Jazz pianist Harold Danko will headline the final concert of MTSU’s 2011-12 Jazz Artist Series, which will be held March 31 in conjunction with the MTSU Jazz Festival in the Wright Music Building.

Danko’s 7:30 p.m. concert in the Hinton Music Hall inside the WMB will be the culmination of the daylong festival’s events.

The concert also will feature the MTSU Jazz Ensemble 1 as well as MTSU jazz faculty members accompanying Danko in selections by Thad Jones, Gerry Mulligan and Woody Herman and some of the pianist’s own compositions.

The jazz festival, which begins at 8:30 a.m. in Hinton Hall, will feature improvisational clinics, instrumental master classes and a clinic by Danko, “The Improviser as Composer,” at 2:30 p.m.

“The festival is dedicated to offering both junior-high and high-school students an individual focus on the jazz style and the art of jazz improvisation,” said Jamey Simmons, professor of jazz trumpet and director of jazz studies at MTSU.

“With two sessions by MTSU faculty and students geared toward improvisation, in addition to the inclusion of the students on the night concert, it will be of great value to area students interested in furthering their mastery of the jazz style.”

Simmons added that as one of Danko’s students, “I saw him living this example of both improvising and composing at the highest level.”

Danko is one of the most in-demand pianists on the scene today, having performed and recorded with Jones, Mulligan and Herman as well as Chet Baker and Lee Konitz. He currently serves as professor of jazz studies at the Eastman School of Music.

Tickets to the 7:30 p.m. concert are $15 each for the general public. MTSU students, faculty and staff can attend free with a valid ID.

For more information and to register for the MTSU Jazz Festival, please visit www.mtsu.edu/music/jazzfest.shtml. Admission to the daylong festival will cost $15 per student and includes tickets to Danko’s concert.

Find more information on Danko online at www.esm.rochester.edu/faculty/danko_harold.