YSU Jazz Ensemble pays tribute to Chuck Mangione and Eddie Palmieri; premieres new music by graduate student Andrea Richard

The YSU Jazz Studies Area will present the Jazz Ensemble, directed by Kent J. Engelhardt, on Monday, Nov. 24, 2025, at 7:30 p.m. in Ford Theater in Bliss Hall.

The concert will open with “Children of Sanchez,” a tribute to Chuck Mangione, one of the initiators of the YSU jazz scholarship now known as the Tony Leonardi Jazz Scholarship.

“Consummation” by Thad Jones will feature Stephen Enos, the new jazz trumpet instructor at YSU.

Vocalist Lizzie Jadue will perform “Almost Like Being in Love” by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe and “Walkin’ My Baby Back Home” by Roy Turk and Fred Ahlert, as recorded by Natalie Cole and Nat King Cole. She will conclude her portion of the concert with “This Christmas” by Donny Hathaway.

The YSU Jazz Ensemble will premiere a new arrangement of “Turbo” by Cory Wong, arranged by graduate student Andrea Richard. “Chase the Clouds Away” by Chuck Mangione will follow, and the ensemble will close the concert with the mambo “Palmas,” a tribute to Latin jazz innovator Eddie Palmieri.

Richard is a saxophonist, flutist, clarinetist, pianist, arranger and music educator from Kasson, Minnesota. She graduated from Kasson-Mantorville High School, where her band director, Tony Boldt, inspired her to pursue music.

Richard is passionate about bringing her pop and funk arrangements into the classroom to engage younger musicians. She has premiered her arrangements of “Better” by Cody Fry and Cory Wong, “Golden” by Cory Wong, “Rosanna” by Toto, and “Miami” by Lucky Chops with the YSU Jazz Ensemble in 2024 and 2025.

Richard won the 2024 Young Artists Competition at YSU and performed the Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble by David Maslanka with the YSU Wind Ensemble in 2025.

She studied with YSU alumnus Russ Peterson at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, where she earned her Bachelor of Music in instrumental music education. She is currently a graduate assistant pursuing a music performance degree at the Dana School of Music at YSU, studying saxophone with James Umble and arranging with Kent Engelhardt.

The concert is free and open to the public. Parking is available in the Wick Avenue Deck (M30) for a $5 cash fee.