DETROIT, MI (August 21, 2006) – The Wayne State Big Band, under the direction of Christopher Collins, will be performing on Labor Day with jazz vocalist and GRAMMY® Award winner Diane Schuur at the 27th Annual Detroit International Jazz Festival. The performance is scheduled for Monday, September 4 at 9 p.m. on Hart Plaza’s Amphitheatre Stage. For additional information and a complete schedule of events visit www.detroitjazzfest.com.

Wayne’s Jazz Band is the first university band in the history of the festival to be invited to back a headlining artist. During their main stage performance, the Big Band will be playing a number of Schurr’s hits, such as I Just Found Out About Love (And I Like It), A Touch of Your Love, and classics such as Stormy Weather. The band will also perform tunes from her most famous albums, recordings with the Count Basie Orchestra and Maynard Ferguson.

Most recently, the WSU Jazz Big Band performed two sold-out concerts with Joe Lovano and his quartet at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Max M. Fisher Music Center. As one of the oldest jazz studies degree programs in the country, Wayne State has played host to a vast array of visiting jazz clinicians, including Chick Corea (October 2005), Joe Lovano (May 2006), Jon Faddis, Elvin Jones, Steve Houghton, Dave Liebman, Kenny Werner, Fareed Haque, Marvin Stam, and Woody Shaw.

A legend in her own right, Diane Schuur has earned praise and respect from jazz icons such as Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie and B.B. King. She has been nominated for five and received two GRAMMY® Awards for “Best Jazz Vocalist”, headlined some of the most prestigious venues nationally and internationally, and toured the world with such greats as Stan Getz, B.B. King, Maynard Ferguson, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, and Quincy Jones.

For more information on the Jazz Studies program at Wayne State and other upcoming performances call (313) 577-1795 or visit www.music.wayne.edu.