Lance Bryant

Boston, MA--Steppin’ Out 2007 held its final talent competition at Scullers Jazz Club tonight. A panel of six judges and a crowd of about 200 attendees watched and listened to four bands who competed to win $500 and the opportunity to be showcased at this year’s Steppin’ Out at the Emerald Ball, which will be held on Saturday, November 3rd at the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel. This year’s headliners include George Benson, Vivian Green, Freddie Jackson, Cyrus Chestnut, Joey DeFrancesco, Rebecca Parris and many others.

Winner of the 2007 Steppin’ Out with the Stars Talent Showcase Lance Bryant with the competition judges: Jeff Turton, Andre Ward, Latoyia Edwards (competition MC), Ruth Ellen Fitch, Coach Willie Maye, Vivian Male, Clayton Turnbull

The winner was saxophonist, vocalist, composer and arranger, Lance Bryant who hails from Markham, Illinois, a small town near Chicago. Bryant received his formal music education at Berklee College of Music in Boston where he studied saxophone and, composition and arranging. During his tenure at Berklee, Lance fostered musical relationships with fellow classmates, saxophonists Branford Marsalis and Greg Osby, drummer Marvin "Smitty" Smith, trumpeter Wallace Roney, pianist Cyrus Chestnut and other renowned musicians. After graduation in 1983, Lance returned to Illinois to further his real world experience while exploring the Chicago music scene; in 1985 he made the move to New York City.

In that same year, Lance received a National Endowment for the Arts Study Fellowship, which enabled him to study saxophone and arranging privately with Frank Foster, the former director of the Count Basie Orchestra. As a freelance artist in the late 1980s, Lance performed, toured and recorded with Steve Coleman, Monte Croft, Graham Haynes, and Lonnie Plaxico, the emerging artists of that time.