[Shotimes] Re: OT great Jazz from NIU tonight

[Donald Mallinson]

Rex,

Those that follow Big Band Jazz know and respect the N. Texas program.

When I was in college and all my friends were music majors (I was a 
radio and TV major and couldn't stand my classmates in that school!) we 
followed BBJ.  I still have a bumper sticker from about 1967 that says 
"The Big Bands Are BACK!"  Well they were...kind of.  I got to hear 
Kenton about 8 times, got his autograph three times, and still think he 
had the best band around.

In our group, we knew that the top programs in the 60's early 70's were:

NOrth Texas, University of Illinois, Millikin University in Decatur.  
These three seemed to trade off the top spot year after year.  Funny 
thing though, the U of I band one year had an average age of about 40!  
Millikin that year had an average age of about 20.  The Stan Kenton band 
that played that year averaged LESS than the U of I band!

The Big Bands aren't back, they never left, they just are hiding in 
concerts throughout the nation, we need to seek them out more often.

Don Mallinson

Trexkeys@aol.com wrote:

>      I dunno who on this list may have heard of the Univ. of North 
> Texas (formerly, N. Texas State) but, they've been producing quality 
> jazz musicians and teachers since the middle 1930's. Doc Severinson, 
> Maynard Ferguson, Tower of Power, Blood, Sweat & Tears and many more 
> have all benefited from the musicians at NTU. Their 1 o'clock Lab Band 
> records a new album, each year. The man that wrote the 1st & 2nd 
> year theory, pedagogy, and improvisation books I studied from is the 
> head of the Music Department at NTU.