The band consists of four members with Will Brahm on guitar, Rosy Rosenquist on drums, Ray Enix on bass and Simmons on keyboard.

Simmons said, “I’ve had this band since 2005, but I’ve had a lot of different players who just rotate through.”

Simmons has been playing the keyboard for many years, with a main focus in jazz.

“It was actually a band I was using as my senior recital as a jazz major (at) Cal State Long Beach,” he said concerning his band.

Simmons ended up graduating from CSULB in 2005 and then got his master’s from UC Irvine in 2007.

His band performs at different venues on the weekends including a set it did on Sept. 14 at DiPiazza’s, a restaurant Long Beach.

He said about the set, “[It] was 65 minutes. Normally we play for an hour and a half.”

Simmons said he enjoys when his band is able to play longer sets.

“We like to play longer because it benefits us. We get to stretch and play tunes longer. Instead of 45 minutes, we’ll play longer [and] instead of playing two sets, it’s like playing two shows.”

According to its ReverbNation page, 4 Level Interchange’s music sounds something similar Tribal Tech, Traffic, Steely Dan and King Crimson.

Simmons encourages his students to come to his gigs and offers some classes extra credit for attending the performances.

As a professor, Simmons teaches classes in person as well as online.

Child development major Cynthia Ramirez is currently taking one of Simmons’ online classes.

“I thought it was interesting. I like the harmony of all the different instruments,” she said about her class.

“I met the teacher right now and he seems really cool,” Ramirez added.