Southeastern’s Bill Evans Jazz Festival will finish with a performance by the University Jazz Ensemble with pianist and composer Michael Wolff on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the Columbia Theatre.
The Bill Evans Jazz Festival is a signature collegiate event and also hosts the Louisiana Association for Jazz Education State Jazz Festival.
The Southeastern Department of Music and Performing Arts had additional student showcases and educational clinics scheduled throughout the day before the evening concert, which is free of admission
Sat. April 18:
- Student Performances: 9 a.m. to noon and 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Columbia Theatre
- Clinic w/ Guest Artist Michael Wolff: 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. in the Columbia Theatre
- University Jazz Ensemble Concert w/ Guest Artist Michael Wolff: 7:30 PM in the Columbia Theater
Wolff’s concert will conclude the weeklong celebration of the 25th annual festival that honors the seven-time Grammy Award winner and Southeastern alumnus Bill Evans, whose influence helped shape modern jazz piano.
Evans earned his music degree in 1950 and is a Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.
This year’s featured guest artist is Wolff, a composer and director who served as the musical director for “The Arsenio Hall Show” in the 1990s and worked with artists including Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Rollins, Nancy Wilson and Christian McBride.
The closing-night performance will highlight the Southeastern student musicians who collaborated with a nationally recognized jazz artist and experienced working in a big-band setting.
Saturday’s finale will blend classic big-band repertoire, contemporary arrangements and improvisation to reflect tradition and the evolution of jazz.
For jazz fans, the final performance offers a chance to celebrate Southeastern’s connection to one of America’s defining art forms.
