Gilbert Castellanos and Band
to Present Benefit Concert,
Miles Ahead, Jan. 27 at UC San Diego

January 9, 2008

By Jan Jennings

Trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos and his six-piece band, including saxophonist Charles McPherson, will present Miles Ahead, a concert celebrating the music and life of American jazz pioneer Miles Davis, at 4 p.m. Jan. 27 in the Ida and Cecil Green Faculty Club at the University of California San Diego.

San Diego trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos

The concert is open to the public and will benefit the Rebecca Elizabeth Lytle Memorial Scholarship Fund at UCSD’s Thurgood Marshall College. Tickets are $40.

San Diego based trumpeter Castellanos is a major force on the San Diego jazz scene and one of the leading trumpeters in Southern California. He has performed and recorded with many of today's great jazz musicians, including Dizzy Gillespie, Wynton Marsalis, Charlie Hayden, and Poncho Sanchez. He has participated in jazz festivals around the globe, including those in Montreal and New York, as well as festivals in Japan, Holland, Italy, Spain, and Germany.

McPherson has been featured at the Lincoln Center showcasing his original compositions and arrangements with a seven-piece ensemble and has toured throughout the world with his own group, as well as with jazz greats Billy Eckstine, Lionel Hampton, Nat Adderly, and Jay McShann. McPherson was the featured alto saxophonist in the Clint Eastwood film Bird, a biography about Charlie Parker.

The band will perform songs composed or made famous by Miles Davis during his 45-year career.

UCSD pianist Cecil Lytle, who selected the Davis theme for the program and is the founding musician of the benefit concert, will introduce the musicians and perform a selection with them.

Calling Davis “the American Picasso” for his innovation and diversity, Lytle says Davis “composed and performed compositions that have become classics for all improving musicians around the world.”

Lytle is an award-winning artist who has been appearing in concert in the United States, Europe and Asia since 1968. An expert in the performance of 19th and early 20th century music, he has taught UCSD courses in classical music and black music history.

The Rebecca Elizabeth Lytle Memorial Scholarship Fund was endowed in 1995 to support and encourage a select group of first year students enrolled in UCSD’s Thurgood Marshall College who are the first in their family to attend college. Since 2004, the REL scholarships have been awarded to graduates of UCSD’s Preuss School whose college destination is Thurgood Marshall College.

Tickets for the 13th annual Rebecca Lytle Memorial Scholarship Concert, at which hors d’oeuvres will be served, are $40 of which $27 is tax deductible. Reserved tables are available. For tickets and further information call (858) 534-1507 or e-mail rels@ucsd.edu.

 

Media Contact: Jan Jennings, 858-822-1684