Exeter, NH (May 1, 2009)—On Tuesday, May 5,  at 7 p.m., Phillips Exeter Academy will present the 11th Annual Tommy Gallant Memorial Concert in Phillips Church, located on the corner of Tan Lane and Front Street. The concert is free and open to the public.

This year’s concert will feature jazz vocalist Sheila Jordan, who will perform with the PEA Faculty Jazz Ensemble of: Les Harris Jr., drums; Charlie Jennison, saxophone; Marty Ballou, bass; and Ryan Parker, piano.

Remembered as an inspirational teacher, gifted musician and devoted mentor, Tommy Gallant taught jazz improvisation, piano and directed the Stage Band at PEA for 30 years. Although he passed away in 1998, his legacy continues to thrive in the local jazz scene. Gallant held a long career as a jazz musician, promoter and educator, studying piano at UNH and music theory at Berklee College of Music, and later joining the faculty at both schools. He co-founded the annual Seacoast Jazz Festival, directed the Seacoast Jazz Society and for two decades, performed with the Tommy Gallant Trio at the Press Room in Portsmouth, NH.

Through his commitment of promoting jazz locally, Gallant organized the annual Harry Jones Memorial Scholarship Concert, held each year at Portsmouth’s Music Hall; performed and led workshops and clinics at local schools on the art of jazz; and participated in the UNH Traditional Jazz Series. Following his death, the Portsmouth Summer Jazz Festival was renamed the Tommy Gallant Jazz Festival, in honor of his lifelong service to the community, as a musician and an educator.

Born in Detroit, MI, and raised in Pennsylvania’s coal-mining country, Jordan began singing as a child and working in nightclubs by her early teens. Her first great influence—Charlie Parker—began a trend, as most of her musical influences were instrumentalists rather than singers. After singing in a trio—Skeeter, Mitch and Jean (she was Jean)—Jordan moved to New York in the early 1950s, and began studying with jazz pianist and composer, Lennie Tristano. In the early 1960s, as she made her first recordings, including one under her own name and another with jazz composer and theorist, George Russell, so emerged her signature musical trademark of frequent and unexpected sweeping changes in pitch. During that time, Jordan performed jazz liturgies in churches and extensively in nightclubs; however, her appeal was narrow, even among jazz audiences. Over the next 30 years, Jordan’s popularity grew as audiences began to understand her uncompromising style and more of her recordings were released.

Les Harris is a 1983 graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He is a member of the music faculty at the University of New Hampshire, the University of Southern Maine, Phillips Exeter Academy, and the Amesbury Middle School—teaching drums and ensembles. He began playing the drums at a young age under the tutelage of his father, retired Berklee College of Music professor and jazz drummer Les Harris Sr. Harris (Jr.) worked as a stand-in performer with jazz greats Herb Pomeroy, Dave McKenna and John LaPorta. From 1983–95, he was the drummer for the jazz vocal group The Ritz, performing at a variety of jazz clubs and music festivals throughout the Seacoast area, and the United States, Europe, Asia, and northern Africa. Harris has also toured and performed with: the Artie Shaw Orchestra; Diana Krall’s Trio at The Boston Harbor Hotel; the Tommy Gallant Trio; and the late bassist Jim Howe’s Trio. Over the years, he has played with some of the best-known artists in jazz, including Clark Terry, Milt Jackson and Phil Woods. Currently, he is performing with The Kings of Strings, The New Guitar Summit, and the Paul Broadnax Trio.

For infomation on upcoming concerts, see Exeter's online calendar..

New Hampshire-based, multi-instrumentalist Jennison began his jazz career in 1961, playing at rotary clubs and at other local functions while still in junior high school. While attending UNH, he formed a jazz combo, graduating in 1961 with a degree in Music Education. Jennison has studied with such major jazz figures as Jerry Bergonzi and Charlie Mariano. The defining moment in his career came early when he met pianist Tommy Gallant, a teacher at the Berklee School of Music and an alumnus of Woody Herman’s band. Jennison played with Gallant for more than 30 years, and shared the stage and recording studio with such jazz greats as Dizzy Gillespie, Buddy DeFranco, Alan Dawson and Marshal Royal. He has performed on several albums, including backing vocalists Kathleen Kolman and Leila Percy, as well as with the New Age music group Do’ah, and trumpet player Clark Terry. In 1999, Jennison released his first album for Maine’s Invisible Music label, titled Iridescence, which features Jennison’s tenor and soprano saxophone skills. Jennison also currently holds the position of instructor of saxophone and director of the Stage Band at New Hampshire’s Phillips Exeter Academy.

As a bassist, Ballou began his career performing worldwide with the vocal jazz group The Ritz, appearing in festivals and concerts in Europe, Asia and the United States. He continued performing on the road when he joined the Duke Robillards Band and performed in Australia, Turkey, Greece, South America and the United States. Ballou has recorded with such jazz and blues’ legends as Jimmy Witherspoon, Jay McShann and Stony Plain. Since 1998, he had served as a regular session man, performing on recordings in all genres—jazz, blues, folk and pop. In 2002, he joined blues’ great John Hammonds’ Wicked Grin Band.

Growing up in Manchester, NH, Parker began playing the piano at 12, and completed his bachelor’s degree in music at UNH by age 20. After college, he remained and worked as UNH’s director of concert series, working with some of Boston’s greatest jazz musicians, including Gray Sargent, John Lockwood and Herb Pomeroy. In 1998, Parker enrolled in the New England Conservatory Master’s Program for Jazz Studies, and trained with such great musicians as Michael Cain, Jerry Bergonzi and Danilo Perez. He graduated from NEC, and began playing in the New Hampshire Seacoast area and around New England. Parker’s first album, The Music of Maurice Ravel, was recorded in his living room. Shortly thereafter, he recorded his first jazz album, Deep Oceans, featuring Pomeroy on trumpet. This recording was instrumental in Parker becoming the youngest recipient of an artist’s grant from the N.H. State Council on the Arts in 2002. Later, he joined the Jim Howe Trio at the Press Room in Portsmouth, NH, filling the void left by the death of Seacoast-area fixture, Tommy Gallant. Parker also taught Jazz Piano and Big Band at Phillips Exeter Academy from 2005–07.

For further information, please call the Music Department at 603-777-3453 or visit its webpage for a complete list of upcoming events at the Musical Performances calendar page, or the campus website, or call the PEA public events line at 603-777-4309. Directions to the Academy are available at 603-777-4330.