First Web Chat on Jazz at Lincoln Center Website with LCJO Trombonist Wycliffe Gordon - September 21, 7-8pm EST

Jazz From Lincoln Center - the weekly Jazz at Lincoln Center (J@LC) radio program - is pleased to welcome Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra (LCJO) trombonist, composer, and arranger Wycliffe Gordon to its first-ever web chat on Thursday, September 21, 2000 from 7-8pm Eastern Standard Time at www.jazzatlincolncenter.org.

Mr. Gordon is the composer of a new score for the classic 1925 silent film Body and Soul, commissioned by J@LC. The LCJO with Wynton Marsalis and guest pianist Eric Reed will premiere the new score, alongside the film, at the J@LC 2000-01 Season Opening Night at Avery Fisher Hall on September 24, 2000, at 5pm and 8pm. Co-produced with The Film Society of Lincoln Center, this event is also a highlight of the 38th New York Film Festival. For more information on the event, visit www.jazzatlincolncenter.org.

The web chat will offer fans and newcomers the chance to ask questions 'live' to Gordon about Body and Soul, his numerous compositions for the LCJO (including “The Woogie," and “Blooz De Typewriter"), the art of composing and arranging for jazz big band, and his remarkable technique playing the trombone and tuba. Users are also invited to submit questions right now, in advance of the actual event. A transcript of the web chat will be archived on the site for people unable to log in live during the event.

Body and Soul is considered the masterpiece of the pioneering African-American film director Oscar Micheaux and features the screen debut of the influential performer Paul Robeson. The movie centers on Robeson's character, a hard-drinking thief and womanizer who poses as a pastor in a small southern town and preys upon a young member of his congregation.

Jazz From Lincoln Center, and its web chats are produced by Jazz at Lincoln Center and Murray Street Enterprise, New York. Senior Producer, Steve Rathe, and web producer Andrew Rosenblum.

Wycliffe Gordon's most recent album “Slidin Home" (1999) and others will be available during the online chat. To hear samples of Wycliffe Gordon's music, listeners can come to www.jazzradio.org .

Trombonist, composer, arranger, and educator Wycliffe Gordon was born in 1967 in Waynesboro, Georgia. His father, Lucius Gordon, a classical pianist and teacher first introduced him to music, and he began playing the trombone at age 12. During high school in Augusta, Georgia, he was honored with a place on the All-State Concert and Jazz Band, as well as on the McDonald's All-American High School Marching Band and Jazz Band. While a sophomore in college, he attended a master class led by Wynton Marsalis, who later invited him to join his septet. He has performed with renowned musicians Dizzy Gillespie, Al Grey, Slide Hampton, Joe Henderson, Lionel Hampton, Shirley Horn, and many others. In addition to frequent work as a sideman, Mr. Gordon has recorded two albums as a leader, Bone Structure (1996), with fellow LCJO trombonist Ron Westray, and Slidin' Home (1999). He has been a member of the LCJO since it began touring in 1992, and has composed numerous compositions for the ensemble, including several for the For Dancers Only LCJO Spring 2000 tour. Mr. Gordon is also a frequent contributor in J@LC educational events, leading workshops and master classes, serving as a mentor in the annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival, performing in the J@LC Sextet Residency Tours, and more. He was won several recent awards, including Best Trombonist in the Jazz Journalists Association's Jazz Awards 2000, and Trombone Talent Deserving Wider Recognition in the 2000 Down Beat Critics Poll. Mr. Gordon currently resides in Augusta, Georgia, where he composes, performs, and teaches.

Jazz at Lincoln Center is the world's largest not-for-profit arts organization committed to promoting the appreciation and understanding of jazz through performance, education, and preservation. With its resident orchestra, the world-renowned Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and a variety of distinguished guests, Jazz at Lincoln Center celebrates and advances this distinctly American art form by producing a wealth of programs for audiences of all ages. These include concerts, national and international tours, lectures, film programs, master classes, student and teacher workshops, residencies, recordings, publications, television broadcasts, a Peabody Award-winning weekly radio program, an annual high school jazz band competition and festival, a band director academy, and a jazz appreciation curriculum. Under the leadership Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis and Executive Producer & Director Rob Gibson, Jazz at Lincoln Center will produce more than 450 performances, educational events, and broadcasts during its 2000-01 season - its 10th season as a year-round producer of jazz programming. Currently, Jazz at Lincoln Center is building its new home - Frederick P. Rose Hall - the first-ever education, performance, and broadcast facility devoted to jazz, which is scheduled to open in 2003.