For release: June 4, 2012
For press information, contact Curt Guenther, 901-678-2843

Bill Easley

University of Memphis radio station WUMR, “The Jazz Lover,” will present its annual “Jazz In June” event the week of June 17-24.  The tribute to jazz will culminate with a concert by jazz great Bill Easley on Sunday, June 24th, 6-8 p.m. at Dancin’ Jimmy’s 310 Beale Street across from the Hard Rock.

Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door.  They are now available for purchase online at wumr.memphis.edu until 4 p.m. Saturday, June 23.  Tickets are also available at The Bookseller at Laurelwood, 387 Perkins Extended, until 10 p.m. Saturday, June 23.  Tickets are not refundable.

Proceeds will benefit the Robert McDowell Fund, established in memory of WUMR’s longtime general manager.

Bill Easley represents the fourth generation of a family dedicated to music.  Since first playing professionally at age 13, he has played with the Duke Ellington Band, the George Benson Quartet, Bobby Short, Isaac Hayes, and other well-known musicians.  He has performed on Broadway for such hits as The Wiz, Jelly’s Last Jam, Swingin’ on a Star, and Fosse.

A master of the saxophone, clarinet, flute, and piccolo, Easley has recorded as a sideman and as a band leader.  He has played with the American Jazz Orchestra, the Smithsonian Jazz Orchestra, and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and he was a guest soloist with the Carnegie Hall Jazz Orchestra in its 1993 tribute to Benny Goodman.

Easley studied at Julliard School of Music while playing the uptown jazz scene in New York City. While serving in the U.S. Army, he played for the Ninth Army Band in Fairbanks, Alaska.

More information is available online at wumr.memphis.edu or from Malvin Massey mmassey@memphis.edu or Rika Hudson rlhudsn1@memphis.edu.

WUMR is the only exclusive jazz station in the Mid-South. Known as "The Jazz Lover," the 25,000-watt station serves listeners within a 60-mile radius of Memphis and now also streams online, so jazz lovers around the world can tune in. Its playlist blends contemporary and traditional jazz with a touch of fusion, Latin, and New Age music. Staffed almost exclusively by students and volunteers, WUMR serves the area with educational, sports, and community-service programming.

It functions as a learning laboratory for students in the Department of Communication in the College of Communication and Fine Arts, providing them experience in announcing, news reporting and writing, talk show hosting, and sportscasting. In addition to on-air positions, students serve in management roles in various departments, including music, production, traffic, news, and sports.