Berklee College Of Music & Parkarts Brings SNL's Keyboardist Tuffus Zimbabwe To Highland Park

Los Angeles, CA (Top40 Charts/ Berklee College of Music) Berklee College of Music and the ParkARTS program present Jazz at the Fort with Roxbury native and Saturday Night Live band member Tuffus Zimbabwe, Sunday, August 7, 5:00 p.m. at Roxbury's historic Highland Park. The concert is free. The Jazz Urbane will also perform. Rain date is August 14.

Highland Park is located on Fort Avenue, Roxbury. Roxbury Community College provides parking in the lot on the corner of Columbus Avenue and Cedar Street. Folding chairs, blankets, and picnics are encouraged. The park is wheelchair accessible. For more information visit berklee.edu/events or call 617-747-6057.

The concert is part of Berklee's Summer in the City series with more than 80 free outdoor events made possible by presenting sponsor Natixis Global Asset Management, committed to preserving cultural experience through the power of music.
Jazz pianist and composer Tuffus Zimbabwe is heard by millions of TV viewers each week as the keyboard player with the Saturday Night Live Band. The Roxbury native graduated from Berklee in 2005, the recipient of a full-tuition Berklee City Music Continuing Scholarship, earning a dual degree in music business and film scoring. He also holds a master of music degree in jazz studies from New York University. Zimbabwe has taught in the Berklee City Music Program, at NYU's Jazz Studies program, and at numerous youth centers. He is the musical director for youth service at the Mount Zion Baptist Church of Newark. In addition to his highly visible role in the Saturday Night Live Band, Zimbabwe performs at clubs and festivals all over the United States with Ron Reid's Sunsteel and Jovol Bell's Reality, and with his own group.

The Jazz Urbane is a contemporary music movement that infuses jazz with great R&B songwriting, melodies, grooves, and style. The idea, philosophically and demographically, is to share artistry that is mature, sophisticated, and creative, while providing a groove that anyone can feel. The result is a progressive cultural musical response. Band members include Berklee professor and director of Africana Studies guitarist Bill Banfield, Berklee City Music students and alumni pianist Jesse Taitt, bass player Kyle Miles, and drummer Adriel Ferguson, student vocalist Jamie Woods, and associate professor and vocalist Joey Blake.

"Our partnership with Berklee brings some of the world's finest jazz musicians to Boston's neighborhood parks," notes Mayor Thomas M. Menino. "Music lovers of all ages and the musicians themselves welcome these opportunities to enjoy the arts in great outdoor spaces like Highland Park."

Berklee College of Music was founded on the revolutionary principle that the best way to prepare students for careers in music was through the study and practice of contemporary music. For over 60 years, the college has evolved constantly to reflect the state of the art of music and the music business. With over a dozen performance and nonperformance majors, a diverse and talented student body representing over 70 countries, and a music industry "who's who" of alumni, Berklee is the world's premier learning lab for the music of today - and tomorrow.

Now in its 15th year, ParkARTS began as Mayor Thomas M. Menino's initiative to present a yearlong program of arts- and-culture related programs and events in Boston's park system. ParkARTS, the Boston Parks and Recreation Department's multifaceted arts program incorporates the visual, performing, and participatory arts. The 2011 ParkARTS performing arts program, sponsored by Bank of America, will present concerts in Boston neighborhood parks that range from jazz to symphonic music.