Bill Evans Jazz Festival

Honoring one of its most distinguished alumni, SLU Department of Fine and Performing Arts' annual Bill Evans Jazz Festival presents four days of free performances by the Alumni Jazz Ensemble, the SLU Jazz Combos, and SLU jazz faculty. This year's festival also features a masterclass with guest artist Mike Esneault. An Emmy Award-winning pianist and composer, Esneault has enjoyed success across many mediums including television, cinema, and radio, in addition to his triumphs as a recording artist. He has recorded more than 30 scores for the Public Broadcasting Service and his arrangements have been performed by orchestras around the world, in places such as Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl. The SLU Jazz Ensemble will play several of his compositions in concert. 

Also part of proceedings is the Louisiana Association for Jazz Education (LAJE) State Music Festival, a competition with performances by area middle and high school jazz ensembles taking place from Friday morning through noon Saturday. A Southeastern Jazz Faculty Concert with Mike Esneault takes place on Friday at 7:30 pm; he returns to play with the Southeastern Jazz Ensemble on Saturday at 3 pm. Both take place in the Pottle Music Building Recital Hall on the SLU campus. (985) 549-2184 or southeastern.edu.