MARQUETTE, Mich.--Violinist Regina Carter has canceled her scheduled appearances this weekend at the Northern Michigan University Jazz Festival and at the Northern Nights performing arts series because of a death in her family.  Vibraphonist Stefon Harris will fill in for Carter at Friday's (April 11) 7:30 p.m. closing concert at Kaufman Auditorium. Tickets are $6 with an NMU ID, $8 for students and $11 for the general public.

The Northern Nights series will not seek a replacement artist, but will attempt to reschedule Carter's concert with her ensemble, Southern Comfort, at a later date.

Harris is a performer and composer, as well as a jazz educator.  His artistry, energetic stage presence, and astonishing virtuosity have propelled him into the forefront of the current jazz scene. Widely recognized and lauded by both his peers and jazz critics alike, Harris is committed to both exploring the rich potential of jazz composition and blazing new trails on the vibraphone.

A graduate of Manhattan School of Music, Harris received a bachelor's degree in classical music and a master's degree in jazz performance. He is a recipient of the prestigious Martin E. Segal Award from Lincoln Center and has earned three Grammy nominations, including Best Jazz Album for The Grand Unification Theory (2003) and the 2001 release of Kindred (Blue Note), and Best Jazz Instrumental Solo for his 1999 release of Black Action Figure (Blue Note).  He has recorded and toured with a wide range of artists, including Joe Henderson, Wynton Marsalis, David Sanborn, Cassandra Wilson, Buster Williams, Kenny Barron, Charlie Hunter, Kurt Elling, Cyrus Chestnut, Steve Coleman and Steve Turre. Harris has also toured and recorded with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and performed his original compositions with the Dutch Metropole Orchestra. His travels have taken him to South Africa, Brazil and Europe for performances at the North Sea Jazz Festival, the Istanbul Jazz Festival and the Umbria Jazz Festival.

An active educator, Harris conducts clinics and lectures throughout the country. He currently teaches at New York University and is artist in residence at Fontana Chamber Arts (Kalamazoo, Mich.) and the University of Nebraska - Lincoln, and has held similar posts with San Francisco Performances, The Isabelle Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, and The Monk Institute in Los Angeles. He also created a unique interactive program with poets from around the world at the University of Iowa’s famed International Writer’s Workshop. He returned there in September 2004 to participate in “The Life of Discovery” as part of a statewide celebration of arts and humanities. Harris has served on the Executive Board of Directors for Chamber Music America, the Board of Directors for WBGO-FM (Newark, NJ), and was a resource leader for the International Association of Jazz Educators.

For additional information about Stefon Harris, please visit his website:  www.stefonharris.com.