Keith M. Zimmerman is a saxophone and music education professor at Illinois Wesleyan University where he was also the saxophone and music theory teacher for the summer band camps for 25 years.  He is the former director of the highly respected Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band programs at Lincoln, Illinois’ District 27 Schools, a position he held for 33 years until late May, 2000 while also teaching at Illinois Wesleyan and performing.   He continues to be in demand as a private saxophone teacher for many students from a large geographical area of central Illinois and has served the Illinois Music Educator’s Association as saxophone auditioner for the All State festival bands for 29 years.

    He holds a B.M.E. and an M.M. in saxophone performance from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1967and 1970, respectively, and did graduate study with American concert saxophone pioneer Cecil Leeson at Ball State University.  Zimmerman was a student of Canadian concert saxophonist Paul Brodie, and, as the recipient of a scholarship from the French Ministry of Culture, he pursued extensive post graduate study in France with Daniel Deffayet, professor of saxophone at the Paris National Conservatory while living in Nice and Paris, France.

     Mr. Zimmerman’s saxophone playing and teaching career was extensively profiled in a cover story interview in the January/February 2002 issue of the international publication “The Saxophone Journal.”  He is a saxophone artist/clinician for The Conn-Selmer Company whose Serie III Paris Selmer saxophones he plays.

     A founding member of the World Saxophone Congress and the North American Saxophone Alliance, Zimmerman has frequently performed for regional, national, and international meetings of those bodies.   He has appeared in concert in Canada, France, England, and Germany and many parts of the U.S. as a soprano, alto, and tenor saxophonist. In 1972 he helped found the Illinois Saxophone Quintet which he played in until the quintet disbanded in 1994.

    From 1982-1995 he frequently was called to play lead alto saxophone for the Ringling Brothers Circus and since 1994 has been first alto saxophonist with the Pekin, Illinois Municipal Band