Martha's Vineyard Regional High School Jazz All-Stars to Perform Opening Set at 5th-Annual Vineyard Vibes Festival  August  4

Vineyard Haven, MA, July 29, 2005 — Vineyard Vibes, the festival presented by Berklee College of Music and BR Creative to showcase the talents of Berklee alumni, faculty, and students, will hold it's fifth-annual event August 4 through 7, at several locations on Martha's Vineyard, MA. Each year Vineyard Vibes raises money to further the music education of Martha's Vineyard students. This year, funding supported an outreach program for Martha's Vineyard Regional High School students to attend clinics at Berklee, study under famed faculty trombonist Phil Wilson, and perform the opening set at the festival, Thursday August 4, at the Martha's Vineyard Performing Arts Center in Oak Bluffs.

The outstanding student musicians, guitarist Niko Ewing, pianist Adam Lipsky, trumpeter David Bouck, and saxophonist Eric Herman, along with recent M.V.R.H.S. graduate Matt Rosenthal, were selected to participate in the program on the recommendation of Janice Wightman, Head of the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School Music Department. As part of this educational experience, Ewing, Lipsky, Bouck, Herman, and Rosenthal traveled to Boston in late July for a weekend of rehearsals, clinics, and performances, preparing them for their performance with Phil Wilson and the Rainbow Big Band. Joining the Martha's Vineyard Regional High School Jazz All-Stars on bass will be Eric T. Johnson, a Berklee faculty member and Vineyarder. Johnson leads the Eric Johnson Quartet, is a member of the group Crosscurrent, has performed with Natraj and Bob Moses, and also recorded a solo album.

"As a result of this music education exchange program, these young Vineyard musicians will not only get to further their musical education, they will have the opportunity to experience what it's like to learn at the world's leading contemporary music school," says Dick Weisberg, Managing Director of Vineyard Vibes. "The Vineyard audience that comes to hear them at the opening night concert is in for a treat."

Phil Wilson is a world-renowned trombonist and director of the internationally acclaimed Berklee Rainbow Band, which he formed in 1965 during his first year on the faculty at Berklee. Prior to that, Wilson was well known as a trombonist and a big band arranger, recording with Woody Herman, Sarah Vaughan, Louis Armstrong, Tony Bennett and the Dorsey Brothers. Under Wilson's direction, the Berklee Rainbow Band has appeared on national television, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, at numerous festivals, and on tour in Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2002, the Rainbow Band performed at the Hollywood Bowl in "Autumn Eve - A Tribute to Woody Herman," which was filmed for PBS. Former student members of the Rainbow Band include Roy Hargrove, Terri Lyne Carrington, Abe Laboriel, Sr and Jr, John Scofield, Cyrus Chestnut and Danilo Pérez.

Vineyard Vibes '05 Schedule:

Thursday, August 4, Phil Wilson and the Berklee Rainbow Big Band at The Martha's Vineyard Performing Arts Center in Oak Bluffs at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $15. The Jeremy Ragsdale Quartet also perform. Martha's Vineyard Regional High School Jazz All-Stars kick off the concert.

Friday, August 5, Eguie Castrillo's Big Band, A Tribute to the Mambo Kings: Tito Puente, Tito Rodriguez, and Machito, at the Hot Tin Roof in Edgartown at 9:00 p.m. Tickets are $25. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. for free salsa lessons!

Saturday, August 6, Juliana Hatfield at the Hot Tin Roof in Edgartown at 9:00 p.m. Tickets are $20, and the show is all ages. Special guests, and native Vineyarders, the Unbusted open up.

Sunday, August 7, Reverence Gospel Ensemble, directed by Dennis Montgomery III, at The Old Whaling Church in Edgartown. 8:00 p.m., tickets are $20. Featured guest soloist will be Renese King. Farah Siraj and Andrea Whaley open up with a tribute to the women of Darfur, Sudan.

Vineyard Vibes is brought to the Island community by The Martha's Vineyard Co-operative Bank, the Vineyard Gazette, Vineyard's Best Ice Cream & Coffee Co., and Jazziz Magazine.

Berklee College of Music was founded on the revolutionary principle that the best way to prepare students for careers in music was through the study and practice of contemporary music. For over half a century, the college has evolved constantly to reflect the state of the art of music and the music business. With over a dozen performance and nonperformance majors, a diverse and talented student body representing over 70 countries, and a music industry "who's who" of alumni, Berklee is the world's premier learning lab for the music of today — and tomorrow.

For editorial information, the media may contact:

Margot Edwards
Office of Public Information
(617) 747-2004
medwards@berklee.edu