Saxophonist Steve Wilson will help the MTSU School of Music close out its 2015-16 Jazz Artist Series on Saturday, March 19, with a special concert to cap the daylong MTSU Illinois Jacquet Jazz Festival.

Steve Wilson

The MTSU Faculty Jazztet and MTSU Jazz Ensemble 1 will join Wilson for the 7:30 p.m. concert in Hinton Music Hall inside the university’s Wright Music Building.

Tickets are $10 general admission for the March 19 performance, and admission is free for MTSU students, faculty and staff with a valid ID. Discounts for area music students and educators also are available.

Wilson, who’s been featured on more than 150 albums by artists that include Chick Corea, George Duke, Michael Brecker, Maria Schneider and Dianne Reeves, also has released seven successful albums of his own as a bandleader. Newark, New Jersey’s WBGO radio called his newest release, “Wilsonian’s Grain: Live in New York,” “jazz at its finest — in conception, execution and spontaneity.”

He also will conduct a free jazz clinic at 2:45 p.m. March 19 inside Hinton Hall for festival participants.

“The evening concert will showcase his abilities alongside our student and faculty artists,” said Jamey Simmons, who serves as coordinator of the Jazz Studies Program in MTSU’s School of Music.

Advance tickets may be reserved by calling 615-898-2724 or emailing Simmons at james.simmons@mtsu.edu. Tickets also can be purchased at the door.

The MTSU Jazz Artist Series, which is closing out its 17th season, brings internationally renowned jazz artists to campus for performances and educational workshops.

The annual Jazz Festival, an educational event, offers junior high and high school instrumental and vocal students an individual focus on the jazz style and the art of jazz improvisation. The day’s full schedule is available at www.mtsu.edu/music/jazzfest.php.

The MTSU School of Music renamed its annual Jazz Festival this year to honor the American jazz tenor saxophonist Jean-Baptiste “Illinois” Jacquet, who died in 2004 after a storied 60-year-plus career that deeply influenced artists in jazz, rhythm and blues and rock ‘n’ roll. The Illinois Jacquet Foundation established a new MTSU jazz scholarship in 2014.

The Illinois Jacquet Foundation has more information about Jacquet at its website, www.illinoisjacquetfoundation.org. You can watch an excerpt from a documentary on Jacquet below.

For more information on Wilson and his work, visit his website, www.stevewilsonmusic.com. For more information about MTSU’s Jazz Artist Series, visit www.mtsu.edu/music/jazzseries.php.

For details on MTSU School of Music performances anytime, please visit www.mtsumusic.com or call 615-898-2493.

— Gina E. Fann (gina.fann@mtsu.edu)