The University’s jazz department will kickoff Jazz Week on March 18.

This year, Jazz Week features internationally renowned jazz performer and Coordinator of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University, trombonist Conrad Herwig.

The annual event includes three concerts that students can attend in the Moore Musical Arts Center.

Wednesday’s performance features the Student Chamber Jazz Ensembles at 8 p.m. in Bryan Hall.

On Thursday, Herwig will perform with the Faculty Jazz Group at 8 p.m. in Bryan Hall.

Friday’s performance features Herwig with the BGSU Lab Band 1 in Kobacker Hall at 8 p.m.

Wednesday and Thursday concerts are free and tickets to Friday’s main event are $10.

Advance tickets are available for $7 general admission and $3 for students.

Music Performance Studies professor David Bixler said students should attend this event for both quality entertainment and informative history.

“There will be great music three nights in a row, I would also challenge the intellectually curious student with the idea that the history of jazz and that of the United States of America are inextricably linked,” he said.

Bixler noted that the correlation is important.

“This is valuable information to wrestle with as one prepares to move beyond school and into society,” he said.

Herwig will be performing at the University for the second time.

As one of New York’s better-known mainstream trombonists, he has performed and recorded with famous jazz leaders including Jack DeJohnette and Joe Henderson.

He discussed the importance of performing jazz music and said the genre is “inherently American.”

Herwig said Jazz Week is such an exciting event because it gives performers and audience alike the opportunity to experience improvisation through music.

He said the spontaneity of jazz is exciting and urged students to take part in the fun.

“You never know what’s gonna happen,” he said. “Jazz is an exciting art form.”

Herwig said the second concert of the series, on March 19, will include collaboration with the Jazz Faculty.

“We will be performing some of my original compositions and some classics,” he said.

The third concert, on March 20, will feature pieces from four of Herwig’s Grammy-nominated CDs.

Audience can expect to hear original tracks as well as sounds from Wayne Shorter and Joe Henderson.

To take part in Jazz Week, purchase tickets by visiting the University’s Musical Arts webpage.