After hiatus, Maryville College Jazz Band finds its groove again for Nov. 4 performance
Oct. 21, 2025
It takes more than a few good musicians to make a jazz band swing. It takes critical mass — the right mix of talent, timing and spark. This fall, the Maryville College Jazz Band has reached it once again, marking the triumphant return of one of the College’s most dynamic ensembles.
After a hiatus over the last several years, the MC Jazz Band will return to the stage on Nov. 4 in the Clayton Center for the Arts. With a total of seven members, only three of which are music majors, the driving force behind the combo is enthusiasm, says Dr. Bill Swann, professor of music at Maryville College and himself an accomplished jazz musician.
“For a year or so after COVID, we simply didn’t have enough students who wanted to be in a jazz ensemble,” Swann said. “All ensembles need critical mass to function, and we just didn’t have that. There were other factors, but that was the main issue. And then last year, when it looked like we might have enough instrumental students of the right makeup, Dr. (Eric) Simpson and I talked and thought we could bring the group back.”
So far, the Maryville College Jazz Band consists of an alto saxophonist, a bass clarinet player, two electric guitarists, a bass guitarist, a pianist and a drummer, Swann said.
“All of the students have been great to work with so far, and have really taken to learning to improvise,” Swann added. “I’m super pleased with the progress they’ve made so far, and I think the concert will demonstrate their enthusiasm for these tunes.”
While the Nov. 4 program is still being locked down, the tunes most likely to be on it, Swann said, include:
• “Cold Duck Time,” by Eddie Harris;
• “Revelation,” by Kenny Barron;
• “Footprints,” by Wayne Shorter;
• “Maiden Voyage,” by Herbie Hancock;
• “Pick Up The Pieces,” by the Average White Band;
• “The Groove Merchant,” by Jerome Richardson; and
• “Work Song,” by Nat Adderley.
“All of the songs were chosen for pedagogical reasons; that is, each one presented these student musicians with a set of musical challenges appropriate to their levels of improvisation,” Swann said. “There are no themes or conceits in the set list; just a list of tunes chosen for what each of them forces the students to learn as improvisers.”
For Swann, who values both making and teaching music in equal measure, the time he devotes to his personal jazz career is often replete with lessons he can bring back to Maryville College. He continues to perform as a jazz pianist for the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra — the performance season of which debuted this weekend — and he’s regularly working on his own original compositions. That he can engage in scholarship with the very genre in which he performs and composes, he said, makes his time with the MC Jazz Band incredibly rewarding.
“I love helping young musicians find the ‘next level’ in their development, and the Maryville College Jazz Band is one of the ways I get to do that,” he said. “It also happens to be the way that is closest to my performance training and musical attitudes; it’s also doubly rewarding when I get a set of students who are truly eager to develop their skills in jazz.
“It is a genre that asks a lot of performers, especially beginners, so my goal for the future is as it always has been — to get the most out of each set of students each semester by showing them that this amazing music can be a part of their repertoire if they dedicate themselves to steady, methodical, and patient practice.”
The Maryville College Jazz Band will perform at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4, in the Harold and Jean Lambert Recital Hall of the Clayton Center for the Arts. The performance is free and open to the public.
