The MPJE Group is made up of music instructors and performers from around the valley under the direction of the talented pianist and keyboardist Emmy Award winner Nick Manson. If you are a fan of Big Band Jazz than you don't want to miss this. 

The MCC Jazz Ensemble is made up of MCC Students and under the direction of Paul Brewer.

With special guest, Hugh Lovelady (Saxophone and Clarinet). Performing with both groups and premiering two arrangements.

Hugh Lovelady began the study of the saxophone at age eleven in his hometown of Vienna, West Virginia. He was awarded a Bachelor of Music degree in woodwind performance from West Virginia University in 1974 and a Master of Music degree in saxophone solo performance in 1993 from Arizona State University.

For 18 years, Hugh Lovelady was a member of the Caesar’s Palace and Las Vegas Hilton house orchestras in Las Vegas, Nevada. He has appeared or recorded with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Tony Bennett, Steve Lawrence, Edye Gorme, Lou Rawls, Barbara Streisand, Johnny Carson, Tom Jones, Johnny Mathis, The Carpenters, Dean Martin, and Elvis Presley just to name a few.  Hugh regularly appeared in the network Television orchestras for The Dean Martin roasts and Dinah Shore TV shows, the Merv Griffin TV show, Mike Douglas TV show and the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon in Las Vegas. He has also played in the saxophone sections as a lead alto and woodwind player with Si Zentner, Harry James, Buddy Childers, and Frank Sinatra, Jr., orchestras. Having moved to Phoenix 28 years ago, his abilities and versatility quickly made him the first call player for anything from a lead alto saxophone in a jazz band to clarinetist in an orchestral situation to a woodwind doubler in Broadway show productions and entertainer acts.

In addition to his playing, Hugh is a residential faculty member at Mesa Community College where he teaches saxophone and chamber music as well as classes in Jazz and Music History and Music Theory. He is also the musical contractor for Gammage auditorium, Comerica Theatre, Orpheum Theatre, Chandler Center for the Arts and the saxophone section for the Phoenix symphony orchestra. He is the former director of the Young Sounds of Arizona, an award-winning youth jazz orchestra in Phoenix and under his leadership their CD’s "Ringers" and "Monday Night Dues" received critical acclaim.