Article provided by Jim Harris, Executive Director of the Lea County Museum.
Wayne Salzmann looks like a young-gun musician who just peaked for the first time inside one of New York City’s famous jazz clubs, such as the Blue Note or the Village Vanguard.
However, when he brings his Austin-based jazz band to the Lea County Museum in Lovington on Saturday, November 20, he will be bringing with him a world of musical experience, years of performing, and a seasoned educator’s talent with him.
A man with a passion for teaching, Salzmann is a drummer, bandleader, author, composer, and a Professor at the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas in Austin.
He is an incredibly versatile musician who is best known nationally for his recording and touring with Grammy Award winning rock guitarist Eric Johnson.
And experience? He often does 250 gigs a year, and he has been performing since he was a teen in his home state of Wisconsin. He studied with renowned musicians in New York before he came to Austin and earned a master’s degree in music at the University of Texas.
When he graduated, the Butler School of Music at UT-A immediately hired him to teach. He has been there now for almost 20 years.
He has performed and/or recorded with such legendary artists as Kris Kristofferson, Kenny Rogers, Steve Miller, Christopher Cross, Dale Watson, Ray Benson, and dozens more.
He has performed on tours around the world and everywhere in the US from club gigs to Carnegie Hall. He has been a feature performer in International Music Festivals and Amphitheater gigs with the Steve Miller Band.
In addition, he has been teaching privately for over 15 years, and he has taught master classes to beginning jazz drummers and to musicians working on their doctorates.
Salzmann has been featured on dozens of albums and music videos with a wide variety of artists in jazz, blues, rock, funk, R&B, soul, and in Brazilian, African, and Classical genres. He has also recorded for multiple commercials, television shows, and Hollywood film soundtracks.
He is a favorite performer at Austin’s only full-time jazz club, the Elephant Room, located in a basement off of Congress Street and just a few blocks south of the State Capitol Building.
The Elephant Room looks like it could be located New York City’s Village.
With his Wayne Salzmann Band, this will be his second trip to the Town Hall at the Lea County Museum in Lovington, having performed here eight years ago.
This is a free concert brought in part by a generous donation from the J. F. Maddox Foundation in Hobbs.
The Lea County Museum Town Hall is located at 114 E. Central Street, across from the Lea County Courthouse.
For more information, contact the museum at 575-396-4805.
