LVC’s expanding jazz program to host student and faculty concerts in early May

Lebanon Valley College will host a student jazz orchestra concert on Thursday, May 1, and a faculty jazz orchestra concert on Friday, May 2, showcasing the teaching of guest artist Alan Ferber, a Grammy-nominated jazz trombonist and composer.

Dr. Justin Morell, professor of music at LVC, became friends with now-New York-based Ferber during their time in Los Angeles. Ferber regularly writes for a large ensemble as well as a nine-piece band that he calls a “nonet.”

To prepare for the upcoming performances, the Valley Jazz Orchestra, the college’s large jazz ensemble, is working on “some very wonderful and challenging material” that Ferber has written for a large ensemble, Morell said. Meanwhile, nine musicians are working on material that Ferber has written for a nine-piece band.

The musicians are Ferber on trombone; Dr. Jeff Lovell, LVC professor of music, on piano; Morell on guitar; Ryan Kuhns, LVC adjunct instructor of music, on bass; Larry Marshall, LVC adjunct instructor of music, on drums; Thomas Strohman, LVC professor emeritus, on saxophones; Dave Yinger, LVC alum and Boiling Springs High School band director, on saxophones; Bob Meashey, LVC alum who served as the jazz band’s student director in the 1970s and is now a professional jazz trumpeter, on trumpet; and Greg Strohman, LVC adjunct instructor of music, on trombone.

Morell and Lovell spoke with LebTown about the college’s jazz program that is expanding thanks to a donation from Rich Wengert. Wengert, who was recovering from an illness when LebTown reached out, requested the professors speak on his behalf.

Wengert was in the audience at LVC’s Common Hour Jazz series, which Lovell described as “a low-key jazz experience for students and anybody in the community,” held on the last Tuesday of every month during the academic year.

And then, during a jazz concert in the spring of 2024, “we put a plug in … that we were looking to do some exciting and some, I would say, aspirational kinds of things with the program. And it was going to require some help from the community in order to make that happen. And Rich happened to be at the concert,” Lovell said.

Wengert felt called to support the jazz program, which, according to Lovell, had been working with a small budget prior to Wengert’s donation.

“We were super grateful for his initial contributions. … We’re thrilled about that [his contribution establishing the Thomas Strohman fund for jazz studies] and the possibilities that it can provide for our students and for the community, really,” Lovell said. “[Jazz] is an American art form, and so we should do our best to elevate it as much as possible.”

During the summer of 2024, Wengert met with Lovell and others involved with the jazz program to establish a vision for the program that simultaneously honors its 75-year tradition. Wengert told Lovell that jazz and gardening are the two things that he loves.

Wengert’s donation ultimately established the Strohman Fund for Jazz Studies as well as the Wengert jazz guest artist series.

Since Wengert’s donation, Lovell and others involved with the jazz program have been organizing the first season of the Wengert series, which is financially backed by the Strohman Fund.

While the official plan is still to come, Morell said the tentative plan features two significant residencies each semester.

One would involve a high-profile guest artist working with the Valley Jazz Orchestra. Depending on whether the guest artist is a performer or composer, the jazz band would perform alongside the guest artist or be led in a performance of the guest artist’s compositions.

In some cases, like Ferber, the jazz band will perform the guest artist’s compositions alongside the guest artist themselves.

The other residency would involve another high-profile guest artist coming to campus for some sort of musical performance with the jazz program, not necessarily a full concert with the Valley Jazz Orchestra.

In addition to these two significant residencies each semester, the jazz program also hopes to attract local artists and ensembles to campus for collaboration.

LVC’s jazz program over the years

Lebanon Valley College hosted its first jazz concert on campus in May 1950. According to Lovell, Don Trostle, then a senior music major and later “a very well-regarded band director,” led the concert.

“Jazz wasn’t part of the curriculum. It was, in fact, kind of under the radar. … It wasn’t an approved kind of pursuit by the music department,” Lovell said. “And so, the students organized these performances, rehearsals for the jazz band on their own.”

Lovell said these student-led jazz concerts, rehearsals, and dances continued to be held on campus throughout the ’50s. In 1960, the Iota Kappa chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, a fraternity for men with an interest in music, was established on campus.

While the college still did not include jazz in its music curriculum, the fraternity organized a jazz band, initially called the LVC jazz band, that was led by student directors from 1961 to 1987.

The LVC jazz band performed alongside guest artists from across the country, but mostly from New York, in its annual concerts, usually held in the winter. The band also competed against other jazz bands at festivals. In addition, the LVC band recorded several albums from the mid-’70s to the early ’80s.

Thomas Strohman, professor emeritus of music, saxophone, flute, and jazz studies at LVC, ran the jazz band full-time from 1987 to 2015 and part-time from 2015 to 2019, when Lovell and Morell became co-directors. The college eventually added a jazz concentration to its bachelor’s degree program for music majors.

“When we think of the legacy of jazz at LVC, I can’t think of anybody else more important than Tom Strohman,” Lovell said.

“He’s been a staple of our jazz program here for years, and not to mention just in the entire region, really,” Morell echoed.

During their time as co-directors of the jazz band, which was renamed the Valley Jazz Orchestra in recent years, Lovell and Morell have worked to honor the legacy of the college’s jazz band. That has included hosting several concerts on campus throughout the year, as well as seeking opportunities for the jazz band to perform in the community.

This February, the Valley Jazz Orchestra performed at the annual gala for the Lebanon chapter of the NAACP, which, Lovell said, was “a great experience for our students.”

In addition to live performances, Lovell and Morell have led the jazz band in completing recording projects, including the Vicious Fishes jazz vinyl album in September 2024 that marked the “first” vinyl recorded by the college’s jazz band since the 1970s.

Morell said there were several reasons that the jazz band ultimately decided to create Vicious Fishes: “One was to honor the legacy of the jazz tradition here at LVC because the bands that were here many years ago did do their own recording projects. And so, we wanted to try to recreate that same spirit. And we were really proud of the work that our students had been doing and wanted to find a way to document that.”

In addition, the vinyl, which has been “really well-received,” according to Morell, serves as an introduction to LVC’s jazz program and what it is able to achieve for people across the region who might not be able to come to campus to learn about the program otherwise.

“So, it’s not just a, I think, meaningful representation of what we’re trying to accomplish here,” Lovell said. “But also, I think it really highlights and showcases the exceptional writing of my colleague [Morell] and trying to give that, his music, a voice that’s, I think, representative of the great music that he writes.”

With the exception of the compositions, Vicious Fishes was created by LVC students who performed alongside guest artists, recorded the performance, engineered the recording, and handled other logistics involved in the creation of a vinyl album.

The Vicious Fishes vinyl album cover was designed by Dana Lovell, daughter of the professor of music at LVC.

“When we talk about immersive experiences at LVC, this is exactly the kind of thing that we’re talking about,” Lovell said. To learn more about the LVC jazz band, click here.