IM
Ian Mahaffey
  • music
  • Class of 2020
  • Myrtle Beach, SC

Ian Mahaffey performs with CCU Jazz Ensemble for statewide kickoff of Jazz Day celebration

2018 Apr 23

"Come Let Freedom Swing" in support of National Jazz Appreciation Month and International Jazz Week in South Carolina was held at Coastal Carolina University on April 21. The CCU Jazz Ensemble performed along with the Carl Payne Big Band. International Jazz Week is dedicated to the memory of the late Skipp Pearson, the second official ambassador of jazz music for South Carolina.

As one of the most renowned jazz acts in the state of South Carolina, the Carl Payne Big Band, headed by Carlton Payne Jr., was founded with the intent of educating the listening public and young, aspiring musicians in the genre of big band swing. Members include band directors, teachers, engineers, lawyers, law enforcement officers and high school and college students. Bandleader Payne is a retired Marine Corps trumpeter and combat veteran who studied at South Carolina State University and the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

The CCU Jazz Big Band, under the direction of Matthew White, associate professor in the Department of Music, includes a traditional big band instrumentation of the 1940s: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, drumset and piano.

Students in the Jazz Ensemble include:

Ian Mahaffey, a music major from Myrtle Beach, SC.