The Philly POPS Appoints Philly Jazz Legend Terell Stafford As Artistic Director For Jazz

Following the immense artistic success of JAZZED! The Philly POPS BIG Band with Terell Stafford in January, The Philly POPS has designated Terell Stafford as the Artistic Director for Jazz for The Philly POPS.

As the Artistic Director for Jazz, Terell will continue to direct the All City Jazz Orchestra, continuing this five-year-old partnership between the School District of Philadelphia and the POPS. Terell will expand The Philly POPS' POPS in Schools programming to include new opportunities bringing credentialed jazz musicians to schools throughout the School District of Philadelphia, while creating programs to bring student performers into the concert hall. The Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia, which Terell also directs, will be presented by The Philly POPS creating The Philly POPS Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia, and adding the jazz orchestra's performances to The Philly POPS' roster of activities.

On behalf of the School District of Philadelphia and the All City Jazz program, we are excited to learn of Terell Stafford's new appointment as Artistic Director for Jazz at The Philly POPS! said Frank Machos, Executive Director of the Office of The Arts & Academic Enrichment for the School District of Philadelphia. Through the collaboration between Terell, The POPS, and our District Music Educators in recent years, we have seen incredible growth of All City Jazz and the opportunities for our students to experience some of the best in jazz education. We are thrilled to know that this will continue to expand and impact even more students in the years ahead.

This season, The Philly POPS has presented three highly-reviewed jazz shows, all of which have celebrated the past, present, and future of jazz music. January's JAZZED! show was particularly important it traced the history of jazz in Philadelphia, and symbolically passed the torch with a performance of Blue Monk, where Christian McBride played bass alongside Dan McCain, a University of the Arts student and four-year member of All City Jazz. Next season, the POPS will continue to celebrate jazz music with SINATRA: A Man and His Music.

Jazz has always been a personal favorite of mine, so I'm thrilled to announce this collaboration with Philly's own Terell Stafford, said Frank Giordano, President and CEO of The Philly POPS. I am looking forward to presenting The Philly POPS Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia's performances over these next years. We admire his work in education, both at Temple University and with the All-City Jazz program, and we look to his leadership as we ramp up our POPS in Schools programming with the School District of Philadelphia. Terell is the perfect educator to shape the jazz musicians of tomorrow.

A renowned and multifaceted jazz musician, Terell's album BrotherLee Love, Celebrating Lee Morgan received a 47th annual NAACP Image Award Nomination. His most recent album, Family Feeling, was released in 2018 under BCM&D Records. Terell has won a GRAMMY award as a member of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra for the album Monday Night Live at the Village Vanguard in 2009 and has been nominated for seven GRAMMY awards for his performances with the Clayton Brothers, Diana Krall, Bobby Watson, and more.

Terell is the Director of Jazz Studies and Chair of Instrumental Studies at Temple University. For his work as an educator, Terell received Temple's Creative Achievement Award. Terell has conducted the All City Jazz Orchestra, an all-audition honor band created through a partnership with the School District of Philadelphia and the POPS, since its creation in 2015. With this new appointment, he will help expand the All City Jazz program's footprint helping raise the city's next generation of jazz musicians and music lovers.

About Terell Stafford
Terell Stafford has been hailed as one of the great players of our time, a fabulous trumpet player by piano legend McCoy Tyner. Stafford is recognized as an incredibly gifted and versatile player, combining a deep love of melody with his own brand of spirited and adventurous lyricism. Stafford's exceptionally expressive and well-defined musical talent allows him to dance in and around the rich trumpet tradition of his predecessors while making his own inroads.

Since the mid-1990s, Stafford has performed with groups such as Benny Golson's Sextet, McCoy Tyner's Sextet, Kenny Barron Quintet, Frank Wess Quintet, Jimmy Heath Quintet and Big Band, Jon Faddis Jazz Orchestra, Carnegie Hall Jazz Band and Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Alumni Band. Stafford, with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, performed on Diana Krall's Grammy-nominated From this Moment On (2006). John Clayton invited Stafford to perform with the Clayton Brothers Quintet and Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. Stafford is a member of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, which was awarded a Grammy in 2009 for Best Large Ensemble, Live at the Village Vanguard.

Stafford can be heard on over 130 albums. His latest recording This Side of Strayhorn has been hailed as the first must-have album of 2011 and genius. Stafford is the Director of Jazz Studies and Chair of Instrumental Studies at Temple University, founder and band leader of the Terell Stafford Quintet, and Managing and Artistic Director of the Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia (JOP). Stafford is renowned in the jazz world as an educator, performer and leader and has received countless award nominations and accolades.

Stafford was born in Miami and raised in Chicago, Illinois and Silver Spring, Maryland. He received a Bachelor of Science in Music Education from the University of Maryland in 1988 and a Masters of Music from Rutgers University in 1993.

About The Philly POPS
The Philly POPS, the largest standalone pops orchestra in the United States, delights audiences with the inspired performance of American popular music. The POPS celebrates this distinctive musical heritage through an expanding repertoire of innovative concert performances and a robust set of educational and engagement initiatives.

Now celebrating its 40th Anniversary Season, the POPS, the official POPS orchestra of Pennsylvania and the City of Philadelphia's partner in civic celebration, serves a consistently growing audience of over 200,000 annually. Music Director Michael Krajewski and the 65-piece Philly POPS orchestra keep listeners tapping their toes to an impressive repertoire of songs from American traditional music up through to today's chart-toppers. The Philly POPS BIG Band, an 18-20 piece ensemble performing a rock and rhythm and blues repertoire, premiered in 2017 to enthusiastic response at the July 4 Welcome America Concert on the Parkway.

Outside the concert hall, free Salute Series performances including Memorial Salute, July 3 POPS on Independence, July 4 POPS on the Parkway and the I'll Be Home for Christmas: A Salute to the Military and First Responders concert celebrate the American tradition of service around important national holidays. POPS in Schools enhances music education for Philadelphia School District students; POPS Outside brings POPS music to local communities. The Philly POPS performs as a founding resident company of The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, and at venues throughout the mid-Atlantic region.

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