Conducted by Mark Laycock, the Wichita State Symphony Orchestra is set to take the stage Saturday with renowned jazz singer Tierney Sutton and her band for the final night of the Wichita Jazz Festival. 

The band will be the headliner as it winds up the annual two-day event to celebrate jazz music in Wichita. 

This weekend will mark the 42nd year of the festival focused around band, world and contemporary jazz music. 

A three-time Grammy nominee for “Best Jazz Vocal Album,” Sutton has been the vocalist for the band for more than 20 years and is the vocal department head at The Los Angeles Music Academy in Pasadena, Calif.

“A lot of jazz fans enjoy Sutton because she is a vocal performer,”  said Matthew Grenier, executive director of the Wichita Jazz Festival. Grenier has found that because of Sutton’s emphasis on vocal performance, she appeals to a wide audience, not just jazz fans. 

The Tierney Sutton Band plays Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Duerksen Fine Arts Center in Miller Concert Hall. Tickets are free for students with ID; otherwise, tickets cost $30 for adults and $10 for children.

WSU band members have been promoting the festival at concerts, advertising on Facebook and coordinating with the Wichita Swing Dance Society (WSDS) to play live music at swing dance lessons. 

The partnership with the WSDS was an initiative by director of Jazz Ensemble Geoffrey Deibel to stir up more interest in the jazz department leading into the festival. 

The partnership, originally thought of by senior Caleb Alexander, began as a dance harkening to the sockhops of the 50’s with live music. From there, it transitioned into free swing dance lessons, during which the Jazz Ensemble would play music. 

“There was nothing else to do on campus,” Alexander said. “It was a goal to spur campus life.”

“The event overall was very successful,” Deibel said. The second event, which took place last Wednesday, had a good turnout, but Alexander thinks that because it had to compete with Hippodrome, it wasn’t as well-attended as it could have been. 

Alexander and the rest of the Jazz Ensemble will be joining up for the WSU Jazz Invitational on Friday. The invitational is a day of big band concerts featuring local ensembles from middle school, high school and college levels. 

The free event will take place Friday at the Duerksen Fine Arts Center in Miller Concert Hall, beginning at 8:30 a.m. Former WSU Director of Jazz Studies Tom Fowler and his daughter Julie Bradley, will perform to round out the first evening’s festivities at 7:30 p.m.

Attendance to all first day activities is free to the public and WSU students.