The Young Lions Collective AT KERRYTOWN CONCERT HOUSE
The Future IS FEMALE
Friday, August 27th @ 8:00 PM
The Young Lions Collective at Kerrytown Concert House represents the best and brightest of Michigan’s next generation of jazz musicians. The Young Lions Collective will feature a rotating cast of promising young artists destined to make an impact in Michigan and beyond.
In this performance, the YLC will perform selections written diverse female jazz artists from across the years. Led by Detroit woodwind artist, Meg Brennan, the YLC will reflect on the unparalleled contributions of women to the jazz genre, and envision the future of jazz with women at the helm.
Important Info Regarding The Lot Lounge
The Lot Lounge is an outdoor venue in our back parking lot. Seating will begin 30 minutes prior to the performance start time. A cash bar will be available for those 21+.
In the case of inclement weather, the show will go on! We’ll move the artists and audiences inside the house, and pivot to a hybrid livestreamed and in-person audience format. All decisions regarding inclement weather plans will be made no later than 2 hours prior to the performance, which will be shared via email and on our social media pages.
- Audience members who wish to attend the event inside the House will be required to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination when checking in to the performance or proof of a negative COVID-19 test performed within the previous 72 hours prior to entry, as well as wear a mask while in attendance.
- Should the event be moved indoors, ticket-holders will also be given the opportunity to view the concert from home via private livestream link which will be emailed to them at the email address on their ticket order between 30 minutes and 1 hour prior to show time.
NOTE: Since we have this livestreaming option for our audiences (and the artists we engage), there will be no refunds or exchanges for The Lot Lounge ticket purchases this summer. Thank you for your support and understanding as we work to find innovative ways to continue connecting artists and audiences!
Meg Brennan is a Detroit-based multi-woodwindist, composer, arranger, educator, and bandleader, widely regarded for her versatility across musical genres. As a flutist and saxophonist, she has been hired to perform with esteemed musicians such as Ingrid Jensen and Ellen Rowe. As bandleader of the Meg Brennan Quartet, her accomplishment is marked by performances at notable venues such as the Lansing Jazz Festival, Blue Llama Jazz Club, Cliff Bells, and features on 90.9 WRCJ Detroit and 89.7 WLNZ Lansing.
Meg began playing the flute at the age of 10. In high school, she was accepted to attend the internationally renowned Interlochen Arts Academy. It was at Interlochen that Meg began composing and arranging music, often incorporating beatbox flute, a skill she gained from working with Greg Pattillo. Soon after graduating from high school, she was featured on Fox 2 News Detroit, where she played her own beatbox flute arrangement of the “Hey Arnold” theme song.
After graduating from Interlochen, she began pursuing a flute performance degree at Michigan State University (MSU). Finding herself completely enthralled by improvisational music, she loaned out a school saxophone and started transcribing Louis Armstrong, Sonny Stitt, and Clifford Brown. After a couple years of being self-taught, Diego Rivera, associate professor of Jazz Studies at MSU, accepted her into his saxophone studio. This ultimately led her to achieving B.M. degrees in both flute performance and jazz studies. During her time at MSU, Meg had the opportunity to play with Christian McBride, Kenny Barron, Jimmy Cobb, Louis Hayes, Anat Cohen, Antonio Hart, Peter Bernstein, Rodney Whitaker, and other MSU faculty.
Meg is currently pursuing her masters degree in jazz and contemporary improvisation at the University of Michigan. Of special note are her mentorships in saxophone, improvisation, and composition with Andrew Bishop and improvisation and rhythm studies with Miles Okazaki. Additionally, as a selected Graduate Fellow for the Center for World Performance Studies, she is conducting research regarding the ways that non-western rhythmic concepts and their modes of transmission influence improvisational techniques. With a passion for expanding women’s representation in jazz, Meg has helped organize Music Deconstructed, an online symposium and newly founded LLC that examines race and gender biases in music. Currently, she performs with the prize-winning BETA Quartet, with whom she won First Prize at the France Music Competition 2° and advanced to quarter finalists in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition (2020).
Throughout her career, Meg has enthusiastically shared her knowledge and experience with others. Through her private studio, she teaches students of all ages, backgrounds, experience, and ethnicity across the nation.
Ellen Rowe, jazz pianist and composer, is currently Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation at the University of Michigan. She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, and previously served as Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Connecticut. Winner of the Hartford, CT Advocate Readers’ Poll for Best Acoustic Jazz, Ms. Rowe has performed throughout the U.S., Europe, South Africa, and Australia. CDs out under her own name include “Sylvan Way”, “Wishing Well”, “Denali Pass” and “Courage Music.” Her latest project, “Momentum – Portraits of Women In Motion”, was released in January of 2019. When not leading her own trio, quartet or quintet, she is in demand as a sideman, having performed with a wide variety of jazz artists. Ms. Rowe’s compositions and arrangements have been performed and recorded by jazz ensembles and orchestras around the world, and she was recently a composer-in-residence at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She is on the Board of the International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers and also serves as the Coordinator for the JEN Sisters In Jazz Collegiate Combo Competition, in addition to being an in-demand clinician.
Aidan Cafferty is a bassist/composer based in Ann Arbor, MI. His passion for improvised music began at a young age, as he attended Ann Arbor Pioneer High School, a nationally recognized music department, where he played double bass in the Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony Band and the Jazz Band. During Aidan’s senior year, Pioneer won the National GRAMMY Signature School Award as the best high school music department in the country.
Aidan continued to pursue his love for jazz at Michigan State University’s School of Music, where he spent four years studying under Rodney Whitaker. He received his bachelor’s degree jazz performance in 2015 and is currently attaining his master’s degree at University of Michigan where he studies with Bob Hurst and Andrew Bishop.
David Alvarez III is a jazz drummer, composer, arranger, and music educator based in the Metro-Detroit area. The drum set was introduced to him at the age of five, growing up playing in church. At the age of nine, he started to learn how to play Jazz through a summer program called The Arts League of Michigan. Afterwards, for eight years he furthered his studies of the art form through the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Civic Youth Jazz Program, learning from Professors and College mentors from both Michigan State University and the University of Michigan. He has graduated from the University of Michigan in 2017 with a Bachelor’s Degree of Fine Arts in Jazz Studies with Teacher Certification. Since then, he has toured with the Benny Green Trio, and has recently joined the Clayton Brothers Quintet. He currently freelances and teaches music in Southeast Michigan.
