The Northern Ontario All-Star Jazz Band, a hand-picked ensemble made up of high school students from across northern Ontario, will perform in Sudbury on April 18.  The concert will begin at 7:30 pm in the Sheridan Auditorium at Sudbury Secondary School.
The jazz concert will feature students from the 2008 Northern Ontario Music Festival with guest conductor Alex Dean.
The Laurentian Jazz Combo will be opening the concert under the direction of Allan Walsh. Dean will perform a selection of numbers with the group.
Dean, who has been described as "one of Canada's foremost jazz saxophonists," has been a fixture of the Canadian music scene for many years, stated a news release. He has played and recorded with Gil Evans, Kenny Wheeler, Mel Torme, Aretha Franklin, Natalie Cole, Harry Connick Jr., Ray Charles, Pat Labarbera, Phil Nimmons and the Toronto Symphony. He holds the tenor saxophone chair with Rob McConnell's Grammy award-winning BOSS Brass and has recorded their last ten albums with Concord Records. He is also artistic director of the highly regarded Kincardine Summer Jazz Festival/Camp on Lake Huron, Ontario. Dean is a faculty member at the University of Toronto and Humber College music departments, teaching saxophones and advanced jazz improvisation.
