Saxophonist and Northwest legend Warren Rand will showcase the beauty of Jazz as he performs tunes by Tadd Dameron Tuesday night.

The concert will begin at 8 p.m. in Kimbrough Concert Hall and is free to the public. WSU School of Music faculty will accompany Rand in the performance.

“The program will demonstrate a common device in jazz composition, where new melodies are created on the structure of familiar standard tunes,” Rand said. “This practice tends to make the language of jazz more accessible to those who know about it. It's a valuable tool that every aspiring jazz improviser needs to know about.”

Rand said he selected songs by jazz composers that are the most beautiful jazz tunes that use this approach. Any jazz aspirant would be well-advised to learn from them.

“I would have to list Tadd's ‘Hot House’ as my favorite,” he said. "I think that probably the audience favorite will be the blues, ‘The Squirrel’. We are going to play some classic American music, with an emphasis on learning a bit more about it, and we'll probably have a lot of fun doing it!”

Rand studied saxophone and improvisation with Sonny King, Jim Pepper and Rich Halley. Other teachers include Marc Copland, Lee Konitz, Bob Newman and Gary Peacock. He performed extensively with regional and national musicians in jazz and R&B.

Instructor Dave Hagelganz at WSU's School of Music said Rand has been at the top of the heap in Northwest jazz for almost three decades. Anywhere you go, people that really know jazz say his name in hushed tones.

“His style is unique to himself,” Hagelganz said. “The first thing you notice about Warren is his sound and how human and inviting and singing it is. Every note is shaped with such care.”

Matt Lanka, graduate student and teaching assistant in WSU's School of Music, said students are privileged to have this opportunity.

“Warren Rand is a saxophonist who has been a legend on the northwest jazz scene for decades,” Lanka said. “It is an exciting privilege to have him work with music students at WSU."

The music department tends to bring in people who are more involved in the academic world or big name performers, Hagelganz said.

“Warren has nothing to do with any of that; he has made his living just playing jazz," he said. "It’s a different kind of a world when you have to prove yourself every night. As he has said to me, he’s had to reinvent himself so many times just to negotiate that world.”

Hagelganz said this is a great opportunity for students and the community to see a great performance.

“Students are going to encounter a more honest musician that cannot hide behind the halls of academia,” he said. “I think they are going to encounter a more real, more vivid example of a working jazz musician.”