The Howard Payne University Jazz Band’s fall concert will feature jazz bassist Dr. Tarik Hassan and will be held on Thursday, October 20, at 7:30 p.m. in the university’s Mims Auditorium. The concert is free of charge and open to the public.

Dr. Hassan is a distinguished scholar, performer and composer from New Orleans who has performed at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Les Cultures du Monde in France, and Snug Harbor and House of Blues jazz clubs in New Orleans.

This year, the band’s program will present classic jazz styles such as Cool, Bebop and Latin Jazz. A new jazz arrangement of George Gershwin’s 1932 orchestral work “Cuban Overture” will be presented as well as a big-band adaptation of the Modern Jazz Quartet’s 1953 tribute to gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt.

“We are pleased to present our students and Dr. Hassan to our campus and community,” said Stephen Goacher, director of the ensemble and professor of music. “This concert will be a celebration of this great American music – jazz.”

The HPU Jazz Band has garnered numerous accolades in its rich history. More recently, it won consecutive Outstanding Collegiate Band awards at the Temple Jazz Festival from 2006 to 2009 and gave other performances and awards at the festival in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Additionally, the band performed at the North Texas Jazz Festival in 2010.

For more information, call HPU’s School of Music and Fine Arts at 325-649-8500.

Pictured above is New Orleans jazz bassist Dr. Tarik Hassan.