North Carolina Central University’s Jazz Studies Program presents Keep The Vision Alive, a Nov. 22 concert featuring award-winning Department of Music artists-in-residence Branford Marsalis and Joey Calderazzo.

The benefit concert begins at 6 p.m. at the Carolina Theatre in downtown Durham and will include performances by the NCCU Jazz Ensemble and NCCU Vocal Jazz Ensemble.

Marsalis is a three-time Grammy Award-winning saxophonist, composer, bandleader and music educator who began his jazz career in 1984 with the release of his first album, Scenes in the City. He is well known for his work as leader of the Branford Marsalis Quartet and as the original bandleader for “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” In 2002, Marsalis established his record label Marsalis Music. He has been an artist-in-residence with NCCU’s jazz program since 2005.

NCCU artist-in-residence and jazz pianist Joey Calderazzo began playing at age seven. His outstanding jazz career includes work with the Michael Brecker Quintet, the Branford Marsalis Quartet and others. In June 2011, Calderazzo and Marsalis released their first album as a duo, “Songs of Mirth and Melancholy,” on Marsalis Music.

NCCU was the first university in the state to offer the Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Studies. The program has added a comprehensive vocal jazz component and the Master of Music in Jazz Composition and Jazz Performance. Alumni from the Jazz Studies Program include professors at the college and university levels, teachers of primary and secondary music education and production and performance artists.

Tickets for this exciting night of music may be purchased online at http://bit.ly/1H4dTWF or by calling 1-800-745-3000.

For more information, please contact: Dr. Ira Wiggins at [email protected] or 919-530-7214 and Dr. Lenora Helm Hammonds at [email protected] or 919-530-6653.