The music department will host a free jazz concert featuring guest musician Andrew Bishop Sept. 28 at 8 p.m. 

Bishop, who is the chair of jazz and contemporary improvisation and professor of music at the University of Michigan, will play saxophone for the performance in Plaster Auditorium. 

Hillsdale Director of Jazz Ensembles Chris McCourry will accompany Bishop on the trumpet.

“He is one of finest saxophone and reedists in the state,” McCourry said. 

Bishop also will be accompanied by Bijan Taghavi, a Hillsdale College instructor of music, on the piano; Larry Ochiltree, a drum instructor at the college, on the drums; and Kurt Krahnke, another guest musician, on the bass. 

The concert is the first of 12 jazz performances the music department will host throughout the year, senior John Schaefer said. 

“The music department is always putting out events throughout the school year with guest performances,” Schaefer said. 

Schaefer said Bishop’s performance is exciting for music students because of his expertise on the saxophone and musical understanding.

Bishop has two bachelor’s degrees in theory composition and saxophone from Wichita State University, two master’s degrees in music composition and improvisation from the University of Michigan, and a doctorate in music composition from U of M, according to the University of Michigan’s faculty biography. 

“He is incredible at exposition, we got sent some of his music sheets for the performance and the music is insanely complicated,” Schaefer said. 

The concert will have a setlist of nine songs: “This I Dig of You” by Hank Mobley, “Lost Daughter” by Chris McCourry, “Triste” by Antonio Carlos Jobim, “Hand Springs” by Andrew Bishop, “Beatrice” by Sam Rivers, “A B in’ It” by Chris McCourry, “Currents and Tides” by Andrew Bishop, “My 1986” by Andrew Bishop, and “Blue Bunny” by Chris McCourry.

“I am super excited for the performance,” Schaefer said. “I really like smaller jazz combos so it will be really cool.”