The Western Illinois Museum, in partnership with the Western Illinois University School of Music, is pleased to announce a new series of live music. The performances in the series will take place once a month and will be held on the Museum’s Our Front Porch, an indoor area where, just like with any porch, guests are invited to relax and gather together. The program will be from 4:30 to 7:30 pm and will include a cash bar. There is a $5 suggested donation at the door.
The series was designed by WIU Music Professor, Whitney Ashe, to connect WIU music majors with professional musicians. This program series, funded by the Performing Arts Society includes an opportunity for the visiting musicians to give a performance for the Macomb Community. In 2022, the series welcomes Tito Carillo on October 14th and Alex Graham on November 11th. The series continues in 2023 on March 10th with Chris Madsen and on April 14 with Wayne Coniglio. These world-class musicians will perform with the HAT Trio, a group made up of WIU jazz faculty members Matt Hughes on bass, George Turner on guitar, and Whitney Ashe on piano. Check the Museum’s website for additional performances and changes to the schedule.
This project is supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Western Illinois Museum is located at 201 S. Lafayette Street, one block south of Macomb’s Courthouse Square. For more information, call the Museum at 309.837.2750, text 309.837.2613, or email at info@wimuseum.org. More details can be found on our website and social media channels.
About the Visiting Musicians
Tito Carrillo
Tito Carrillo joined the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign faculty in the Spring of 2006. He is a trumpeter, educator, bandleader, composer, and arranger, and since 1996 he has been a fixture in the Chicago jazz and Latin music scenes. The list of artists he has performed, recorded, and
toured with is as varied as his skill set: Chicago heavyweights Willie Pickens, Bobby Broom, Patricia Barber, and Kurt Elling; big bands such as the Woody Herman Orchestra, Chicago Jazz Ensemble, Chicago Jazz Orchestra, and Smithsonian Masterworks Orchestra (directed by David Baker); jazz greats such as Toshiko Akiyoshi, Louis Hayes, Jon Faddis, and Vincent Herring; Salsa legends such as Andy Montaoez, Tony Vega, and Cheo Feliciano; Latin jazz giants Tito Puente and Paquito D’Rivera; and pop icons Quincy Jones and Phil Collins.
Carrillo has played in some of the most prestigious venues in the world, including Chicago’s Symphony Center, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, and London’s Royal Albert Hall. His work has been heard at international jazz festivals in Chicago, Telluride, Montreux (Switzerland), North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague (Netherlands), and Pori, Finland.
Tito Carrillo released his debut solo album Opening Statement to critical acclaim, and his next solo album Urbanessence is due out in the fall of 2022. Of Carrillo, the Chicago Tribune states, “he has acquired a reputation as a fluid improviser, doubly-blessed with a warm lyric style and technique to burn.” He continues to lead his own quintet in Chicago, as well as being an active guest soloist and clinician at various secondary and collegiate jazz programs across the U.S. and abroad.
Alex Graham
“A careful, lucid improviser, Graham references, with erudition and panache, vocabulary and tonal connotations from Cannonball Adderley, Phil Woods, Jackie McLean, Kenny Garrett, and Donald Harrison, among others.” –Ted Panken, Downbeat Magazine, May 2009.
Saxophonist and composer Alex Graham is an internationally recognized performer and educator who has performed as a leader or sideman with a variety of artists at festivals, clubs, and concert halls all over the world. He has been awarded fellowships and residencies to compose original music and is an Associate Professor of Saxophone at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. Graham’s recordings on Origin Records have been acclaimed by international critics and radio DJs, and feature some of the top jazz instrumentalists in the world. Alex is a Vandoren Regional Artist and a performing artist and clinician for Jupiter Saxophones.
For more information, visit Graham’s website at www.alexgrahamjazz.com
Christopher Madsen
Dr. Christopher Madsen’s credits as a saxophonist include performances and recordings with Paul Simon, Wynton Marsalis, Jeff Hamilton, Makaya McCraven, Michael Dease, Ulysses Owens, Ben Williams, Marquis Hill, Jon Irabagon, and countless others. He is a published composer with Kendor Music, Inc., the UNC Jazz Press, and Walrus Music. From 2008 to 2014, he served as Jazz Studies Coordinator for Northwestern University and is currently Jazz Studies faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago. A graduate of the Juilliard, DePaul University, and University of Illinois music schools, Madsen is also a Vandoren and Conn-Selmer artist and a member of the College Music Society, NAfME, National Educator’s Association, and JEN. He has presented clinics, conducted ensembles, and performed around the U.S. and the world. He is one of the most in-demand and versatile saxophonists in Chicago, maintaining an active performance schedule and private studio. For more information, visit Christopher’s website at www.chrismadsen.net.