October 3, 2023 - Santa Rosa, CA —The Santa Rosa Junior College music department presents a jazz concert by the Bennett Friedman Quartet on Thursday, Nov. 2 at 7:30 pm in Newman Auditorium on the SRJC campus. The performance will feature works of John Coltrane, Clifford Brown, Jimmy Rowles, and others. Featured artists include guitarist Randy Vincent, bassist Jeff Denson, and drummer Kendrick Freeman. Admission to the event is $15 general and $10 for students and seniors. There is a $4 fee for parking on campus. Proceeds from the concert benefit the SRJC Foundation Jazz Studies Fund.
Bennett Friedman attended Berkeley High School, Berklee College of Music (Boston), and San Francisco State University, where he received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music. Friedman served three years in the U.S. Army Band in Washington, D.C. Returning to the bay area, he joined the staff orchestra at the Circle Star Theater and played in many bay area jazz venues. Bennett performed with Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, many other pop stars, and the San Francisco Symphony. He has been teaching Jazz Studies full-time at Santa Rosa Junior College since 1977.
Randy Vincent has taught jazz guitar at Sonoma State University since 1981, and is also on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Vincent has performed with Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Henderson, and Dizzy Gillespie, and other jazz greats. Randy has published six books on jazz guitar methods through Sher Music Co.
Bassist Jeff Denson has performed and recorded extensively with legendary jazz saxophonist Lee Konitz. Denson graduated cum laude from Berklee College of Music in Boston, received his master of music degree in jazz studies from Florida State University, and his doctor of musical arts degree from UCSD. Jeff has also performed with Anthony Davis, Joe Lovano, Jan Ira Bloom, Kenny Werner, Dave Douglas and many others. Dr. Denson is dean of instruction at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley.
Percussionist Kendrick Freeman has been a member of Ricardo Peixoto’s quintet for the last six years. He has studied hand drums with musicians from Ghana, Congo, and the Caribbean, focusing on the music of Haiti. Freeman has been on the jazz faculty at Sonoma State University for many years, where he directs the Latin Jazz Ensemble.
The Santa Rosa campus is located at 1501 Mendocino Avenue, Santa Rosa. Newman Auditorium is at the north side of campus, across Elliott Avenue. There is a $4 fee for parking on campus. For information about future SRJC Music department events, please visit: https://music.santarosa.edu/events
