UCM Music Welcomes Jazz Saxophonist, Scholar Melvin Butler

Guest artist Dr. Mevin Butler, jazz saxaphonist and scholar, visits UCM in April.

WARRENSBURG, MO – University of Central Missouri (UCM) Music welcomes jazz saxophonist, scholar, and Kansas City native Dr. Melvin Butler, associate professor of music at the University of Miami, for a two two-day residency on campus, April 19-20. His visit includes a  performance and a lecture that are free and open to the public.

On April 19, Butler will be the featured guest artist at the Spring Jazz Ensembles Concert in Hendricks Hall. The concert begins at 7 p.m.

An internationally acclaimed jazz saxophonist, Butler has performed with Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band for more than two decades. He is featured with this ensemble on several albums, including the Grammy-nominated “Landmarks” (Verve 2014). The UCM Jazz Ensembles, under the direction of Dr. David
Aaberg, will feature Butler on charts by Bob Mintzer, Bill Holman, David Caffey, and others.

The second day of his visit, April 20, Butler will present a lecture at 10 a.m. titled “Performing Transcendence: Improvisation, Instrumentality, and the Cultural Politics of Flow in Black Sacred Music.” The lecture will take place in Utt Music Building, Room 008. During this presentation, Butler will examine how African American musical genres such as jazz and gospel are tied to longstanding discourses of cultural belonging, racial authenticity, and spiritual value. Music, Butler posits, is a creative yet controversial resource for performers and practitioners who strive either to maintain the sanctity or celebrate the fluidity of their traditions. His talk highlights the cultural politics of musical flow at the crossroads of local and global practice.

Butler’s visit to campus is supported by the Florence Hull Greer-Oppenheimer General Studies Program, UCM Music Jazz Area, and UCM Music Academic Area.