A sold-out crowd awaits tonight's 7:30 p.m. performance by renowned saxophonist Jimmy Greene at the Crawlspace Theatre in downtown Kalamazoo, kicking of a new season of jazz masters appearing in Kalamazoo at the intimate, 90-seat club.
Greene, a Connecticut-based musician who has performed with legendary bassist Ron Carter for years, will appear with Western Michigan University artists Keith Hall on drums, Matthew Fries on piano, and Carlo de Rosa on bass. The newly-established series is supported by the John Stites Jazz Awards, which has extended its grants for another three years, bringing a guest artist almost ever month of the year.
In a conversation with Greene and Cara Lieurance, Hall says, "We're super grateful to the John Stites Jazz Awards. We obviously could not do it without them.”
Greene talks about his latest album "As We Are Now," a suite exploring simultaneous human emotions commissioned through Chamber Music America's New Works composition grant. Greene describes the project as reflecting "several different emotions or states of being or feeling that happen that aren't sequential, but they happen at the same time."
For Greene, music serves both artistic and deeply personal purposes. His daughter Ana Grace was killed in the Sandy Hook School shootings in December 2012, an experience that profoundly shaped his artistic vision. "Our lives before and our lives after - there's like two different chapters," Greene says. "However, our faith is something that has carried us through and sees us through even to today."
Greene's musical journey began at age 15 when he met saxophone legend Jackie McLean, who became a lifelong mentor. "I can honestly say I don't know what I'd be doing if I'd never met Jackie McLean," Greene states. "His influence was that strong."
While tonight's concert is sold out, Hall encourages determined fans to visit the venue, suggesting "sometimes people leave and that opens up a spot." Information about the full concert series is available at kzoojazz.com.
This interview was summarized by Claude AI and edited by the author.
