TICKETS are $10 General/$5 Student.

Concerts and events made possible, in part, with support from the Wells Philanthropic Services provided by grants from the John, Anna, and Martha Jane Fields Memorial Trust Foundation and the Florence V. Carroll Charitable Trust, The Esther and George Jaruga Charitable Foundation, the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County's ArtsEverywhere initiative, and the Arts Project Support Grant and Arts Recovery Grant through the Indiana Arts Commission.

Our Home Grown Jazz Performance Series presents the Don Lerman Quartet, featuring Don Lerman on saxophone, Larry Dwyer on piano, Darrel Tidaback on bass, and Lannie Turner on drums.

In this second tribute to the music of the great Duke Ellington, the Don Lerman quartet will perform music written by the Duke as well as compositions from Billy Strayhorn, Johnny Hodges, Juan Tizol, and his son Mercer Ellington. The quartet includes Don Lerman on saxophone, Larry Dwyer on piano, Darrel Tidaback on bass, and Lannie Turner on drums, each of whom participated in their first Duke tribute in January 2020.

Don Lerman, a native of South Bend who graduated from Riley High School, spent many years performing on sax and clarinet in big bands around the Washington, D.C., area, most notably with the Harry James Orchestra that continued after the legendary big band trumpeter’s death in 1983. His influences include Art Pepper, Lucky Thompson, Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz, Charlie Parker and Gerry Mulligan.

Larry Dwyer, on piano: Mr. Dwyer is a graduate of Notre Dame, where he was Outstanding Bandsman (1966), trombone soloist all four years with the concert band, and twice named “Best Trombonist” at the Collegiate Jazz Festival. He earned his Masters degree in music education and did doctoral studies at the University of Illinois. He is Associate Teaching Professor in Jazz, and Assistant Director of Bands at Notre Dame.

Dwyer has been principal trombonist of the South Bend Symphony Pops Orchestra and pianist with his own jazz trio. He has performed with such jazz greats as Thad Jones, Clark Terry, Sonny Stitt, and Sarah Vaughan. Among his jazz band compositions are a religious trilogy: The Old Beelzebub Blues, Lord Save the Sinner, and The Abha Kingdom. His orchestral arrangements of the music of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman and others have been performed and recorded by the South Bend Symphony, Houston Pops, Utah Symphony, and Rochester Philharmonic. Prior to teaching at Notre Dame, Mr. Dwyer taught band and jazz band in the South Bend public schools, and was director of jazz studies at Concordia University in Montreal.

Darrel Tidaback is a South Bend bassist with a history of directing the IUSB Jazz Ensemble and Twin Cities Jazz Orchestra. He began his college teaching career at St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, Texas in 1990. Darrel may be heard with jazz and orchestral groups throughout the region. He has performed on more than twenty recordings including his own Time ines. Darrel holds an undergraduate degree in music from Saint Mary’s University and a Master of Music degree in string bass performance from the University of Texas, San Antonio.

Lannie Turner is a professional drummer. He has played toured and recorded with Albert King (blues great), Michael Woff (Arsenio Hall) Phil Perry (MCA recording artist). Lannie was signed with Warner Brothers Records and played in the American Tribal love Rock Musical “Hair”. Lannie is a drum instructor and plays in the Indiana-Chicago area.