The Dixie Lion Jazz Band is a group of six musicians from central Pennsylvania who play Dixieland jazz in a swingin' 4-beat style. We play Dixieland and Swing standards, from Louis Armstrong to Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, and some unusual arrangements, too. Best of all, you can dance to our music!
Click on a musician for more detail!
The Dixie Lions have put on many public performances in the area, including the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, the Boalsburg People's Choice Festival, the South Hills Business School Summer concerts and the Penn State Summer Sessions. We have also played at many Penn State home games, for the Penn State Catering tailgate party. In April 1997, we finished a 3-1/2 year stint at the HiWay Pizza on Westerly Parkway, State College, as one of two house Dixieland bands. We also appeared regularly at the Phyrst, on Beaver Avenue in State College. You're bound to run into us around the Centre Region - keep an eye on the schedule for dates.
The Dixie Lions are (more samples, here):
Where can you hear the band? Here's a list of our public performances, for the near future.
The Dixie Lion Jazz Band performs at the Kern Graduate Center.
The Dixie Lions are able to perform in combinations of 3 to 6 players, depending on the setting and style of music desired. We've jokingly named one of our smaller groups, "3 Musicians and a Banjo", with Jack on clarinet/sax, Gordon on piano, Mike Loewen on tuba, and Mike Evock on the banjo. Mike Evock teaches piano in the area, and is also a long time semi-professional Ragtime Piano artist. Here is a set of pictures from a 3M&B performance at the Kern Graduate Center from Fall '96. Also, Penn State's Daily Collegian recently talked about 3M&B in an article about the HUB lunchtime concert series.
The Dixie Lions at the Phyrst