ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, February 28, 1997              TAG: 9702280048
SECTION: CURRENT                  PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER

PENN COMES HOME TO PULASKI TO PLAY

A Pulaski native will come home to perform with his musical group from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. today at the T.G. Howard Center.

William Penn, voted "Best Area Musician" for 1996 in a Roanoker magazine readers' poll, will bring the jazz, big band and contemporary sounds of his William Penn Trio to Pulaski.

The performance is sponsored by the Pulaski County branch of the NAACP. Admission is a $10 donation.

The branch will also sponsor a potluck dinner at the Howard Center at 6 p.m. Saturday. The activities are part of its celebration of Black History Month.

The trio has been the core band for the original musical production of "Henry Street" and was featured in the public television production of that show. It also performed on PBS in the WBRA-TV production of "Christmas in the Blue Ridge."

The group has played up and down the East Coast, and at such events as he 25th anniversary of the Roanoke Civic Center, 30th anniversary of New River Community Action, Roanoke's Festival in the Park, and the theatrical production "Bubbling Brown Sugar" at Roanoke's Grandin Theatre and Roanoke College's Olin Hall. It has entertained at the Greenbrier Resort, Homestead Resort, Martha Washington Inn, Hotel Roanoke and elsewhere.

Penn, who lives in Roanoke, has worked in music for 20 years as a director, arranger, composer and actor, as well as being a church organist.

He has recorded with the Fantastic Six and Johnny Porrazzo. He created an improvisational jazz workshop for the Hollins College Keyboard Festival. He has been a featured speaker at career days in area schools.

Penn is a Bluefield State College graduate with a degree in elementary education with a minor in music. He has done graduate work in music at Radford University. He has worked with Total Action Against Poverty as coordinator for the Dumas Hotel Music Center since 1994.

LENGTH: Short :   44 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  William Penn and his trio to play in Pulaski.