Joseph Daley, considered one of America’s jazz elders, spent a week on SPU’s campus in January as this year’s Schoenhals Visiting Artist. Daley is a composer, educator, and musician who has played as a sideman with some of the biggest names in jazz — Sam Rivers, Carla Bley, Gil Evans, Charlie Haden, and Taj Mahal.
The composer-in-residence program was generously sponsored by the Lawrence R. and Ruth E. Schoenhals’ Christian Lectureship in the Fine and Performing Arts Endowment. Daley spent time teaching and mentoring SPU music students, discussing how his faith influences his work. Daley’s week at SPU culminated with a concert that showcased a sample of student compositions before Daley led a large jazz orchestra of Seattle musicians performing his own composition, The Seven Deadly Sins.
“It’s a heavy work,” Daley said, “written, conceived, and driven by the Wade Schuman paintings and the whole concept of the seven deadly sins.” His 2011 CD of the same name received international acclaim from journalists and musicians.
