Brett Stamps to present music from his debut CD in concert Tuesday, February 20

Trombonist Brett Stamps, a veteran performer on the local scene who also serves as Professor of Music and Director of Jazz Activities at SIU-Edwardsville, is set to release his debut CD as a leader.

In Your Own Sweet Way comes out this month on the St. Louis-based Victoria Records label, and Stamps (pictured) will perform some of the music from the CD as part of a concert by the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Concert Jazz Band at 7:30 p.m. next Tuesday, February 20, at the Sheldon Concert Hall.

Stamps will direct the Concert Jazz Band through his arrangements of jazz standards as well as original material, and the band will be joined by a number of special guests (drawn primarily from the SIU-E music faculty), including drummer Miles Vandiver, bassist Zeb Briskovich and guitarist Rick Haydon, all of whom back Stamps on his CD. Other guests will be pianist Reggie Thomas, bassist Tom Kennedy, saxophonist Jason Swagler, Andy Tichenor on trumpet, and Jim Martin on bass trombone. Stamps' son, sax player and Jefferson College music faculty member Tim Stamps, will also perform.

Tickets are $6 at the door, and copies of Stamps' CD will be available for purchase for the first time anywhere that evening.