After a successful career as a promotion director for A&M Records where he worked with big artists like Frank Sinatra, St. Louis area local Ross Gentile worked as a DJ for WIBV, KSHE and WZQZ, and was a regular presence as an emcee at live jazz events in the St. Louis area including our very own Florissant Civic Center Theatre.  He died in February 2013 at age 60.

Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville played host to the first tribute concert honoring Mr. Gentile last September in the Meridian Ballroom at the Morris University Center.  We are honored to be asked by his family to host a second fun and fast-moving Christmas version of that memorial concert where even more musicians and vocalists will be invited to perform in tribute to this “homegrown” national champion and force behind the growth and development of many professional jazz musicians.