Marlon and Stephanie Jordan

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Marlon Jordan Quintet with soloist Stephanie Jordan will highlight the 17th annual Martin Luther King Jr. “Realizing the Dream” concert at The University of Alabama’s Moody Music Concert Hall, Saturday, Jan. 14 at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets for the performance are $15 and will go on sale Monday, Jan. 9 at the Moody Music Concert Hall box office. For ticket information or a credit card purchase, call the box office at 205/348-7111.

An accomplished classical musician, Marlon Jordan has performed solo with the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra. His latest CD, “You Don't Know What Love Is,” has been described as classic jazz. He and his quintet have shared the stage with Wynton Marsalis, Miles Davis and George Benson. They also played in some of the country’s top jazz clubs, including the Blue Note and the Ritz, as well as in concerts ranging from New York’s Avery Fisher Hall to Binghamton University.

Stephanie Jordan is the fifth performer to emerge from a family of New Orleans-bred musicians. She appeared at the opening of the Schomburg Center of the New York Public Library, Langston Hughes Auditorium in New York City, performed at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and the Marciac Jazz Festival in France. She has shared a billing with the Count Basie Orchestra at Jazz Aspen in Colorado and has appeared with the New Orleans Ladies of Jazz and at Adagio’s Jazz Club in Savannah, Ga.

Both Stephanie and Marlon Jordan are featured on the CD, “Higher Ground,” a fund-raising tool to benefit the musicians and music industry-related enterprises impacted by Hurricane Katrina and to provide other general hurricane relief.

Local participants in the program will include students from Stillman College, Shelton State Community College, UA and the Tuscaloosa area schools. About 50 students from the Tuscaloosa City Schools’ middle school honors choirs will perform two selections during the concert.

“Hurricane Katrina impacted all of our lives and raised issues of race and class struggles,” said Dr. Samory T. Pruitt, UA vice president for community affairs. “As a committee, we selected New Orleans jazz musicians and social commentary of Dr. King that would reflect and reiterate the relevance of King’s work and his philosophies. His messages and ideas are still living today. We will invite the New Orleans natives who are now residing in the Tuscaloosa area due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina to attend this New Orleans-inspired concert.”

The annual “Realizing the Dream” event, sponsored by UA, Stillman and Shelton State, serves as a lasting tribute to the life and memory of Martin Luther King Jr. by presenting some of America’s best-known performers from the stage, screen and recording studio. Past performers have included Yolanda Adams, Al Green, Ossie Davis, Sidney Poitier, Roberta Flack, Harry Belafonte, Cicely Tyson, Take 6 and Tonea Stewart.