Alcorn State University Jazz Festival

For over four decades the Department of Fine Arts at Alcorn State University has sponsored what has become Mississippi's longest-running and most prestigious jazz festival. The day-long festival features performances by some of the most outstanding professional jazz musicians and university, college and secondary school jazz ensembles from throughout the United States. Highlights of the festival are the afternoon workshops and evening concerts by some of the world's greatest jazz artists. Featuring : NEA Jazz Master Louis Hayes.

Louis Sedell Hayes, jazz drummer and bandleader, was born in Detroit, Michigan. He was always surrounded by music, first starting with the piano, before his father gave him a set of drums. Louis’s cousin noticed his talent and took him under his wing and made sure that his approach to the instrument would serve him well. He developed his skills in the fertile musical ground of Detroit performing with Yusef Lateef, Kenny Burrell, Doug Watkins and others. Louis was a member of the great Horace Silver Quintet. His first recording with Horace, the classic Six Pieces Of Silver would introduce him to the jazz world as a new force to be acknowledged. Louis performed with great and famous jazz artists, such as, Cannonball Adderley, Oscar Peterson, and Sam Jones. Louis Hayes and Sam Jones, known as “dynamic duo”, were recognized as the most powerful rhythm duo in jazz. Later on, he became leader and co-leader of a series of electrifying groups which included musicians such as Freddie Hubbard, Kenny Barron, Junior Cooke, Woody Shaw, and Dexter Gordon. He also spent several years touring with McCoy Tyner, and has played and recorded with jazz greats, such as, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, JJ Johnson, Sonny Rollins, George Benson, just to name a few. The Louis Hayes Group with Herald Mabern and Frank Strozier’s album received five stars, an accomplishment during a period when his style of hard driving “bebop” was less preferred. In 2002, he formed and led the Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band and produced 3 successful CDs. Listed are a few of the many honors and awards bestowed on Louis: State of Louisiana Special Recognition Award, State of Michigan Special Tribute, the Society of the Culturally Concerned Appreciation Award, the Greater Jamaican Development Corp. in Appreciation Of, Life Time Achievement Award From Bakers Keyboard Lounge, and United States House of Representatives Special Tribute, and National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Jazz Master.

For a full biography, visit Louis Hayes – Jazz Drummer – Biography.