Draft:Lovell Ives

Lovell George Ives (August 13,1928 - April 11, 2026) was an American jazz musician (trumpet, arrangement) and the founding professor of jazz at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay.

Early life and education

Ives was born in Marshfield, Wisconsin in 1928. After learning trumpet in sixth grade, Ives began arranging music while attending Marshfield High School before graduating in 1946. He later attended University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, during which time he played with his band Wally Ives and the Jolly Dutchmen, before graduating as UWSP's first music major in 1957. He earned a master's degree from Vandercook College of Music in Chicago.

Career

From 1957-1968, Ives developed the music programs for high schools in Colby and Medford, Wisconsin. In 1969, Ives joined the music faculty at UW-Green Bay, founding its jazz ensemble and becoming its first professor of jazz. In 1970, Ives and Wayne Jaeckel founded the Green Bay Jazz Festival. Ives became the deputy director of the Lumberjack Band, the official marching band of the Green Bay Packers, and wrote the arrangements for their performances. Following pressure from the Packers corporation to modernize the band, Ives took over as director of the Lumberjack Band in 1982 and transitioned the band's sound from a military marches to "more popular music" and served until his retirement from UWGB in 1997 - the band dissolved in 1999.

In 2022, Ives was awarded the Service the Music Award from the Association of Wisconsin Symphony Orchestras. In coverage of the award, Ives is credited by WFRV Local 5 News as having "brought the jazz ensemble sound to Green Bay and inspired artists such as Grammy Award-winning keyboardist Lyle Mays."

Personal life

In 1949, he married Lorraine Morrow with whom he had five children. They later divorced. Ives died in April 2026 in Rib Lake, Wisconsin at the age of 97.

Discography

As Wally Ives and the Jolly Dutchmen

• Aunt Ella's Polka / Milwaukee Waltz (Mercury, 1952)
• Sleeper Polka / Elsie Schultzenheim (Mercury, 1952)
• Timber Script Line / The Braves Polka (Mercury, 1953)
• Schtinkerwaltz / Oody's Polka (Mercury, 1953)

As Arranger

• Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and Something Blue (North Star Appli., 1980)
• Old Style Walz (North Star Appli., 1980)
• Celestial Sounds (North Star Appli., 1993)
• I Remember You, Johnny... The Songs of Johnny Mercer (Planet Earth Recording Co., 1996)
• That Long Long Road (1996)

As Orchestrator

• Radio Days (HJR, 1998)

As Trumpet Performer

• Big Band Sounds (North Star Appli., 1987)
• Celestial Sounds (North Star Appli., 1993)
• Music in the Grand Old Tradition (Bel-Aire, 1998)

External links

• Lovell Ives discography at Discogs
• Wally Ives and the Jolly Dutchmen discography at Discogs