Saturday, March 14, 2026
The annual UNH jazz festival features guest artists, UNH jazz faculty, the UNH Jazz Band, and high school students from throughout New England. and New York. The UNH jazz faculty enjoyed a long-standing relationship with jazz great, Clark Terry. In his honor and name, the Music Department holds an annual jazz festival. The festival includes adjudicated performances by high school groups, clinics and performances by guest artists and UNH students, and gala concerts by guest artists and the UNH Jazz Band.
Each year, the festival attracts jazz groups from 55-60 high schools throughout New England and New York. Performing groups include high school big bands, jazz combos, jazz choirs, as well as solo vocalists. All groups are adjudicated and given written and recorded comments.
Apply to Jazz Fest
- Jazz Fest Registration Form 2026: https://forms.gle/mKhRfRcAeZYVMiqWA
- Letter to Directors 2026
- Evening Concerts and Ticket Purchase:
- Tickets are available to the public for the 7:00pm concert featuring Randy Brecker, Ada Rovatti & the UNH Faculty Jazz Quartet. Tickets are $5 each, and can be reserved by emailing Lyndsay Boysen at clarkterryjazzfestival@gmail.com
Contact Information
Nathan Jorgensen
Associate Professor of Music (jazz, woodwinds)
M129 Paul Creative Arts Center
30 Academic Way
University of New Hampshire
Phone: (603) 862-2404
Fax: (603) 862-3155
Email: nathan.jorgensen@unh.edu
Lyndsay Boysen
Program Assistant
Summer Youth Music School
Clark Terry UNH Jazz Festival
Email: clarkterryjazzfestival@gmail.com
Department of Music
Paul Creative Arts Center
30 Academic Way
Phone: (603) 862-2404
Email: music.info@unh.edu
Randy Brecker
A seasoned jazz veteran, virtuosic trumpeter and prolific composer, Randy Brecker’s horn has graced the bandstands and recordings of Horace Silver, Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, Charles Mingus, Clark Terry, Joe Henderson, Duke Pearson, Frank Foster and Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. As a first call studio player, Brecker’s trumpet has also energized innumerable studio sessions by artists ranging from James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen and Parliament-Funkadelic to David Sanborn, Jaco Pastorius, and Frank Zappa.
In the realms of cutting-edge jazz-rock fusion, Brecker has been a major contributor to Blood Sweat and Tears, Larry Coryell’s Eleventh House and Dreams, a group he co-founded with his brother Michael and drummer Billy Cobham.
After departing BS&T in 1969, Randy appeared with Horace Silver and many other jazz acts feeling a need to stretch his desire to improvise freely. By 1973, Randy and his sax playing brother, Michael had become the most in-demand studio players in New York City. In 1975 they decided to form their own band, “The Brecker Brothers”.
The Brecker Brothers became a band of immeasurable influence and impact. Hailed by pop and jazz critics alike, their first album, which Randy produced, was nominated for four Grammy awards. The Brecker Brothers went on to record a total of 6 albums and receive seven Grammy nominations between 1975 and 1981. In the late 70’s, Randy also recorded on Charles Mingus’ last album, Me Myself an Eye. He has since performed on various incarnations of Mingus Dynasty and the Mingus Big Band.
Ada Rovatti
Italian native Ada Rovatti started playing saxophone in high school after years of classical piano training.
After winning a scholarship from Berklee College of Music in Italy she divided herself between Boston where she studied with Joe Viola, George Garzone and Fred Lipsius and Italy where she was regular working in Big Band with guest artists such as: Phil Woods, Lee Konitz and many more.
After spending one year in Paris touring Europe and Africa she moved in New York City. She has performed in important festivals such as JVC in NYC Rochester Jazz Festival, IAJE, Detroit Jazz Fest, Montreal Jazz Fest, San Francisco Jazz Fest, NorthSea Jazz Fest and a regular on the JazzCruise, appearing and performing with an impressive and diverse list of artists and bands such as: Mike Stern, John McLaughlin, Anne Ducros, Bob Mintzer, Victor Bailey, Joanne Brackeen, Tony Levin, John McLaughlin , James Moody, Aretha Franklin, Herbie Hancock, Jimmy Heath, Patti Austin, Joe Bonamassa and many others.
In 2003 she released her first 2 CDs as a bandleader with the Elephunk Band and with her quartet with guests: Randy Brecker, Mike Stern and Don Alias.
Ada was part of 2 Grammy winning CDs by Randy Brecker –“34 th N Lex” and “Rocks” with NDR Big Band along with David Sanborn, and on the acclaimed CD of John McLaughlin “Industrial Zen” and also appeared in the movie ‘Mona Lisa Smile’ featuring Julia Roberts
As a band leader she has released 6 CDs: Ada Rovatti & The Elephunk Band, Under The Hat, Airbop, Green Factor, Disguise and Brecker Plays Rovatti -Sacred Bond.
She has toured with the Brecker Brothers Band Reunion with whom she recorded a live double DVD/CD from the Bluenote Jazz Club in NYC.
In 2021 she was invited as a guest to perform with the WDR Big Band of Cologne, Germany in a special concert titled “4 tenors” along with Bob Mintzer, Bob Malach and Paul Heller.
In the last couple years she has been extendedly touring and recording for various artists, arranging and producing and working on her new upcoming project to be release in January 2024 introducing her also as songwriter and string orchestrator with special guests Niki Haris, Kurt Elling and many more.
Release Date: Monday, February 23, 2015
Jazz great Clark Terry passed away on February 21, 2015. He was 94 years old.
Clark Terry was an affiliate professor of music at the University of New Hampshire. He had a 40-year relationship with the institution. Music Professor Dave Seiler brought Terry to UNH in the mid-1970s to headline his new jazz festival. Thus started a long friendship between the two and an ongoing affiliation, with Terry returning to UNH annually to perform and record with scores of UNH students and faculty members. Terry led student tours of Europe and, in 1976, fronted the UNH Jazz Band that became the first college ensemble ever to play on an evening bill at the famed Montreaux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. UNH awarded Terry an honorary doctorate, his first, in 1978, and the Pettee Medal in 2002.
An obituary in the Boston Globe explains Terry's impact on the world of jazz and jazz education.
"He left a real lasting impact on kids," David Seiler, director of jazz studies at UNH, told the Globe. "I've had all kinds of people here doing clinics, but nobody tops him. He inspired kids so readily."
Seiler added that Terry "exuded joy through his instrument" and that when he taught young musicians, "he'd say, 'The purpose of the clinic is the perpetuation of the jazz language.' He always said that. Even in his 90s he was inspiring people."
Terry was recently in the public eye thanks to a documentary about him released last year. Called Keep On Keepin’ On, the critically-acclaimed film by Alan Hicks examines the relationship between the trumpeter Clark Terry and the young pianist Justin Kauflin.
More information on Terry can be found in the New York Times tribute: Clark Terry, Master of Jazz Trumpet, Dies at 94.
