Grammy-nominated jazz violinist Regina Carter will headline two Northern Michigan University music events. She and her ensemble, Southern Comfort, will perform for the Northern Nights series at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 16, in Kaufman Auditorium. Carter will also play with the NMU Jazz Band and Jazz Combo at the NMU Jazz Festival closing concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 17, in Reynolds Recital Hall. 

Tickets for each performance can be purchased separately at all EZ ticket outlets, at www.nmu.edu/tickets or by calling 227-1032. Prices for Thursday are $5 advance/$6 at the door for students/kids; $13/$15 for NMU employees and seniors 60+; and $18/$20 for the general public. The Friday concert is $6 for NMU students, $8 for other students and $11 for the general public. 

Carter is considered by some as the foremost jazz violinist of her generation. She was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. On her upcoming release, “Southern Comfort," she explores the folk music of the South. Earlier albums include “I’ll Be Seeing You: A Sentimental Journey," which features her mother’s favorite early jazz standards, and “Reverse Thread,” which celebrates the tradition of African music re-imagined for violin, accordion, bass, drums and kora. Her new album explores the folk tunes her paternal grandfather, a coal miner, would have heard as he toiled in Alabama and expands to other folk tunes of the region.

Carter’s appearance is funded in part by a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.  While in Marquette, she will conduct workshops with string students in Marquette Area Public Schools and clinics with the students attending the annual NMU Jazz Festival.