TCNJ

25 25 " He was one of the baddest trombone players in all the planet." — Michael Ray, trumpet, Kool and the Gang Arm & Hammer Park hosts TRENTON JAZZ FESTIVAL with headliners Tito Puente, Patti Austin, Oleta Adams, Al Jarreau, and Roberta Flack. DJ and promoter RANDY "NOW" ELLIS turns City Gardens into a CBGB for disaffected suburban youth in New Jersey and Pennsylvania in the 1980s and early 1990s. Comedian Jon Stewart tends bar from 1984–1987. " It was just an incredible and vibrant scene, and there was nothing else like it." —Jon Stewart In 1981 Trenton native JOSEPH PUCCIATTI '76 and wife, SANDRA MILSTEIN-PUCCIATTI MA '80, found Boheme Opera NJ, now based at TCNJ. 1980s 1990s 1950s CLIFFORD ADAMS, who studied music theory at TCNJ, reaches national acclaim as trombonist for hit group Kool and the Gang. 1960s CAPITOL RKO MOVIE THEATER (formerly Taylor Opera House) brings in names like James Brown, Diana Ross and the Supremes. 1970s Nona Hendryx (left) and Sarah Dash (right) top the Billboard chart in 1975 with LaBelle's hit "LADY MARMALADE." Jazz pianist ORRIN EVANS is born in Trenton in 1975. The New York Times calls him a "pugnacious and resourceful postbop pianist." TCNJ's Don Evans Black Box Theater is named for his father, a longtime faculty member who created the college's History of Jazz course. JOHN ABBOTT KENNETH SALERNO DAVID ORBAN THOMAS GRICE joins staff of Junior High 5; teaches LaBelle's Sarah Dash and Nona Hendryx; gives Kool and the Gang 's Clifford Adams his first trombone. TRENTONIANA COLLECTION, TRENTON FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY HEINER FALLAS

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