Consisting of three musical generations, the members of the Madison Jazz Collective bring to their performances and teaching nearly a century and a half of broad and deep musical wisdom and experience. The concert will feature original compositions by the comrades of the collective and one or two by other men and women of jazz.

Chuck Dotas (trumpet) directs JMU’s Jazz Studies program and Jazz Ensemble, and is coordinator of JMU’s study abroad program The Arts and Culture of Montreal. He previously taught at McGill University (Montreal) where he led his own professional big band. Composer-in-residence for the Staunton Music Festival from 2005-2015, Dotas has had his music performed in Canada, Germany, Taiwan, New Zealand and South Africa. His compositions are published by UNC Jazz Press, Walrus Music and ejazzlines.  Full bio     

Bob Hallahan (piano) has appeared as a featured solo pianist at the Kennedy Center, and has performed with notable jazz saxophonists Joe Henderson, Clifford Jordan and James Moody, trumpeters Clark Terry and Freddie Hubbard, and singers Sheila Jordan, Anita O’Day and René Marie. He can be heard on over two dozen recordings as both a sideman and leader. He previously taught in the jazz programs at Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Virginia.  Full bio

Turkish-born Emre Kartari (drums) has performed, toured and recorded extensively with the spoken-word and hip-hop group Jazz Poets Society, Grammy Award-winning bassist Mike Richmond, and Sazli-Cazli, a group he formed in 2015 with U.S. and Turkish jazz musicians for two state-sponsored tours of Turkey. All About Jazz hailed the recording Origin by Kartari’s quartet of the same name featuring saxophonist David Liebman as one that “engages the head and the heart long after it’s over.” 

Adam Larrabee (guitar) is a seasoned jazz guitarist who can be heard on Bruce Hornsby’s recording Spirit Trail. He taught at New England Conservatory and performed in the Boston area for nearly 10 years before moving to Virginia, but is perhaps best known in the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond for his banjo work with the nationally-recognized bluegrass band Love Canon. A prolific, multi-genre composer, he recently published Book One of his Twenty-Four Preludes for Banjo.  Full bio

David Pope is a celebrated concert and jazz saxophonist. Since winning DownBeat magazine’s “Outstanding Collegiate Jazz Instrumentalist” (1994), he has performed around the world, including Russia, Scotland, Switzerland, and Bangkok, Thailand. Pope is known for eclectic programming that shifts effortlessly from Bach and Coltrane to Bowie and Katy Perry. He is an accomplished composer, and performs on a variety of ethnic and homemade instruments. Pope endorses RS Berkeley “Virtuoso” saxophones.  www.popesax.com

Sam Suggs (bass) received an “Extraordinary Creativity” award at the 2017 Bradetich Foundation International Double Bass Competition, and is the first solo bassist in 36 years to join the Concert Artists Guild touring roster. Named “New Artist of the Month" by Musical America after winning the 2015 International Society of Bassists Solo Competition, Suggs has performed collaboratively at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, and in Africa and Europe with his trio Triplepoint. http://samuelssuggs.com