The first concert of the 2024–25 MTSU Jazz Artist Series will feature pianist Michael Jefry Stevens and drummer Art Lillard and include music from the new Keepers of the Flame album from the Lillard/Stevens Sextet.
The concert will be held at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17, in the Hinton Music Hall of the Wright Music Building, 1439 Faulkinberry Dr. on the MTSU campus.
The program will feature arrangements of standard jazz tunes by Duke Ellington and by the songwriting team of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, as well as original compositions and arrangements by Lillard and Stevens.
“The concert will showcase the sound of two musicians that have played together since 1972 and represent music-making at its best,” said MTSU Director of Jazz Studies and Lillard/Stevens Sextet trumpeter Jamey Simmons.
Featured as a part of the sextet along with Simmons will be his fellow MTSU faculty members Don Aliquo (tenor sax) and Jack Aylor (bass) along with East Tennessee trombonist Rick Simerly.
Sextet members will give a free and open master class for the public on Tuesday, Sept. 17, at 4:20 p.m. in Saunders Fine Arts room 101 in the MTSU School of Music.
“The exciting thing for us as teachers is to bring in musicians that have a long-term commitment to the music and show our students what it’s like to have a creative life that explores all kinds of possibilities,” said Simmons.
Asheville-based pianist Michael Jefry Stevens is known as one of the preeminent band leaders, composers and improvisers in jazz, and drummer Art Lillard has maintained a reputation as a drummer in the jazz and musical theater scenes on the East Coast for over five decades.
The Lillard-Stevens collaborations have featured dynamically creative compositions since the duo’s inception in Boston in the 1970s. After both men moved to New York City, they continued working in the ’80s with some of the most prominent musicians on the jazz scene, creating three recordings: Forgotten Wish, Original Music for Sextet and Living Green World Blues.
In the 1990s, Stevens and Lillard parted ways to pursue road gigs and European touring, but the two reunited post-pandemic, recording Keepers of the Flame in 2022 in Asheville, North Carolina.
“As the trumpet player on the recording, I enjoyed the variety of musical moods and compositional approaches that the group utilized,” Simmons said. “This will be a concert that is full of surprises.”
Tickets to the Sept. 17 concert are $10 for the public and free for MTSU students, faculty and staff. For advance tickets, contact Simmons at 615-898-2724 or james.simmons@mtsu.edu. Tickets are also available in the lobby of the Wright Music Building before the concert (only cash or checks will be accepted).
For more information about the MTSU Jazz Artist Series, visit mtsu.edu/music/jazzseries.php.
