Eric Olsen ReVision Jazz Quartet to Perform “Sea Changes” CD Release Concert at Caldwell University

The Eric Olsen ReVision Jazz Group will perform the release concert for its CD “Sea Changes” at  Caldwell University 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016, in the Alumni Theatre.

“We are looking forward to presenting ‘Sea Changes’ at Caldwell University,” says Olsen, a jazz and classical pianist and composer.  “The album combines classic melodies with jazz improvisations, creating an exciting new art experience that transcends musical boundaries. It gives familiar and beautiful melodies a new framework from which listeners can find their own deeply musical connections.”

Among the selections will be “Elegy,” originally written for solo cello and orchestra. Olsen says he has taken “the gorgeous opening melody and given it an open and spacious quality in the style of the classic ECM recordings of the 1970s.”  Other classical selections that Olsen has reimagined in a jazz style for this CD include the familiar hymn “Be Thou My Vision” and standards such as Sibelius’s “Finlandia” and Chopin’s “Waltz in C Sharp Minor.”

Concert series director Laura Greenwald says Olsen is a “superb musician whose joy of performing is contagious. His introductions are interesting and engaging, and his playing is brilliant.” The jazz group is known for fusing the emotion of classic melodies with the fun of jazz improvisation, transforming music from Chopin to Grieg to George Harrison in an innovative way.

As music director at Union Congregational Church in Montclair, Olsen has conducted and performed many staples of the classical choral literature and leads a jazz ensemble in his own unique arrangements of hymns and original works for jazz services.

The snow date is Thursday, Feb. 25, at 8 p.m.

General admission for most concerts is $20; tickets for students and seniors are $10. Tickets will be available online, through mail order and at the door. For more information, contact Laura Greenwald at 973-618-3520.