Shepherd University will host a Jazz Night at the Frank Center, Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 8 p.m. with the Shepherd Jazz Ensembles and Lab Band, under the direction of Kurtis Adams, and Jazz Combos, under the direction of Nathan Lincoln-DeCusatis.

Adams received his bachelor of music education degree from Tennessee Tech University and his master of music in performance and doctor of musical arts in jazz studies from the University of Colorado. Adams performed with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, Ultraphonic Jazz Orchestra, Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra and the 9th and Lincoln Orchestra. He performed with guest artists such as Joe Lovano, Conrad Herwig, Jiggs Whigham, Tom Harrell, Bobby Shew and Bob Mintzer. In 2005, Downbeat Magazine named Adams college co-winner for Best Original Composition. Adams was visiting assistant professor of jazz studies at Boise State University before joining Shepherd University music faculty as director of jazz studies.

Lincoln-DeCusatis is an award-winning composer whose past and current projects include performances by the Chesapeake Orchestra, Left Bank Quartet, saxophonist Noah Getz, flautist Molly Barth, Inscape Ensemble and the piano and saxophone duo Six Impossible Things. Lincoln-DeCusatis has received the Walsum prize in composition for his string quartet Quinta Corda, a River Concert Series commission for large orchestra and narrator celebrating the 375th anniversary of the founding of the Maryland colony, and an American Music Center CAP award. At Shepherd, Lincoln-DeCusatis teaches composition and jazz piano, as well as several courses including music theory and electronic music media.

The Shepherd University Jazz Ensemble has performed throughout the East Coast and in Europe and is in great demand as a feature band in jazz festivals around the globe. Invited to the world-renowned Montreux Jazz festival in 2003, the Jazz Ensemble played throughout Switzerland and Italy on a nine-day concert tour. In 1999, the band took its Ellington Tour to England and France. In the United States they have been featured at the Longwood, the Blue Ridge, and the East Coast jazz festivals, as well as regional festivals throughout Virgina, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey.

General admission to Jazz Night is $10 for adults; $5 for students, faculty, staff; and free to Shepherd students and Friends of Music MAC Cardholders. Admission and seating is first-come, first-served. Box office opens one hour prior to performance.

For more information call 304-876-5555 or visit www.shepherd.edu/musicweb.