Carl Alexius Dies

BY BARTON POLOT

Carl J. Alexius, local jazz pianist and first faculty director of the University of Michigan Jazz Band, died April 18 of complications following a stroke. He was 74.

Alexius was born in New Orleans and earned his bachelor's degree at Louisiana State University. He studied composition in Stuttgart, Germany, on a Fullbright Scholarship, composing sonatas, string quartets and art songs. After earning his doctorate in composition from the U-M in 1967, he joined Michigan's music theory department, where he taught orchestration, jazz arranging and theory until his retirement in 1984.

At a time when jazz was scorned by many of his faculty colleagues, Alexius nurtured the student jazz band, imbuing it with dignity, musicianship and swing.

Alexius was a frequent performer, as soloist and with the Carl Alexius Trio, in Ann Arbor clubs and hotels. During the 1990s he was a fixture at the Gandy Dancer restaurant, where he developed a large and loyal following at the piano bar.

For Alexius, the world was a classroom into which you were always warmly welcomed. Chatting with him or listening to his music was an education.