Take a musician who has played internationally and add a gorilla suit, an Elvis costume and some Latin jazz, and you get bassoonist and ASU music professor Jeff Lyman and his spring recital.
While the bassoon, the larger and lower-pitched cousin of the oboe, has a reputation for being boring and stodgy, Lyman, 42, hopes to change that with his faculty recital Saturday.
"Not many instruments have such preconceived notions as the bassoon," Lyman said. "Everyone thinks of Grandpa's theme from 'Peter and the Wolf' and can recognize that bassoon solo whether they know anything about music."
Lyman said he does not like to wear a tuxedo and has been known to wear costumes, including a gorilla suit and an Elvis outfit, at recent concerts because "I like to mix it up."
Lyman's recital will feature a jazz number by Chick Corea that was originally written for the bassoon, piano and flute; a Bill Douglas jazz piece featuring a bassoon quartet and rock songs like the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction;" and Wayne Newton's "Danke Schoen."
"I understand that faculty recitals are boring, and people don't like to come because they think they'll be wasting their time, but I try to always play pieces you never would expect a bassoon to play," he said.
"Just because I play classical music doesn't mean I don't live in the 21st century. Classical music is largely a dead form of music, so why shouldn't I seek out multiple influences like jazz, rock and samba?"
After getting his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan, Lyman played for the Savannah Symphony Orchestra and hated it.
"I decided it was the last thing I wanted to do; I'm much happier when I'm allowed to mix things up, and ASU has let me do that in performance and in class," he said.
ASU professor of piano accompaniment Andrew Campbell has known Lyman for seven years and will be backing him up on Saturday.
"It's so much fun playing stuff no one has ever heard in this format, so we get to premier it and create something new and original," Campbell said.
"Jeff doesn't pick weird music just to be weird," he said. "He does it because it's interesting to him and to the audience.
"Even if it's not successful, it'll at least be something different," Campbell added.
Lyman's recital will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Katzin Concert Hall. Tickets are $5 in advance or at the door. Call (480) 965-8863 for more information.
Reach the reporter at annemarie.moody@asu.edu.
