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The WSU Faculty Artist Series has featured clarinet, piano, strings and vocals, but tonight Jazz Northwest will take the stage to share their multi-instrumental tunes. All of the charts being performed are arrangements or original compositions by faculty members.

Jazz Northwest was put together in the early 1990s by Greg Yasinitsky, who currently plays multiple saxophones in the group and is a saxophone and composition professor in WSU’s school of music.

“I wanted to give an opportunity to represent all the faculty musicians at WSU who play jazz,” Yasinitsky said.

The rest of the group is comprised of a full rhythm section, with David Jarvis on drum set, Brian Ward on piano, Dave Snider on upright and electric bass and Brad Ard on jazz guitar. A full horn section of David Turnbull on trumpet, Sarah Miller on trombone, David Hagelganz on tenor saxophone and Yasinitsky make up the rest of the group.

Snider, director of Jazz Northwest, believes that recruiting is a pivotal reason why the group plays.

“There’s no better way to recruit than to go play for kids and introduce yourself and tell them they should come to WSU,” Snider said. “It gives them the opportunity to decide ahead of time if it’s something they’d think was cool.”

This concert is titled “Potpourri.” Instead of the whole group performing together the entire concert, many of the tunes will be performed in duos and trios. The audience will get to experience a lot of different textures this way, Ward said.

The other members of the group agree that with this interesting twist, the audience will get to hear different personalities through these small groups, Ard said, and more importantly, they’ll never be bored.

“Seeing as it’s such a large group, it’d be boring if we all played together all the time and featured the same people,” Yasinitsky said. “This concert, we’ve broken into smaller groups to shine a spotlight on each individual.”

The audience will not be the only ones to enjoy this concert; all of the members agree they’re excited about what they’ll be playing.

“I really like the blues note 60s records sound,” Ward said. “It brings me back to a different time and place, and brings a sense of nostalgia. A few of the tunes we’re playing as a full group bring me back to that time and place.”

The duos and trios are another keynote to this performance. One piece in particular, featuring only Jarvis on drum set and Hagelganz on tenor saxophone, is predicted to be a favorite.

“I’m really looking forward to the drum-saxophone duet,” Ard said. “I think it’ll shock people that nobody will be on bass or piano, but it’s going to work because of their levels of musicianship.”

Not only will this concert be entertaining, but it’ll be a great learning experience for those in attendance, Ward said.

“Jazz Northwest is important for the students, because it’s a model for what this type of music should sound like and what kind of dedication it takes to play this music well,” Ward said.

Jazz Northwest will perform at 8 p.m. tonight in the Kimbrough concert hall. General admission is $10, seniors and non-WSU students are $5, and admission for WSU student is free.

“These are some of the best musicians in the world, all here at WSU,” Yasinitsky said. “It’s a great opportunity for the community to hear, and it’s a lot of fun for us to perform with such great musicians.”