Jazz man: Maryville College’s Dr. Bill Swann to present faculty recital on Jan. 28 at Clayton Center
Jan. 23, 2025
Great jazz recordings abound from some of the most talented individuals to ever pick up an instrument, but none of them compare to hearing the genre performed live.
That’s one reason Dr. Bill Swann, professor of music at Maryville College and chair of the MC Core Curriculum, has put together a faculty recital scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 28, in the Harold and Jean Lambert Recital Hall of the Clayton Center for the Arts.
For a jazz pianist like Swann, few things are more satisfying than bringing a song to life through creativity and improvisation, he said.
“I used to do (recitals) more frequently, maybe even every year for my first few years here at the College, but I plan on doing one of these every couple of years going forward,” said Swann, who stepped down at the end of the 2023-24 academic year as chair of the MC Division of Fine Arts. “As a jazz musician, I wish that, in general, there were more jazz concerts everywhere. I hope that the students who attend this recital get to see how enjoyable and meaningful jazz can be, because a live performance of jazz is generally preferable than listening to a recording.”
Swann even has a few recordings under his own name: His first, “Awake But Somehow Dreaming,” was released in 2002, followed by “One World Over” in 2004 and “Three” in 2005. That record includes the 8-minute “In the Company of Cygnets,” a tune that begins at a languid pace before rising to a frenzy of piano, percussion and bass, a dizzying pirouette of instruments that finally settles into peaceful bliss. “Cygnets” is one of two Swann originals that are on the program next Tuesday, the second being “Hobson’s Choice.”
“I will be playing with David Slack, a bassist who lives here in Maryville and who has taught off and on as an adjunct for the College,” Swann said. “He’s one of my favorite bass players, and he’s a fun person to hang around, so I was happy he agreed to play this concert. There is no specific theme; this is just a collection of tunes that I like and enjoy improvising on.
“I generally try to pick a group of jazz tunes with different vibes, styles and approaches. I do this in part to create an enjoyable experience for the audience, but also because it is simply more fun and rewarding to play a collection of tunes that are different from one and another.”
Other works on the program include “You Look Good to Me” by Lefco and Wells; “Last Train Home,” by Pat Metheny; “Misty” by Errol Garner; “Up Jumped Spring” by Freddie Hubbard; “Wheatland” by Oscar Peterson; “Poinciana” by Nat Simon; “Harlem Nocturne” by Hagen and Rogers; and “I Mean You” by Thelonious Monk.
Swann, who first joined the Maryville College faculty in 1999, earned a bachelor’s of music in studio music and jazz, as well as a master’s of music in Jazz Studies, from the University of Tennessee. He pursued his doctorate of arts in music theory pedagogy from the University of Mississippi, and ever since his return to East Tennessee, he’s been actively involved in the local jazz scene. As the pianist for the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra, he’s performed with some of the most renowned contemporary jazz musicians on stages large and small, and for a number of years, he directed the Maryville College Jazz Band — an ensemble he hopes to restart, he added.
“We are planning on offering Jazz Band during the next academic year (2025-26),” he said. “Our only concern right now is finding a decent meeting time each week for rehearsals.”
It will be an addition to his workload, of course, but without obligations as division chair, he’ll have more time to devote to a jazz band, and to perform faculty recitals as he’ll do on Tuesday.
“As I mentioned before, I used to do these much more frequently, because I think a music department at a college should be making music as often as possible, both faculty and students alike,” he said. “That’s what we came here to do, isn’t it? Make music, and when faculty present recitals, it helps the students see what their teachers are up to and capable of.”
And while it’s no big deal to slide behind the ivories at local venues to join his peers on a set or two, or to play the piano for any of the eight concerts the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra performs each year, there is a bit more awareness that a gig at his place of employment means more attentive eyes and ears on his playing.
“There’s probably a little more pressure, just because people will be listening more attentively than they would in a typical restaurant or bar gig,” he said. “But, in all honesty, it’s more fun to play for people who are actually listening than it is to play for a room of inattentive folks who are eating and drinking.”
Dr. Bill Swann’s faculty piano recital takes place at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 28, in the Lambert Recital Hall of the Clayton Center for the Arts on the Maryville College campus. The performance is free and open to the public, and a reception will follow in the recital hall’s lobby afterward.