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SEMJA Brunch at Baker's To Honor Ernie Rodgers on May 16 

Detroit saxophonist and educator Ernie Rodgers has been selected for this year's SEMJA Award. He will be given the award at a Jazz Brunch at Baker's Keyboard Lounge in Detroit on Sunday, May 16, from 1 to 4 p.m. The brunch will feature music by the Ernie Rodgers Quartet and his former students. 
In his many years at Northwestern High School and Wayne State University he trained a number of now prominent musicians.  We have invited them to the brunch to celebrate his accomplishments in speech and music. We will also serve a brunch buffet. More details will be found in the next issue of the UPDATE. For now, please mark your calendars for this celebration of a great jazz educator!

Ernie Rodgers moved to Detroit in 1947 from Monroe. He had started on the clarinet in his hometown and (once in Detroit) he changed to the alto saxophone. Rodgers studied saxophone under the world- renowned musician and educator Larry Teal and received degrees from Wayne State University and Eastern Michigan University. He has performed with many top jazz performers, including. Sammy Davis Jr., Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Quincy Jones, and Wynton Marsalis. In Detroit his parents started the legendary Rapa House, an after-hours performance space for Detroit musicians. He is the leader of three Rapa House bands varying in size from 6 to 18 pieces. His career as an educator began at Northwestern High School where he founded the Jazz Ensemble in 1971. He is currently teaching in the Jazz Studies Program at Wayne State University where he is the director of Lab Band II. This year he will take over as President of the Michigan chapter of the International Association of Jazz Educators.