When looking to showcase the next generation of jazz stars, “I Love Jazz” turned to the University of Missouri-St. Louis and selected bassist Charles Clements for their first student musician profile. The show, on HEC-TV, first featured the new segment, “Rising Stars of Jazz,” on March 11.
Jim Widner, director of jazz studies at UMSL, pointed out that the university has many “wonderful, talented students in this program,” but he agreed Clements’ talent was special.
“Charles Clements is kind of the cream rising to the top, if you will, and I do believe you’re going to be hearing from him in the future,” Widner said on “I Love Jazz.”
As for Clements, a sophomore music major at UMSL, he looks forward to his future as a musician.
“I’d like to be out on the scene playing in different clubs, and hopefully people know me and maybe buy my records one day,” he said during the segment.
But there’s no need to wait to see Clements perform. He’ll play bass with the UMSL Jazz Ensemble & Jazz Lab Band at their concert at 7:30 p.m. March 18 in Anheuser-Bush Performance Hall at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center, and during the UMSL Jazz Combos Concert at 7:30 p.m. March 25 in the E. Desmond and Mary Ann Lee Theater at the Touhill. Both concerts are free and open to the public.
Call 314-516-5980 for more information.
Repeat airings of the “I Love Jazz” segment featuring Clements will air at 8 p.m. Thursdays and Saturdays through March and April. Subscribers to Charter Cable can view the show on channel 26; AT&T U-verse subscribers can view it on channel 99.
More information:
http://www.umsl.edu/~umslmusic/
http://www.umsl.edu/~umslmusic/bios/widner.html
http://www.hectv.org/
Pictured is Charles Clements, sophomore music major at UMSL and one of HEC-TV's "Rising Stars of Jazz."
