Jazz music will have the last note tonight as The Freddy Cole Quartet is set to end the 2004-05 Lyceum Series. Appearing in the McComas Hall Theatre at 7:30 p.m., the quartet will perform a concert honoring the admission of MSU’s first African-American student, Dr. Richard Holmes.
Maridith Geuder, interim director of University Relations, said The Freddy Cole Quartet has been compared to Frank Sinatra and his classical styling.
“You can’t get much better than that,” Geuder added.
Kell Smith, the graduate student co-coordinator of the series, said the panel selecting the Lyceum artists chose a popular jazz artist such as the quartet to round out a year of excellent performers.
“We wanted to bring something different,” Smith said. “We haven’t had a jazz group this year, and we had such a good response to the jazz artist last year.”
Geuder said she was excited about honoring Holmes’ 40th anniversary of his admission in Mississippi State.
Smith said the quartet’s performance happened to coincide with the anniversary.
“It just happened to fall into place to be able to honor Dr. Holmes,” Smith said. “And this is definitely an anniversary we didn’t want to forget about.”
Overall, the Lyceum Series has seen success in its recent year.
“Compared to last year we have seen an improvement in attendance, although we did have one less show,” Smith said.
He added that this year’s series did not have a dance troupe, but based on the popularity of last year’s dance group he wanted to include one in the future series.
Geuder said this Lyceum Series has been a very diverse season with much to offer to a wide number of audiences.
“We have received a lot of support from the campus community and hope this season will be one our students have enjoyed,” Geuder added.