Where Milwaukee musicians take center stage!
MAY 7, 2025 MUSICIANS INCLUDE:
7:00 pm
Special guest musicians will perform in honor our CITIZEN AWARD recipients,
Timothy Klabunde and Zachary Durlam!
~7:45 pm
Jazz from some of the area's greatest!
Ben Piette, drums
Jeff Hamann, bass
Anthony Deutsch, piano
Clay Lyons, sax​​
MEET THE MUSICIANS
BEN PIETTE, drums
Benjamin K. Piette (b. 1999) is a performer, composer, educator, and audio engineer, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He holds a B.F.A. in Music Composition and Technology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. There, he co-founded I/O Composition Collective, which served as a community and platform bridging the social gaps between composers, performers, and audio engineers within the Peck School of the Arts. He served as their first president. Currently, he sits on the Board of Directors for Civic Music Milwaukee, an organization supporting and advancing music education throughout the community, especially to youth who otherwise would not have access to musical training.
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Ben is an active performer and playing percussion - primarily drum set - in rock clubs, jazz bars, and concert halls has made him adaptable to many musical situations and styles. He plays and has played with artists such as Mark Davis, Augie Haas, Jeff Hamann, Clay Schaub, alt-rock band CREDENTIALS?, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee pop ensemble, Carroll University’s choirs, pop band Hewitt., and fusion band Pretendacle, to name a few.
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Ben has been involved in many recording and mixing projects with artists such as Sycamore, Hewitt., Peggy Otwell, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Jazz and Afro-Cuban Orchestras, not to mention a countless number of his own compositions.
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Ben is also regularly involved in live audio event production, with experience doing monitor, front-of-house, and live stream mixes, as well as routing and mixing corporate audio for presentations, panel discussions, board meetings, etc.
JEFF HAMANN, bass
Jeff Hamann is an accomplished bassist who has performed for over thirty years. He currently teaches and performs for the Milwaukee Jazz Institute. He has been heard by millions over the last twenty years on the National Public Radio Show, "Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know?" He has performed throughout the U.S. and internationally with a who's who of jazz legends that include Charles McPherson, Benny Golson, Phil Woods, Ben Sidran, Frank Morgan, Ray Appleton, Peter Bernstein, Brian Lynch, David Hazeltine, Eric Alexander, and Cheyenne Jackson, to name a few.
ANTHONY DEUTSCH, piano
Milwaukee-based pianist/vocalist/composer Anthony Deutsch has been studying piano since 2000 and cultivating a professional career since in 2010. With the intent of embodying beauty and honesty in his work, Deutsch is enamored by the art of improvisation and it’s relationship to the human experience. Deutsch has worked alongside artists including: Kenny Reichert, Russ Johnson, Billy Peterson, and regularly performs with his trio featuring Devin Drobka (Hanging Hearts, Jerry Bergonzi, Lesser Lakes Trio, Peter Schlamb) and John Christensen (Allison Magaret, Lesser Lakes Trio, Johannes Wallmann). The pianist cites Claude Debussy, Nina Simone, Brad Mehldau, Art Tatum and Paul McCartney as some major influences, however he notes: “Some of the most brilliant music I have ever heard came from birds in the park. It is simply too arduous a task to define what influences an artist and what does not.”
Intent on embodying honest truth and vulnerability of the human condition, Deutsch focuses on honing his skills as an improvisor and heart-song lyricist. “Improvisation requires one to be completely present. It is a discipline of unhindered listening so as to seamlessly direct relevant compositional material at the source object – be it an environment, another individual or group.”
Known around Milwaukee for his annual work, The Commercialists Present: A Charlie Brown Christmas, Deutsch graduated from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in December of 2015 with a B.S. in Anthropology where he has worked as an accompanist in the Dance Department for both undergraduate and masters level instruction. Presently, Deutsch is a freelance performer, but continues to compose music for his original lyric-song project, “Father Sky”, debuting in June of 2017. From June to September of 2017, Deutsch performed solo piano for Rashid Johnson’s “Antoine’s Organ” as part of the larger installation “Hail We Now Sing Joy” at the Milwaukee Art Museum.
CLAY LYONS, saxophone
Born into an artistic family, 25-year-old alto saxophonist Clay Lyons has been enthralled by music from a very young age. Originally from Madison, Wisconsin, Clay began his musical journey by playing the drums as a toddler, and then moved to cello and piano, after which he settled on his instrument of choice, the alto saxophone, at age 12. In high school, with the help of his father and some friends, Clay discovered the music of Charlie Parker, and soon realized that there was no turning back. Over time and after much practice, Clay became a prominent player at his high school and the local Madison jazz scene, where he studied with legend Richard Davis. In 2007, Clay was awarded a full-tuition scholarship to the renowned Berklee College of Music, and since then, he has been a busy player in Boston and elsewhere - Clay has performed as a sideman and with his own groups in the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, China, Italy, Panama and Japan. Since his return to the Wisconsin area, he continued to perform in Milwaukee and Madison. Clay is well respected amongst his peers in the area for his mastery of the B Bop language and effortless creativity on the alto.
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Thank You to Our Sponsors
CORPORATE
INDIVIDUAL
Judy and Gary Jorgensen
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Patricia Rieselbach
in honor of Timothy Klabunde