KEENE, N.H., 04/12/08, "Portraits of Jazz," a mixed-media concert featuring the Keene State College Jazz Ensemble and the artwork of a KSC alumnus, will be featured on Wednesday, April 30, at 7:30 p.m. in the Main Theatre of the Redfern Arts Center on Brickyard Pond. Admission is $10 for the general public and $5 for KSC students, senior citizens, and youth ages 17 and younger. For tickets, call the box office at 603-358-2168.

The concert is directed by KSC artist-in-residence Don Baldini celebrating his 30th jazz performance at Keene State. KSC alumnus Michael Reilly will exhibit jazz-themed artwork in the lobby, and it will be projected on a screen during the performance. Reilly's medium is casein (a milk-based paint) on paper. The artwork will be available for purchase.

Music will be a mixture of big-band classics, some old and some new. Guest performer Frank Newton, a tenor saxophonist of Amherst, Mass., will be the featured soloist.

The performance officially debuts the Redfern Arts Center's newly acquired 1985 Steinway D-model 9-foot grand piano made possible through donations from alumni and friends of KSC who will be invited to attend the event. John Dwyer of Brattleboro, Vt., a piano technician, restored the piano with new strings and new action. In the past, a piano of this caliber had to be rented for each concert.

Baldini came to Keene State in 1992 after a professional career as a studio musician in Los Angeles. He appeared for 13 years with The Tonight Show Orchestra and toured with Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis, Peggy Lee, and the Harry James and Toshiko-Akyoshi/Lew Tabakin Bands. With the Cincinnati Symphony, Baldini recently recorded the music of Nelson Riddle for a CD released on the Telarc label. He can be heard on the soundtracks of The Little Mermaid, St. Elsewhere, Disney World, and the Epcot Center.

Baldini currently appears with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, the Dartmouth Symphony, Opera North, and the Keene Chamber Orchestra, as well as several local chamber music and jazz groups. In addition to directing the KSC Jazz Ensemble, he is the conductor of the KSC Chamber Orchestra and teaches music theory and jazz history.

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