HOUGHTON — Join us backstage at the Rozsa Center, where Michigan Tech’s three jazz ensembles will perform music from Jazz’s storied history, as well as works written and performed in the last decade. The stage of the Rozsa is transformed into an historic jazz club with vintage atmosphere, complete with café tables and a cash bar. The intimate club atmosphere is a perfect setting for the Workshop Big Band, Research & Development (R&D) Big Band, and the Jazz Lab Band to loosen the reins on creativity and capture the flow of jazz. Join Michigan Tech’s new Director of Jazz Studies, Adam Meckler, and the Michigan Tech Jazz ensembles for Backstage Jazz: Jazz as Protest Music, at the Rozsa Friday and Saturday night, Oct. 11 & 12, 7:30 p.m. Works featured will include those by Sonny Rollins, Dave Douglas, Rebirth Brass Band, Count Basie, Max Roach, Billie Holiday, and Tech’s new Director of Jazz Studies Adam Meckler.

“Jazz as Protest Music” will be explored by Michigan Technological University’s premier big band: The Jazz Lab Band.

“Indeed, it is impossible to separate Jazz from the social and political movements that happen around it. Not long ago, lynching was read about in the Sunday paper, and armed forces were employed to help safely integrate segregated schools.” Meckler said. “Jazz was there to help us process America’s transition from slavery to freedom for enslaved Africans. A process that continues to this day. Still, America shines a bright light, and is a beacon of hope for people all over the world. This country that we love is complicated. Multifaceted. Horrifying. Beautiful. It is our intention to acknowledge and learn from America’s past through the medium of Jazz.”



Tickets for Backstage Jazz at the Rozsa are on sale now, $15 for adults, $5 for youth, and no charge for Michigan Tech students with the Experience Tech fee, available by phone at (906) 487-2073, online at mtu.edu/rozsa, in person at the Central Ticketing Office or at the Rozsa Box Office the evening of the performance. Please note the Rozsa Box Office only opens two hours prior to performances.