The second annual Coastal Carolina University Jazz Festival, featuring performances by students and faculty ensembles as well as guest artists, will be held Tuesday, March 21, and Wednesday, March 22, at 7:30 p.m. in Wheelwright Auditorium. Tickets are $17 per event or $30 for both, with discounts available.

The first evening's performance includes the CCU Jazz Ensemble, a competitive ensemble featuring big band instrumentation and directed by Matthew White, assistant professor of music; the CCU New Jazz Ensemble, which ranges from a vocal group to full big band instrumentation and is directed by Chris Connolly, lecturer of music; and guest artists Evan Cobb on saxophone and Eric Thompson on drums.

The second evening's performance features the CCU Jazz Combo, a student quintet of vocals, guitar, piano, bass and drums. Directed by Tim Fischer, teaching associate in the Department of Music, the Jazz Combo features musicians interested in improvisation and original compositions within commercial music and jazz in a chamber setting.

The group will be joined by guest artists Cobb, Thompson and CCU artist-in-residence Steve Bailey. A faculty/guest group will also perform that evening, featuring Cobb, Thompson, Bailey and guest musician pan drummer Victor Provost along with faculty performers White, Connolly and Fischer, in addition to Dan O'Reilly, CCU lecturer of music, and Jesse Willis, assistant professor of music.

Cobb is a Nashville-based musician who has performed with Steven Tyler, Dr. John and Aretha Franklin. Thompson is an Iowa-based drummer who has performed with jazz greats Joe Lovano, Danilo Perez and Carmen Bradford. Bailey, known for his pioneering work on the six-string fretless bass, is chair of the bass department at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and Provost is a Washington, D.C.-based drummer who tours with Paquito D'Rivera and the Afro Bop Alliance.

"The CCU Jazz Festival is an opportunity for us to feature our growing jazz and commercial music ensembles with world-renowned jazz artists, performing their original compositions and often premiering brand new music," said White. "It's a testament to the quality of our program that we've been able to transition to this model as our students and ensembles have improved over the past few years. This year we decided to go with a number of artists to give students a wide array of educational and playing experiences. We'll be performing new music in a variety of instrumentations and premiering two new arrangements by big band arranger Tyler Mire of Evan Cobb's original music."

General admission is $17 for one event. Senior citizens, OLLI members, CCU alumni, teens and CCU/HGTC faculty and staff are $12. CCU/HGTC students can purchase tickets for $5 with student ID. Wheelwright Auditorium is located at 108 Spadoni Park Circle on the CCU main campus in Conway.

For tickets, call the Wheelwright Box Office at 843-349-ARTS (2787). The box office is open Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.