Exeter, NH (September 18, 2009)—On Tuesday, September 22, 2009, 7:00 p.m., musicians from Phillips Exeter Academy’s Faculty Jazz Ensemble will perform in the Jim Howe Memorial Concert, paying tribute to renowned pianist and jazz musician Paul Verrette. The concert will be held at Phillips Exeter Academy inside Phillips Church, located on the corner of Tan Lane and Front Street. The event is free and open to the public.

Performers will include Les Harris Jr., drums; Ryan Parker, piano; Charles Jennison, woodwinds; and Mark Carlsen, bass.

Harris Jr. studied drums as a youngster with his father, jazz drummer Les Harris Sr., and earned a music degree from Berklee in 1983. From 1983–95, he played drums with the jazz vocal group The Ritz, performing at a variety of jazz clubs and music festivals throughout the Seacoast area, the United States, Europe, Asia and northern Africa. Currently, he is performing with The Kings of Strings, The New Guitar Summit and the Paul Broadnax Trio. He serves on the music faculty of the University of New Hampshire, the University of Southern Maine, PEA and Amesbury Middle School.

Parker is a pianist, recording artist, and educator who performs regularly in the New England area with such artists as: Gray Sargent; Les Harris Jr.; Herb Pomeroy; Dick Johnson; and the Jim Howe Trio, based in the New Hampshire Seacoast area. In 2001, Parker became the youngest recipient of an Artists Grant from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. He earned his master’s degree from the New England Conservatory and his bachelor’s from the University of New Hampshire.

Multi-instrumentalist Jennison began his jazz career as a high school student, and formed a jazz combo while attending the University of New Hampshire. After graduating from UNH in 1961, with a degree in Music Education, he studied with a variety of jazz greats, including Jerry Bergonzi and Charlie Mariano. Jennison has performed with notable jazz musicians Dizzy Gillespie, Buddy DeFranco and Alan Dawson. Currently, he serves as the Academy’s director of Stage Band and saxophone instructor.

Carlsen began playing the clarinet in the school band in Minneapolis, MN. In high school, he played the bass guitar. In 1977, he moved to Boston and enrolled in the Berklee College of Music. There, he studied and began playing the double bass, studying with John Repucci, Bruce Gertz and Bill Curtis. In 1981, Carlsen joined the Tommy Dorsey Band, touring the U.S., Canada, South America and Japan. For almost four years, he performed with such greats as Cab Calloway, Jimmy Witherspoon, Vic Damone and Helen Forrest. Carlsen has also backed such well-known instrumentalists and vocalists as Jim Porcella, Carol O’Shaughnessy, Paul Broadnax and Joel Grey. In 2004, he joined the Ryles Jazz Orchestra, working with musicians Bobby Shew, Marvin Stamm, Jerry Bergonzi and Arturo Sandoval. 

An accomplished jazz pianist and music teacher, Verrette was a native of Dover, NH, who earned his bachelor’s from the University of New Hampshire and his master’s from Boston University. He joined the music faculty of UNH in 1962, and retired from full-time faculty in 1995. During and after his teaching tenure, Verrette served as the Music Department’s liaison to the New Hampshire Library of Traditional Jazz, housed in the Special Collections area of UNH’s Diamond Library. He was instrumental in bringing the Traditional Jazz Series to UNH with his colleague, Music Professor David Seller, and he was a founding member and president of the Seacoast Jazz Society. 

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’ webpage. For more information on other events, contact the Academy’s public events line at 603-777-4309 or visit the Academy’s Events Calendar. To learn more about the Academy, visit our website; for directions, call 603-777-4330.