Tregaron Meadow Concert

KENDALL! (they/them) is a daydreaming D.C.-based musician, scholar, producer, and cultural worker from Prince George’s County, Maryland. KENDALL’s practice is grounded in their desire to bear witness to the queer melodies and rhythms of their life and to translate them faithfully, lovingly. Legacies of Black American music, art, folklore, and spirituality shape everything they create. Their greatest hope is to weave sonic worlds that can contribute to larger, deeper projects of community, healing, and liberation.

Washington, D.C., native Leigh Pilzer is a baritone saxophone specialist, composer, arranger, and educator. Her performance resume includes appearances with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, The DIVA Jazz Orchestra, the Strathmore Jazz Orchestra, and more. She also leads her own groups and has received enthusiastic audience response at top venues including Blues Alley and Keystone Korner.

Pilzer is an in-demand composer and arranger whose music is performed by professional and student ensembles throughout the country as well as by her own groups. Her discography as a bandleader includes her 2024 release Beatin’ the Odds, which features her compositions and arrangements played by her seven-piece ensemble. The recording received 3.5 stars in Downbeat and was declared “a splendid album of handsomely written straight-ahead contemporary jazz” by Jack Bowers at All About Jazz. Her upcoming release, Keep Holding On (June 2026), showcases Pilzer’s writing in the classic hard bop organ trio/quartet setting.

At the University of Maryland, Pilzer teaches jazz theory and jazz arranging in addition to leading a combo. She is an engaging speaker who has presented several times at the Jazz Education Network conference and other educational initiatives.