Legendary trumpeter Ray Vega was a featured guest at the second annual Oneonta Jazz Festival at SUNY Oneonta on Saturday, April 9, in the Hunt College Union. The festival closed with a concert by Vega, accompanied by the SUNY Oneonta Jazz Orchestra and a rhythm section made up of SUNY Oneonta alumni, at 4:15 p.m. in the Hunt Union Ballroom.
The Oneonta Jazz Festival brings together music programs of SUNY colleges and area high schools and middle schools. The festival began at 10 a.m. with a series of performances by the attending student ensembles, followed by lectures and clinics for professors and their student performers. At mid-day, Vega presented a clinic on jazz and improvisational music.
A native of New York City, Ray Vega is a veteran of the bands of Tito Puente, Ray Barretto, and Mongo Santamaria, and he has performed or recorded with jazz icons including Lionel Hampton, Paquito D’Rivera, Arturo Sandoval, Israel “Cachao” Lopez, the Spanish Harlem Orchestra, and the Mingus Big Band. Vega is currently a senior lecturer at the University of Vermont, teaching trumpet and jazz history. An internationally renowned educator, he has been invited to conduct master classes at conservatories and institutes across the United States and around the world.