Aardvark Jazz Orchestra (Mark Harvey Music Director) to Appear at Scullers February 16, 2011

The celebrated Aardvark Jazz Orchestra (Mark Harvey, music director) continues its historic 38th season with a much anticipated return to Scullers. The show, Jazz Portraits, is Harvey’s valentine to beloved figures of Boston and his tribute to jazz greats. A highlight will be Harvey’s piece The Lion, in honor of Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Also on tap: Harvey’s works in tribute to Duke Ellington, Mary Lou Williams, Gil Evans, Don Cherry, Jaki Byard and legendary storyteller Brother Blue.

With global distribution of 10 CDs and wide-ranging performances in festivals, clubs, concert halls, churches, museums, colleges and universities, the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra has been a major force in the international jazz scene for almost 40 years. Winner of the 2000 Independent Music Awards, the band is known for its exhilarating concerts spanning the jazz spectrum, from original works by founder/music director Mark Harvey to the music of Duke Ellington and other jazz greats to performances with film, dance, and poetry and collaborations with symphony orchestras and choirs. Now in its 38th season, Aardvark has premiered 120 works and has released 10 CDs to critical acclaim, including five discs on the Leo Records label. Jazz Review (UK) praised the band’s “exuberance, imagination and sheer brio,” while JazzImprov wrote, “the soloists all play with conviction and passion.” The band’s latest disc, American Agonistes, was hailed by Billboard.com as “a stunning hour of music that is in turn beautiful, poignant and raucous.”

Music director Mark Harvey is founder, principal composer and arranger for Aardvark. With more than 120 compositions in his catalogue, he is a winner of awards from ASCAP, the National Endowment, and the Meet-the-Composer-Lila Wallace/Reader’s Digest Commissioning Program. He has performed throughout the United States and in Europe; has recorded with George Russell (Blue Note) and Baird Hersey (Arista/Novus); and has performed with Gil Evans, Claudio Roditi, Herb Pomeroy, Sam Rivers, and others. Dr Harvey is a Music Lecturer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and lectures nationally on jazz and American music.