This story originally appeared in Fanfare Spring 2025.

The Bienen School’s classical and jazz saxophone students came together for a first-of-its-kind collaboration last fall, offering students in both disciplines the opportunity to experiment with different musical styles. Saxophone professor Taimur Sullivan and director of jazz studies Derrick Gardner facilitated the interdisciplinary effort, which culminated in the concert Heritage/Evolution: Northwestern.

Inspired by the Heritage/Evolution project of Sullivan’s PRISM Quartet, the program featured music by John Coltrane, Miguel Zenón, Melissa Aldana, Chris Potter, and Billy Strayhorn.

“This project fuses the traditions of the saxophone and draws on its cross-cultural heritage to blend jazz with everything from South Indian and Western classical music to Romani and Latin American folkloric music,” Sullivan said.

Master’s student Natalia Warthen said classical saxophonists rarely work with jazz saxophonists: “I’ve found myself approaching classical music in a new way. It’s interesting to see how we might morph definitions of classical music to better fit this new
genre.”

Added doctoral student Brian Kachur, “We are working hard to vary our sounds and styles of playing toward more traditional jazz sounds, which is fun and challenging.”