La Barbera. In addition, in 2013 Capri released two recordings, ELLINGTON SAXOPHONE ENCOUNTERS (Capri 74118), and EVERYTHING YOU DID: THE MUSIC OF WALTER BECKER & DONALD FAGEN (Capri 74123).  Released in 2017, BLUE SKYLIGHT (Capri 74143) features Masters’ innovative ensemble writing and unique approach to the music of Gerry Mulligan and Charles Mingus.  In 2008, Masters wrote the arrangements for Gary Smulyan’s Reservoir Music (195) release THE JAZZ SOUL OF FRANKIE LAINE.

Masters’ 2005 recording PORGY AND BESS…REDEFINED! (Capri 74069) is a more harmonically adventurous approach to Gershwin’s classic folk opera than what has come before.  John Kelman, writing for All About Jazz said “…Masters’ score is the real star here.  From the opening fanfare he introduces two contrasting elements that, to a large part, define the approach to the whole suite-vibrant swing and some surprisingly free passages.  He clearly proves that it’s possible to take a piece that has been approached from a variety of angles and still find a new way in.”

Since 1998, Masters has been president of The American Jazz Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to the enrichment and enhancement of the appreciation of jazz.  Under Masters’ direction, the AJI supports activities that educate and expose the public to jazz through live performance and an oral history project, as well as by supporting charitable endeavors that advance jazz music.  One such endeavor is the AJI’s FIND YOUR OWN VOICE mentoring program that takes professional musicians to middle and upper school campuses to present clinics and master classes to student musicians.  Masters is currently teaching beginning instrumental music in the Temecula, California schools and volunteering at Eagle Rock High School in Los Angeles, teaching a beginning jazz ensemble.

From 1999 through 2006, Masters was a guest lecturer at Claremont McKenna College involved with the History of Jazz class (ID 109) overseeing an oral history project and writing for and producing a series of concerts that brought such notable artists to the college as Billy Harper, Billy Hart, Bennie Maupin, Rufus Reid, Sam Rivers, Andrew Cyrille, Mark Turner, Gary Foster, Lee Konitz, Jack Montrose, John La Porta, Tim Hagans, Gary Smulyan, Ray Drummond, Steve Kuhn, Peter Erskine, Joe La Barbera, Ted Brown, Grachan Moncur III, Henry Grimes, and Dewey Redman.

In DOWNBEAT magazine’s annual critics poll during the early 2000s, Masters was among those named in the RISING STAR: ARRANGER category.

ABOUT VIC’S LAS VEGAS

Created by Porchlight Hospitality in 2023, Vic’s Las Vegas is located in Symphony Park at 355 Promenade Place. Open seven days a week, Vic’s features Italian-American cuisine, a full-service bar, gaming, and live entertainment nightly. Reservations can be made by calling 725-755-5299 or visit vicslasvegas.com. Follow on Instagram @vicslasvegas.

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MEDIA CONTACT:

Hillary Smoot, SRO PR
310-367-9056
Hillary@sropr.com