Mr Ira Sullivan is one the true jazz greats of our time, master of trumpet, flugel horn, tenor sax, alto sax, soprano sax, and flute. He learned to play the trumpet from his father and the saxophone from his mother. Sullivan was a vital part of the Chicago jazz scene of the 1950s and, in 1956, spent some time with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers.

Music, he feels, is of the spirit and says, "Everything spiritual comes from God". He brings his music to worship services everywhere and for years now has ended every performance with the venerated old hymn, "Amazing Grace". "People miss it if I omit it now", he says.

While living, performing and teaching in Florida, Ira mentored a number of musicians, He inspired Jaco Pastorious who considered Sullivan one of the greats: "..take a tune like 'Donna Lee,' and play it on the bass without a piano player so that you always could hear the changes as well as the melody. It's a question of learning to reflect the original chord in just the line. Players like Wayne Shorter, Sonny Rollins, Herbie Hancock, Ira Sullivan can do that. I wanted to be able to do it, too."

Catch Ira Sullivan and Bill Carrothers on Sunday June 27th at 2:30 at the main stage in Peavey Plaza in Minneapolis, You can also catch them the Artists' Quarter on Bill Carrothers on Thursday, June 24th and Ira on Friday and Saturday, June 25th and 26th starting at 9:00PM.