Irvin Mayfield, a jazz trumpet player/composer at the University of New Orleans and 2009 Grammy Award winner, has used a one-year ATLAS award to complete a jazz suite titled Elysian Fields, that serves as a tribute to the victims of Hurricane Katrina – particularly his own father – and a poignant celebration of the rebirth of New Orleans. The suite, performed by the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, premiered at UNO’s Commencement exercises and in a free concert in New Orleans’ Washington Square Park in May 2010. The Orchestra has gone on to perform the work at festivals across the country and on an eight-city tour of Brazil throughout the summer and fall; their tour culminated in a performance at Carnegie Hall in New York.
