MICHIANA — Buddy Rich, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Pat Metheny… These are just some of the great musicians that have helped to give life to jazz music from the tunes of the 1930s all the way through the popular hits of today.

That, according to former St. Joseph Public Schools Orchestra Director Steven L. Reed, is why Lake Effect Jazz Big Band will be playing the music of those composers this summer — to help continue to give life to jazz and preserve it as a true American art form.

Reed is the current director of Lake Effect, a local jazz big band comprised of 13 current and former music educators and nine community members who all share the same love for jazz music.

Reed said members of Lake Effect have shared their love of jazz music with the southwestern Michigan community for 15 years.

“We’re a group of local musicians that got together and stayed together with the idea to preserve the American art form of big band jazz,” he said.

With half music educators and half community members (including Whirlpool engineers, business owners and car dealers), Reed said that Lake Effect is very unique.

“You have everybody from the adults who used to play their instrument in high school to those who either have a bachelor’s or master’s degree in music,” he said. “Even though we have a wide range of performance abilities, everybody loves the idea of getting together and performing live music.”

Reed, a trumpet player with a degree in music education from Western Michigan University, not only directs the group, but will also occasionally play with them.

“There are opportunities for solos in jazz music,” he said. “But I like to feature the members of the band as much as I can.”

Lake Effect performs mainly throughout the summer to fit the schedules of the current music educators in the group. Their next performance is 7 p.m. July 16, at the Lincoln Township Library. They will then travel to South Haven and perform at South Haven Riverfront Park 7 p.m. July 30, before one of their biggest events, performing at the John E. N. Howard Band Shell in St. Joseph for the St. Joseph Friday Night Concert Series at 7:30 p.m. July 31.

“We play the [St. Joseph] concert series every summer,” Reed said. “When we play there on a Friday night, it’s one of our biggest crowds.”

Reed said that there are some difficulties with playing outdoors as opposed to a concert hall due to the acoustics of the stage and how the sound projects. Despite that, he says, they still love to do the event because of how much fun they and everyone in attendance has while they perform.

“My preference from a sound standpoint is indoors,” he said. “But from a crowd standpoint, we play outside.”

Lake Effect will be joined by guest vocalist Katie Rohwer for their July 30 and July 31 performances. Rohwer is the choir director for Lakeshore Public Schools.

“Our mission is to promote the art of jazz through performance, education and community outreach,” Reed said. “We try to mix repertoire from the big band era through modern music written today.”

For more information, including a performance schedule and information about the group members, visit lakeeffectjazz.org.