USF Jazz Orchestra & Jazz Ensemble with Erica von Kleist

The USF Jazz Orchestra and USF Jazz Ensemble open the fall season together, with two 20-piece big bands directed by Tom Brantley and Ross Strauser. Their program draws on classic and contemporary jazz arrangements and compositions.

Guest artist Erica von Kleist joins as a woodwind specialist. A multi-instrumentalist and educator, von Kleist earned the first jazz bachelor's degree awarded by the Juilliard School, has toured and recorded with Wynton Marsalis and Chris Potter, and spent time working on Broadway. As a bandleader she has released three albums and a collaboration; her latest record, “Picc Pocket,” features her on piccolo. She is now on the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music and serves as Artist-in-Residence at Williams.