Do you want to hear real jazz -- music on the cutting edge? Something not stuck in a time warp? Then the band you want to listen to is Rio JAZZ, the Hudson Valley's premier Brazilian/American concert jazz band founded by trumpeter, composer and arranger Matt Finley, and the place you want to hear it is Dutchess Theater at Dutchess Community College. Rio JAZZ will play its 15th Annual concert there on Tuesday, March 26, 2002 at 7:30 p.m.

"It's the place to be if you want to hear straight-ahead jazz that you can't find on the radio," said Finley. "We play tunes I just heard or just wrote." The band, in addition to Finley, includes critically and internationally acclaimed Hudson-Valley jazz musicians like Mark Egan, Peter Tomlinson, Jeff Ciampa, Peter McEachern, Terry Silverlight, and Tomas Martin Lopez. For information, contact the DCC Office of Student Activities at 845-431-8050, or visit www.riojazz.com

"It's one of my favorite parts of the year," said Mike Weida, DCC Director of Student Activities. "It's good jazz music, and a good community draw. The show is different every year." Weida noted that in addition to being a 40-year veteran on the professional music scene, Finley is also an Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at DCC. He will be retiring from the position at the end of August, but that doesn't mean this will be his last concert at the campus. "We hope he comes back and brings the band back every year," said Weida.

Pianist Peter Tomlinson has played with Finley for each of the previous 14 years, and will play with Rio JAZZ again on March 26. "We've played with a ton of people over the years, all the best people in the area. Matt loves a challenge. He's always got new musicians, and always playing new instruments," Tomlinson said, noting that Matt had recently played his newest instrument, soprano saxophone, with him at the Hyde Park Brewery.

Tomlinson likes the challenge and variety of the music. "The music is something I don't get to play every day -- jazz with a Brazilian tilt to it. Latin music is a big part of Jazz music," Tomlinson said. "The whole thing is fused together, but this is music you probably wouldn't hear unless you were in Brazil. It's not the most mainstream Brazilian music in the world."

Jazz is Finley's passion, and bringing it to a wide audience is his mission. "It's important to get real live jazz to as wide an audience as possible," he said. Part of how he does that is perform concerts that are free to the public, whether at DCC or at other venues like Lake George and the Vanderbilt Mansion. He's able to do this through sponsorships and grants. "This concert is co-sponsored by DCC Student Activities and the Music Performance Trust Fund. The Fund is a national fund from royalties of recorded artists. They take a portion of the royalties, and the Musicians' Union administers that to provide free concerts by local artists, like concerts in the parks and parades. The Fund is directly responsible for bringing a lot of music to the public for free."

Finley has worked with top jazz artists, including five years with Grammy award-winning baritone Saxophonist Nick Brignola of "L.A. Bound." Finley was jazz trumpet soloist and arranger with the Albany Jazz Workshop, the Hudson Valley Jazz Ensemble, Doug Sertl's Menagerie, and Bob Shaut's Mosaic. He has performed in the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, the Troy Music Hall, the Colonie Coliseum, the Mid-Hudson Civic Center, the Last Chance, the Bardavon Opera House, the Stockbridge Inn and the Interlaken Inn.

He started playing professionally when he was 12, tagging along with his older brother, who is also a professional trumpet player, to gigs in Lake George resorts. "That was in the early 1960s," said Finley. "We had the Bossa Nova wave of music in the country at that time. I fell in love with the sound and stayed with it."

His primary focus on music now is not playing - he only does a handful of performances a year - but on music composition, arranging, and producing his concerts. "It takes me a lot of time to prepare for these," said Finley. "To get ready for the Dutchess one, I've put in six months of researching and writing. It's like an artist opening a gallery. You're putting yourself up on exhibit. I not only have to play, but I'm producing it -- all the details. Choosing the program is extremely important, and choosing the musicians. Then there's publicity, getting the piano tuned, programs, lighting, audio engineering -- all the details. That all has to be right."

The biggest part of the preparation, though, is the composing and arranging. The concert will feature some of Finley's original tunes, plus his arrangements of recent jazz works and Brazilian music. "There's a tremendous amount of music on CD and imported CD that I'm always on the lookout to turn into a jazz piece," said Finley. "It might not be jazz as presented, but I can write it out for the band. I might also take that music and it may inspire me to write a song. All you need is a phrase or a beat to catch your fancy. The best songs, I'll start and be done with in 12 hours. Certain ideas come together easily and correctly. When it hits, it hits."

Finley does his composing on computer, using programs like Encore, Band in a Box, and Cakewalk - a sequencer that allows him to put together multiple tracks. "I don't play piano or guitar," said Finley. "These programs allow me to compose, and I don't have to wait until I find a pianist or guitarist to play it for me. I've always been able to hear music in my head, but now, it's very quick to get it into real performance mode."

But the real performance won't be the same one he typed into his computer because of the improvisatory nature of jazz performance. The instrumentations will change, depending on whom Finley taps for his band. Finley himself plays multiple instruments - Flugelhorn and trumpet, saxophone, vibes, flute and an electronic device, like an electronic sax, called a wind controller. Several of his musicians play multiple instruments, too. "In performance, I would expect it to be entirely different, and better, than the way I heard it in my head," said Finley.

The band never rehearses, and that is what makes the process so exciting, according to Rio JAZZ bassist Mark Egan. "It's a great experience," said Egan "I enjoy Matt's talent and the talent of the band he brings together. It's amazing how jazz is. You can get together with people you've never played with before, but you all have the idiom, the musical language, and the sensibility to create this concert. Matt has a great knack for picking musicians who will play together well."

"The reason it works," said Finley, "is there are certain rules that all the musicians know and understand -- chords, tunes, rhythms, expectations. There's a creativity within a framework that everyone understands. I can walk onto the bandstand with people I've never met, and most of the audience won't know that. In the concert, you can sit back and close your eyes, but if you open your eyes, you can see a lot of nonverbal communication going on," said Finley.

This system of communication is part of how student videographers will tape the concert, and come away with a nearly finished product, according to DCC Communications teacher Juan Garcia-Nunez. "This is very exciting project to work on," said Garcia-Nunez. "It's a one-time deal. We have to work in coordination with theater people to set camera locations and lighting, and we work with Matt. He gives us a list of the tunes -- who is going to be the highlighted instrument, main performer, so we know where to focus when we're about to shoot. What is exciting, by the time we get out of the theater, we're walking away with a tape with little or no cleaning needed. The only thing we do, in post production, is add the titles, the names of the pieces of each tune, the proper credits, the musicians, and the people who sponsor the concert."

Annually, Rio Jazz at DCC attracts a very high number of professional musicians. "The Musician Union members are coming to see the people I bring in," said Finley. "I think they respect the level we're performing at." They appreciate the variety of the concerts. "This will be a completely different concert from last year," said Finley. "I very rarely repeat tunes. And they get to see world-class players improvising on the spot. You see mistakes, too. But I'm willing to trade the occasional mess-up for the extreme high you get when it all comes together."

Matt Finley, trumpet. Matt plays trumpet and flugelhorn and can get by on flute, vibes, soprano and tenor sax, and WX5. He performed for many years with Grammy-winning baritone saxophonist Nick Brignola and was a featured trumpet soloist and arranger with the Albany Jazz Workshop. He has a minor in music composition from Union College, having studied with Edgar Curtis, Director of the Albany Symphony. A native of Lake George, New York, Matt has performed professionally since age 12. He is a member of AFofM Local 238 and is permanently certified to teach music in New York State. Matt is currently the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at Dutchess Community College, having also served as an Associate Professor of Computer Information Systems. He lives in Pine Plains, New York. (518) 398-7376

Peter Tomlinson, piano. Peter has two CDs out and has performed with Hubert Laws, Ron Carter, Kenny Washington and Jimmy Cobb. He is on the jazz piano faculty at Western Connecticut State College. Peter lives in Hurley, New York. Peter Tomlinson: (845) 338-3153

Jeff Ciampa, guitar. Jeff recently recorded with Harry Belefonte and Dave Matthews and performs with Elements, featuring Mark Egan and Danny Gottleib. He recorded Project Ivan Lins with the Brazilian singer Kenia, and has just released his second solo CD, "House of Mirrors" for Wavetone Records. Jeff lives in Warwick, New York. (845) 986-9145

Mark Egan, bass. One of the world's pre-eminent fretless bass players, Mark has recorded extensively with Pat Metheny, Danny Gottleib and David Sanborn for GRP, Windham Hill and Bluemoon Records, and his own label, Wavetone. Mark lives in Warwick, New York. (845) 258-4854

Terry Silverlight, drums. Terry is from Tarrytown, New York, and has recorded a self-titled CD for CEI Cymekob Records. Performance credits include Anita Baker, Mel Torme, Phil Woods and George Benson. (914) 631-7853

Peter McEachern, trombone. Peter has toured and recorded three CDs for Polygram with Blues legend, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, and has recorded several CDs with the Thomas Chapin Trio and the Mario Pavone Sextet. He also recorded Mass for Mass Trombones with 76 other trombonists. Peter lives in Goshen, Connecticut. (800) 994-5402

Tomas Martin Lopez, Latin percussion. Tom has performed with top Latin bands, including George Santana, Grammy Nominee Lalo Rodriguez, Orq, Broadway, Louie Ramirez. He currently plays with Master Drummer John Amira in Afro Cuban & Haitian Drum & Dance in NYC, and teaches Latin Percussion in the Hudson Valley area.

Matt Finley, trumpet. 845-431-8952 at Dutchess Community College or (518) 398-7376

Peter Tomlinson, piano. (845) 338-3153

Jeff Ciampa, guitar. (845) 986-9145