Jazz Festival
The 51st Annual PSU Jazz Festival is planned for
March 7, 2025
Performances will be at the Bicknell Family Center for the Arts on campus and Memorial Auditorium and Convention Center in Downtown Pittsburg.
About the PSU Jazz Festival
The 1st Annual Jazz Festival Concert was held in 1968 in Carney Auditorium at what was then called Kansas State College of Pittsburg.
The festival in its current format was started in 1974 by Professor Russell Jones with just 14 bands. In 1978, he passed the baton to Professor Robert Kehle, who continued to grow it until his retirement in 2023. It’s now coordinated by a committee of music faculty.
Recent festivals have attracted more than 70 middle and high school jazz bands from across the Four State Area, each of whom perform for a guest judge with high credentials. It's an unparralled learning experience as well as an incredible opportunity to hear peer school jazz bands.
The day culminates with a high-energy concert at Memorial Auditorium in Downtown Pittsburg with the PSU Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Combo as the opening act and featuring an internationally acclaimed jazz band as the headliner.
It has become a landmark cultural event for the area, the university, and the state of Kansas.
“Bob Kehle has done a wonderful job of turning the festival into a must-see event, inspiring countless students, educators, and professional musicians. It’s an incredibly exciting event that the students and the community look forward to each year.” — Professor Todd Hastings, director of the PSU Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Combo.
Featured Artist
The Yellowjackets
Throughout their storied 35+ year history, the Yellowjackets have recorded 22 albums, received 17 Grammy® nominations – and won 2 – performed countless sold-out tours, and enjoyed worldwide critical acclaim and commercial success.
The Yellowjackets formed in the late 1970s as the backup band for guitarist Robben Ford. They recorded their first album together in 1980. Shortly after that recording, however, Ford decided to part ways and go in a different musical direction.
As a result, the modern day Yellowjackets were formed — a trio with Russell Ferrante, Jimmy Haslip and Ricky Lawson. Since then, and with the addition of Bob Mintzer, the Yellowjackets have gained and maintained prominence as one of jazz’s most influential and loved groups.
Over the years the band has undergone numerous lineup changes. Never failing to rise to the inevitable challenges of adjustment, the Yellowjackets - Russell Ferrante, William Kennedy, Bob Mintzer - have maintained anextraordinarily high quality of musicianship that is the rival of many but a surprise to no one who knows and appreciates the band and their music.
The most recent addition to the band adds Australian bass player Dane Alderson in to the mix. With his exceptional rhythmic sensibility and natural disposition toward groove, Dane brings a new energy to the band and adds a youthful approach to the music.
The Yellowjackets newest album, “Raising Our Voice,” was released on Mack Avenue Records in Fall 2018 and features special guest vocalist Luciana Souza.
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