New Arts Jazztet

The NAJ’s club dates have included Cincinnati’s Blue Wisp, Chicago’s Pops for Champagne, and other nightspots around the Midwest. Its concert, clinic and festival engagements have comprised a number of universities and other performance venues throughout the Heartland. The group has opened twice for Stanley Jordan, and has performed with several other prominent jazz artists. The NAJ was recently chosen to perform at the 2010 Jazz Education Network Annual Conference in St. Louis. The group has also performed as part of a live statewide television broadcast, Arts Across Illinois: CenterStage at WTTW/Channel 11, Chicago. And it is regularly included in the Illinois Arts Council Artstour Roster.

Recently, the New Arts Jazztet has enjoyed significant nationwide radio airplay and attention on the album, Bright Side (a caldera productions, 2009), a release by NAJ bassist, Phil Brown. The group, along with the duo, FourOnSix, is also featured on Brown's earlier recording, Darkness Into Light (a caldera productions, 2006).

The NAJ is in residence at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where its members are School of Music faculty. Annually, for one week in June, NAJ members staff a jazz improvisation camp at SIU. Each fall, the group presents a formal concert of standards, and each spring, a formal concert of original works. The NAJ is also a featured ensemble at the Southern Illinois Music Festival each summer.