FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 21, 1998

Contact: Public Relations

Phone: 252-985-5141

Rocky Mount, NC - As part of the celebration for a successful 17th Annual

Day for Wesleyan fundraiser, North Carolina Wesleyan College invites all

volunteers and area citizens to a free concert by the Gregg Gelb Swing

Band. The free concert will be held Tuesday, September 22, at 7:30 p.m. at

the Dunn Center for the Performing Arts on the Rocky Mount campus. It will

be preceded by a free sampling of foods from the catering menu of Sodexho

Marriott Dining Services, the exclusive contractor for food services at the

College. The sampling of their menu is their gift to the College for Day

for Wesleyan. Various food stations will be set up in the Garner Lobby of

the Dunn Center, with service celebrating the Day for Wesleyan to begin at

6:00 p.m. The Minges Auditorium in the Dunn Center seats 1200, and the

free seating will be on a first-come basis. In addition, anyone interested

in seeing firsthand the exciting changes taking place on the campus may

come out earlier and take guided tours at 5:00 or 5:30.

The Gregg Gelb Swing Band is based in the Triangle area of North Carolina.

With two saxophones (doubling on clarinet and flute), trumpet, trombone,

bass and drums, this group of professional musicians delivers everything

from early jazz and swing to bebop. Gregg Gelb's arrangements of

favorites, as well as his original pieces give the band its unique sound.

The band's repertoire includes Gelb's arrangements of standards by such

composers as Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Bennie Goodman, and

George Gershwin.

Gelb brought the group together in 1989, and they play a busy schedule of

concerts and dances, galas and anniversaries, special events, clubs and

festivals. Members include Gregg Gelb, tenor sax and clarinet,

composer/arranger; Kathy Gelb, vocalist; John Hanks, drums; Don Gladstone,

bass; Scott Warner, piano; Drew Lyle, guitar; Rodney Marsh, alto sax and

flute; Jay Lineberry, trumpet, and Tom Smith, trombone.

Gelb is the founder and director of the Heart of Carolina Jazz Orchestra

and Society in Sanford, NC and co-founder of the North Carolina Jazz

Repertory Orchestra which is based in Chapel Hill, NC. He received a 1994

Music Initiative grant from the North Carolina Arts Council to transcribe

and recreate the music of the great small swing bands of John Kirby, Duke

Ellington, Count Basie and others. In June of 1995, Gelb was commissioned

by The North Carolina Museum of Art to transcribe and perform works by

Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong. In 1997 he received the North

Carolina State Arts Council Jazz Composers Fellowship, which allowed him to

write more arrangements for the Swing Band. His first project was to write

a program in honor of Cole Porter.

So, mark Sept. 22 on your calendar and be sure to tour the campus, to

attend the free concert, and to sample the free food provided by Sodexho

Marriott, at the Dunn Center for the Performing Arts. Everyone is invited

to join the 17th annual Day for Wesleyan celebration!

# # #