Annual jazz concert honors Stan Wheeler and Marcia Chambers

Yale Law School and Yale University Bands will present the 2019 Stan Wheeler/Marcia Chambers Memorial Jazz Concert on Sunday, March 31 at 2 p.m. in Levinson Auditorium, Yale Law School, 127 Wall St.

 The concert will feature the Yale Jazz Ensemble, directed by Thomas C. Duffy, and the Reunion Jazz Ensemble, directed by Jeff Fuller. Admission is free and no tickets are required. Doors open at 1:30 p.m. Call (203) 432-4111 or visit the Yale Bands websitefor more information.

Reunion is a group of Yale alumni who, along with late Yale Law School professor and trumpeter Stanton Wheeler, were early members of the Yale jazz scene in the 1970s. Wheeler continued to play with the Yale Jazz Ensemble until his death in 2007.

Marcia Chambers, senior research scholar in the Yale Law School and an award-winning author and journalist, was involved in the Yale jazz world even before she married Wheeler in 1984. The two championed jazz at Yale as heads of Morse College, and hosted official and impromptu jazz gatherings in their home for four decades. Until her death in 2018, Chambers hosted 11 annual Stan Wheeler Memorial Jazz concerts at the Yale Law School. This 12th concert is dedicated to both their memories.

This year’s Reunion roster includes jazz artists Brad Dechter ’78, ’79 M.M. and Bob Kolb (alto sax); Paul Lieberman ’78 (tenor sax); Gary Bennett ’75 M.M. (baritone sax); Steve Perrett ’76, ’77 M.M. (trumpet); Tony Lombardozzi (guitar); Jeff Fuller ’67, ’69 M.M. (bass); Paul Sullivan ’77 (piano); and Frank Bennett ’69 M.M.A, ’76 D.M.A. (drums).

The Yale Jazz Ensemble (YJE) is an 18-piece big band that performs a wide variety of music, from Yale’s Benny Goodman archive to the most progressive jazz compositions. The ensemble has performed extensively in the United States and internationally at such noted venues as New York’s Village Vanguard and Iridium jazz clubs, and London’s Ronnie Scott’s. The YJE has performed with or opened for The Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, the Toshiko Akiyoshi/Lew Tabackin Big Band, the World Saxophone Quartet, Jane Ira Bloom, Jimmy Owens, and Branford Marsalis.