From 2014 to 2025, the Geller Jazz Series brought leading jazz musicians to Razzo Hall. The series opened with bassist Ron Carter. It closed with the Art of the Quartet: trumpeter Nicholas Payton, pianist Benito Gonzalez, bassist Buster Williams, and drummer Lenny White, with an opening set by vocalist Ekep Nkwelle.
“The Geller Jazz concert has become a cornerstone of musical life at Clark, bringing world-class jazz artists to our community, igniting a passion for the music in a whole new generation of students, and bridging generations together through the shared experience of live jazz.”
Professor Matt Malsky, the Tina Sweeney, M.A. ’49, Endowed Chair in Music
Between those concerts, audiences heard Cécile McLorin Salvant, Randy Brecker, the Bill Charlap Trio with Jon Faddis, Omar Sosa, Donald Harrison, Jacques Schwarz-Bart, Albino Mbie, and Trio Da Paz with Joe Locke, Grace Kelly, and Melissa Aldana. Programs paired established figures with rising artists. They ranged from straight-ahead swing to Cuban, Brazilian, Afro-Caribbean, and Mozambican jazz.
For students, the concerts put the history they studied on stage. Buster Williams played with Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, and Wayne Shorter. Lenny White helped define jazz fusion with Return to Forever. On a Wednesday night in Worcester, students heard them from a few rows back.
The series was made possible by Selma Geller, a New York City philanthropist who died in 2007. Concerned that students had too few chances to learn music, she supported music scholarships and performances at Clark, with a particular commitment to jazz as an American art form.
