UW’s Live Edge Trio to Perform With Special Guests Feb. 17

The University of Wyoming Jazz Studies Program will present the faculty-led Live Edge Trio with special guests Steve Kovalcheck and Peter Sommer at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 17, in the Buchanan Center for the Performing Arts recital hall. The concert is free and open to the public.

Live Edge Trio features UW Department of Music faculty members Ben Markley on piano, Seth Lewis on bass and Andy Wheelock on drums. Live Edge Trio writes and arranges music that reflects and builds upon the rich history of the jazz piano trio. Each member offers a unique and distinct musical perspective, which comes together as “hard-swinging, harmonically rich and infectiously groovy tunes.”

Kovalcheck, a guitarist, composer and educator, has a diverse musical background. As a University of Northern Colorado faculty member, he teaches jazz improvisation and jazz history, and also directs a small jazz ensemble and leads the Jazz Guitar Ensemble.

Kovalcheck maintains an active performance schedule in the greater Denver area. He has recorded and toured with Robinella and the C.C. String Band. He has performed with individual artists and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, Nashville Jazz Orchestra and Colorado Jazz Orchestra. Kovalcheck  is a member of the Be3 Trio, featuring Jim White and Pat Bianchi.

Sommer, a saxophonist, has contributed playing and creativity to a wide variety of musical projects, ranging from mainstream bebop to classic and contemporary concert music to avant-garde improvisations at venues across the nation and around the world.

He has released six albums as a leader and is active as a concert saxophonist. Sommer is a Colorado State University music professor and serves as the director of music for the School of Music, Theatre and Dance. He is a D’Addario Woodwinds Artist and performs exclusively on select jazz and reserve reeds on all of his instruments.

For more information, call Kathy Kirkaldie, UW Fine Arts coordinator, at (307) 766-2160 or email kirisk@uwyo.edu.