TICKETS are $10 General/$5 Student.

Concerts and events made possible, in part, with support from the Wells Philanthropic Services provided by grants from the John, Anna, and Martha Jane Fields Memorial Trust Foundation, Stanley A. and Flora P. Clark Memorial Community Trust Foundation, and the Florence V. Carroll Charitable Trust, The Esther and George Jaruga Charitable Foundation, the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County's ArtsEverywhere initiative, and the Arts Project Support Grant and Arts Recovery Grant through the Indiana Arts Commission. Special concert event support provided by the Arts Midwest Grow, Invest, Gather (GIG) Fund grant (2022-2023 season).

Our Home Grown Jazz Performance Series presents the J.J. Wright Trio with J.J. Wright on piano,  Nick Sednew on trumpet and John Sutton on bass.

J.J. Wright’s style cannot be easily categorized. Trained as a jazz improviser at the New School for Jazz in NYC, he’s also passionate about sacred music. Palestrina and Bach vie with Monk and Cannonball Adderley as just a few of his harmonic and melodic inspirations. While with the U.S. Naval Academy Band, Wright performed for the President, as well as several other high-profile diplomatic gigs, and with the Caribbean Jazz Project: Afro Bop Alliance, recording and performing with vibraphonist Dave Samuels. The album was nominated for a GRAMMY for ‘Best Latin Jazz Album’ and won the Latin GRAMMY in the same category. In addition to Mr. Samuels, J.J. has had the privilege of performing with Billy Hart, Ike Sturm, Nate Wood, Chris Cheek, Zach Harmon, Mark Ferber, Matt Ulery, and Delfeayo Marsalis.

In November 2016, Wright’s Advent cantata with the Notre Dame Children’s Choir, O Emmanuel, debuted at the top of the Billboard Classical Charts where it remained for eight weeks. He did his graduate studies in choral conducting at the University of Notre Dame and had a fellowship in Rome, where he researched and wrote his dissertation on the early Baroque oratorio while studying at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music and interning with the Sistine Chapel Choir.

Wright became the Director of the Notre Dame Folk Choir in 2017, and has released two albums with the choir: Catch the Spirit, which celebrates African and African American sacred music and They Tell Me of a Home: Celebrating 40 Years of the Folk Choir. When he’s not conducting, composing, or recording, he’s a husband and father to four beautiful children.

John Sutton is a bassist/composer and educator based in Chicago. His playing and writing reflect his belief in the power of simplicity and humor. Over the past 5 years, John has composed for over 15 feature length and short films as well as theme music for multiple web series and commercial projects. He has released four original film scores as albums and was featured as a soloist and composer on the 2020 album Boffo by NYC based saxophone trio The Vine Street Alternative. John has been featured on recent releases by Ryley Walker and Mikel Patrick Avery, he can also be heard on Tammy McCann’s 2014 release Love Songs (featuring Laurence Hobgood), as well as two studio albums with Rana Santacruz. He has performed at prestigious venues such as The Getty Museum, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, NYC Winter Jazz Festival, Millennium Park Pritzker Pavillion, as well as NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series. He is the creator of the web series Bass Solo: a comedy show about what it means to be a musician in today’s world. To find out more, please visit: www.johnsuttonmusic.com

Since completing his studies at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in 2007, Nick Sednew has built a broad career spanning two major cities as a jazz musician, trumpet player and teacher. He quickly established himself in the thriving Chicago music scene as a versatile trumpet artist, equally comfortable in the studio, small jazz ensembles, big bands, pit orchestras and horn sections. He is featured on recent recordings with Chicago Afrobeat Project and Terry Bartalota Group.

A dedicated music teacher, Nick developed a successful private lesson studio at Lyons Township High School in Lagrange, IL. After relocating to Los Angeles in 2013, Nick continued to be an in demand player and teacher. In 2014 he toured the country playing lead trumpet with the broadway musicals “Man of La Mancha” and “A Christmas Story,” as well as the vocal group “Under the Streetlamp.” In Los Angeles Nick also worked as director of the jazz program at Ramon Cortines High School for the Visual and Performing Arts and served as a teaching mentor for the Jumpstart Young Musicians Program at the Colburn School. Most recently, Nick played on the 2015-16 national tour “42nd Street,” and returned to Chicago to continue performing and teaching.