Getting in some last-minute fine tuning, the SIU Jazz Combo works ahead of the April 14 performance at SIU Carbondale. Isaac Lausell (bass), an associate professor of music and jazz studies director, works with (from left) SIU students Dylan Fitzwater (piano), Paul Dunklin (trombone), Max Sawyer (saxophone) and Nick Lyon (trumpet). (Photo by Russell Bailey)
April 04, 2025
SIU School of Music celebrates jazz in April
CARBONDALE, Ill. — The SIU School of Music will celebrate jazz with two performances in April that feature the musical talents of students and faculty.
The performances are part of Jazz Appreciation Month, said Isaac Lausell, an associate professor of music and director of jazz studies.
The SIU Jazz Combo will perform A Jazz Appreciation Month Recital at 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 14, in the Old Baptist Foundation Recital Hall. The free performance will be in a chamber music format and feature trumpet, saxophone, trombone and a rhythm section comprising piano and bass.
The ensemble will perform arrangements Lausell wrote with some originals and standards, he said. Some of the selections include an arrangement of Mongo Santamaria’s “Afro Blue,” Pat Metheny’s “Come and See” and “Manteca” by Dizzy Gillespie, Gil Fuller and Chano Pozo.
On April 29, the SIU Studio Jazz Orchestra will present its final spring recital at 7:30 p.m. in Shryock Auditorium. The performance is $10 with free admission for SIU faculty, staff and students with ID. The concert will premiere Lausell’s “The Jazz Suite,” a five-movement work that features a collection of base forms and rhythmic structures that compose the jazz genre.
The celebration kicked off April 1 with a concert by the SIU Studio Jazz Orchestra.
Philip Brown, a composer, jazz artist and professor emeritus of double bass and jazz studies at SIU, pieced together similar programs “to celebrate jazz appreciation,” Lausell said.
“Thanks to the growth our school has experienced, we have been able to staff both ensembles for the first time and bring back these ensemble courses the students enjoy so much,” he said.
More than a century old
Lausell explained that jazz evolved from late 19th century musical practices, including the blues and ragtime, with an amalgamation of West African, French and Latin American musical traditions.
“Jazz is sometimes perceived in a distant light,” Lausell said. “I would like to facilitate the understanding of jazz as an American art music genre, and alongside the blues, the foundation of American popular music.
“It is in jazz that we first see a rhythm section, a drum set, the electric guitar and so many musical practices that influenced everything from country and rock to R&B. In order to meet this goal, we want the audience to experience both historical jazz works as well as new ones that continue to draw from popular culture.”