News Release from Northwestern Michigan College 1701 E. Front St., Traverse City MI 49686 Contact: Paul Heaton, 231 995-1019, email: pheaton@nmc.edu Date: November 13, 2008 News Archive

Jeff Haas concert to benefit WNMC public radio

TRAVERSE CITY – The Jeff Haas Little Big Band with special guest vocalist Betty Joplin will perform From Swing to Soul at 8 p.m. Nov. 29 at Dennos Museum Center on Northwestern Michigan College’s main campus. Concert proceeds benefit the college’s radio station, WNMC Radio, 90.7 FM.

The program will feature the music of Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk, newly arranged R&B classics by Bill Withers and Marvin Gaye as well as original music by Haas, a longtime WNMC volunteer DJ. It also will feature Joplin, a Grammy-nominated vocalist, as well as celebrate the concert reunion of Haas and renowned guitarist Ron Getz. Drummer Sean Dobbins, bassist Matt Heredia, saxophonists Bill and Laurie Sears, trumpeter Rob Smith and trombonist Mike Hunter also will be on hand.

For about as long as Haas has been on the musical scene in Northern Michigan, he's also been hosting radio programs at WNMC. It was 1972, while driving across campus, when he heard WNMC playing John Coltrane's Ascension, making him an instant fan and supporter of the station. By the early 1980s, Jeff was subbing on “Jazz from the Tradition” and soon was hosting shows of his own including “Thursday Morning Jazz” and “Mid-week Jazz.”  For the past seven years, Haas has served as host of “Tuesday Morning Jazz” on WNMC.

Haas has radio in his blood: his father Karl is a public radio legend, the first classical music host to be inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1997. Jeff Haas’ musical sensibility owes a lot to his father's dictum that there are only two kinds of music: good and bad. He also owes a lot to the time and place in which he came of age: 1960s Detroit.

“Growing up in the Motor City in the 60s was a wonderful cultural adventure. Detroit was a hot bed of musical activity – a thriving jazz scene, an A-list symphony orchestra and, of course, Motown, which was a dynamite source of energy and inspiration for me,” he said. “Add to the cultural mix that my father was a synagogue organist and those are the blend of ingredients – jazz, R&B, classical and ethnic – that are my musical voice.”

Tickets for the performance are $25 in advance, $28 at the door and $22 for Dennos Museum members. An afterglow, courtesy of Chateau Chantal and Right Brain Brewery, will follow the concert. For tickets or more information, visit www.dennosmuseum.org or call the Dennos Museum Box Office at (231) 995-1553. Photos of Jeff Haas are available upon request.