Bellarmine University celebrates the 25th year for its jazz guitar clinic, where participants can study, polish and perfect their fingerboard technique, be-bop, ensemble, comping, ear training and more. The two-day clinic, which will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, June 6 and Tuesday, June 7, culminates in a live performance featuring virtuosos Jack Wilkins, Jeff Sherman and Gene Bertoncini. Non-participants may also attend the concert.

To further mark the quarter-century milestone, this year’s clinic will be a tribute to the late Jimmy Raney, a Louisville native who the New York Times called “one of the most gifted and influential postwar jazz guitarists in the world.”

“Jimmy was the brilliant bebop guitar player from Louisville and the person I consulted when I first conceived of the clinic 26 years ago,” says Sherman. “Jimmy then served as a clinician/performer from the first concert until his death in 1995. For this year's clinic I chose artists who knew Jimmy and performed with him at Bellarmine as well as other venues around the country.”

Enrollment is limited for the clinic, which will take place in the Bellarmine Music Department. The concert will take place June 6th at 7:30 in the Amy Cralle Theatre of Wyatt Hall on the Bellarmine campus. Tickets to the concert are $7.00 in advance at Music-Go-Round and $10.00 at the door. The tuition for the two-day clinic is $100.00. More information is available by calling 502-272-8182 or at bit.ly/jazzclinic.

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Photo: Flickr/derekGavey