jazz ce tex news - centraltexasjazz.org · from the classic era of the big band. in addition to the...

Temple Jazz Orchestra is on a mini-tour this fall, with three con-certs planned for different parts of

the Central Texas area.With sponsorship assistance from

CTJS and several other organiza-tions, TJO will perform a special outdoor Hal-loween con-cert in Waco on Sunday, Oct. 31.

TJO will follow the concert a week later with a performance at Temple College in Temple (Satur-day November 6) and at George-town High School in Georgetown (November 7).

TJO’s concerts will showcase the music of Cole Porter. TJO will perform arrangements from the books of the Buddy Rich and

Jazz meets dance this Saturday, Sept. 25, when CTJS presents its second annual Gala & Dance. The special fundraising event returns to Temple’s In The Mood Ballroom, with festivities starting at 8 p.m.

CTJS Board Member Karen Gon-zalez and her husband, Rudy, who own In The Mood, have granted CTJS free use of the ballroom for the evening. The ballroom is located at 13 S. Main St. in down-town Temple.

The Temple High School High-lighters jazz ensemble under the direction of Robert Medina and the

CTJS Little Big Band under the direction of Dr. Colin Mason will also return to provide music in the style of Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey and other styles from the classic era of the big band.

In addition to the In The Mood, support for the gala is being provided by Friendly Tire, the Emporium Packaging and Spice Company, and Las Casas

Ce TexewsJazzN

The Newsletter of the Central Texas Jazz Society September-October 2010 Volume 3 Number 5

CenTex Jazz News September-October 2010

Second annual CTJS Gala: ‘In The Mood’ for jazz

Dr. Colin Mason leads the CTJS Little Big Band at last year’s gala.

TJO plans tri-city fall tour

(continued on Page 6)


Left to right: Dave Wild, Tom Fairlie, Reese Liles of TJO.

Meet the Board…Larry Simonette

Dr. Benjamin IromDr. Colin Mason

Bill BerningThomas FairlieBrent ColwellGreg Bashara

David WildJohn R. Francis

PresidentVice PresidentSecretaryTreasurerArtistic DirectorBoard of DirectorsBoard of DirectorsBoard of DirectorsLegal Advisor(Attorney at Law)

Neal JakubowskyJim Burns

Evan KlarasGary Smith

Jesse Ybarbo Johnny Walker

Tim CatesAlex Parker

Rob PageKaren Gonzales

Board of DirectorsBoard of DirectorsBoard of DirectorsBoard of DirectorsBoard of DirectorsBoard of DirectorsBoard of DirectorsBoard of DirectorsBoard of DirectorsBoard of Directors

CenTex Jazz News is published bimonthly by the Central Texas Jazz Society,

PO Box 643, Temple TX 76503-0643. President: Larry Simonette

Editor: David Wild Production Assistance: Tony Wild

For more information:www.centexjazz.com

www.wildmusic-jazz.comwww.baylor.edu/baylorjazz/

www.templejc.edu/dept/Music/Jazz/jazz2010.htm


New dates for jazz scholarshipsCTJS jazz scholarships are now

available for fall 2010. The post-mark deadline for submission is Thursday, Sept. 30 (This is a change to the date announced earlier this year).

This year CTJS is offering four half scholarships ($200). All les-sons will be taught on the Temple College campus. Small-school and home-school applicants are wel-come. Application materials will be accepted through Sep. 30. The lessons are for FALL 2010 only.

Applicants applying for a schol-arship must meet the following

criteria:n Be enrolled in their school band

and jazz band (if applicable) at the time of application. The student must maintain enrollment during the course of the lessons.n Home-school students are

exempt from the above require-ment but will need to demonstrate a strong interest in performing jazz.n Directors of students who apply

must either be a full member of CTJS or be an institutional member of CTJS.n Applicants must be in grades

seven to 12 during the Fall 2010

semester.Students receiving a half

scholarship ($200), will be responsible for the other half of their lesson fees ($200), plus a $35 processing fee.

Each student will receive a total of ten one-hour jazz-based lessons from an instructor chosen by the Central Texas Jazz Society. Lessons will begin October.

All fees will be handled through the Temple College Academie Musique. Specific instructions will be given regarding registration, etc.

CTJS on the Web...If you haven’t visited the CTJS website recently,

you’re missing out on a treat. The URL for the site is www.centraltexasjazz.org. There’s a wealth of infor-mation on the site, including a detailed calendar, photo galleries and back issues of the newsletter. The website is maintained by CTJS Secretary Colin Mason, but ku-dos also go to CTJS Board member (and historian) Jim Burns for his assistance with the site.

Brent Colwell,

scholarship committee

chair



President Larry SimonetteMeet your CTJS board members

Larry Simonette

In 2007 Larry Simonette was elected as president of CTJS by the board of directors, a position which he continues to hold.

Simonette is a retired partner of the International Professional Services Firm of KPMG. While Simon-ette spent his entire business career as a management consultant working in a variety of industries and coun-tries, his first love has always been jazz. That combi-nation — Larry's love of jazz and his long experience in management and business — has been central to the success of CTJS.

Simonette and Tom Fairlie founded CTJS in May 2007, with the organization growing out of discussions the two had in April of that year. In those discussions Simonette committed to Fairlie that he would func-tion as the day-to-day person needed to make CTJS a going concern, and Simonette constantly confirms that commitment through his involvement in every aspect of the society's operation.

As president of CTJS, Simonette continues to spend his time as the CTJS point person. He's the face of CTJS — the person behind the table at jazz events, spreading the word about CTJS; the voice on the phone when someone needs information about CTJS, the engine that drives CTJS board meetings and the yearly retreat (which he and his wife, Helen, host). Larry is currently working with board member Evan Klaras to expand CTJS’ presence in the Waco area.

"I feel that bringing young musicians to the joys of

jazz in all its forms is the central mission of CTJS and the justification for its nonprofit status," Simonette said, "as is also the case with the 250 or so other jazz societies in North America. By mentoring through scholarships, jazz clinics, jazz-camp encouragement (a future CTJS endeavor) and the like, the goal is to lead young musicians to discover their individual pathways to the lifelong creative expressions and enjoyments that are found in playing jazz."

Larry has an under graduate degree in business and finance and is a graduate of the KPMG partner devel-opment Program, UCLA Graduate School of Manage-ment.

The second Jazz in the Park concert will take place on Sunday, Oct. 3, in Waco's Cameron Park. The event features The Bill War-ren Collaboration, the Rob Page group and the Kelly Bashara Klaras Ensemble. The perfor-mance will be at the Redwood Shelter (on University Parks Drive near the Herring Avenue Bridge). The concert starts at 1 p.m.

The 21st annual Temple College Jazz Festival runs from March 24-26, 2011. Thursday night's fea-tured group is TC Fusion. Friday

features the Temple College Jazz Ensemble with saxophonist Dave Pietro. Saturday the Temple Jazz Orchestra will be joined by trum-peter Allen Vizutti.

Baylor University's Jazz Ensem-ble will be joined by two guest art-ists next spring. On Tuesday, Feb. 22, Baylor will feature a clinic (at 4 p.m.) and concert (at 7:30 p.m.)

with trumpeter Terell Stafford. On Thursday, April 7, Baylor will feature a clinic (at 4 p.m.) and concert (at 7:30 p.m.) with lead trumpeter Joey Tartell.

Temple Jazz Orchestra is go-ing to Europe in July 2011. The return visit will start in Holland (North Sea Jazz Festival) and take the band through Germany into Scandinavia, with concerts along the way. Fellow travelers are welcome; contact Colin Mason at Temple College for details.


In 2007 Thomas Fairlie was elected artistic director for the newly formed Central Texas Jazz Society.

Fairlie is the Director of the Division of Fine Arts at Temple College, where he has been employed since 1990. He founded the Temple Jazz Orchestra in 1990, and the Temple College Jazz Festival, which is one of the most successful jazz festivals in Texas, in 1991.

Under Fairlie’s direction, the Temple Jazz Orchestra has received critical acclaim for its five recordings (including two with Bill Watrous and one with Gor-don Goodwin), and has performed for the Interna-tional Association for Jazz Education international conference in New York, the Texas Bandmaster’s As-sociation annual conference and other regional conferences and festivals.

TJO has also collaborated with the Temple Symphony for several con-certs. TJO was invited to perform at three prestigious jazz festivals in Europe during the summer of 2009, including Jazz a Vienne, Montreaux and the North Sea Jazz festival, where they were joined by trumpeter Randy Brecker.

Fairlie is also the founding Musi-cal Director/Conductor of the Temple Symphony Orchestra and leads the or-chestra in its seventeenth season. He was instrumen-tal in developing the board of directors in 1994 and continues to assist the board in long-range planning, fundraising, public relations and artistic development.

Under his direction the Temple Symphony has expanded its concert offerings to Georgetown, Cam-eron, Copperas Cove and Fort Hood, Texas. TSO has released two recordings, the second of which features internationally renowned trumpeter Allen Vizzutti.

Additionally, Fairlie was the co-founder and musical director of the Larimer Youth Festival Orchestra (now the Youth Orchestra of the Rockies) in Fort Collins, Colo., and was the musical director and conductor of that organization for five seasons. He has also guest conducted the Youth Orchestra of the Rockies and conducted the Louisiana All-State Orchestra in No-vember, 2007. He has guest conducted professional

orchestras in Fort Collins and four separate concerts with the Lake Charles Symphony in Louisiana.

Frequently invited to conduct honor groups includ-ing band, jazz ensemble, and orchestra, Fairlie has been an active clinician throughout the United States since 1975.

“I started getting interested in Jazz a little in high school,” Fairlie said. “The first concert I attended was by Maynard Ferguson in 1971. In college I really started getting into jazz more by playing in the college jazz ensemble. I discovered Freddie Hubbard, Miles Davis, Dizzy, Thelonius Monk, Joe Pass, Oscar Peterson and others. I think

my favorites to listen to now are Thelonius Monk, Stephane Grapelli, Diana Krall, the Count Basie Or-chestra, Diane Schuur and whoever else I happen to have on my work listening list.”

Asked about his involvement with CTJS, Fairlie said, “Larry Simonette approached me regarding his idea of forming a jazz society to support jazz activities in Central Texas at a time that was perfect for getting such an organization off the ground. TJO

was gaining some recognition nation-ally, and the jazz program and festival at TC were fully mature. I told him at the time that I was very busy and probably wouldn’t have much time to de-vote to it, but I knew that my name recognition would probably help the organization get started.”

“As to my role in the organization, I think my many years of functioning in the central Texas area as both an administrator at Temple College and with other nonprofits like the Temple Symphony helps me bring ideas to the table regarding many facets of what we are trying to do such as fundraising, events, etc. I hope I am able to contribute some constructive thoughts to whatever endeavors we undertake.

“I see CTJS’s role in jazz and jazz education as primarily a support role. Jazz education does not receive a tremendous amount of funding from the

Artistic director Thomas FairlieMeet your CTJS board members

Tom Fairlie



TJO summer concert...

The Temple Jazz Orchestra in concert Aug. 14 in the Mary

Alice Marshall Performing Arts Center, Temple College.

Photos by Jim Burns and Angelyn Wild.


Second annual CTJS Gala to benefit students

Restaurant, all of Temple. “Our main objective is to raise

funds to provide scholarships to qualified middle- and high-school-age students to further their study of jazz music.” said CTJS Board Member Jim Burns, in charge of the Gala project. As CTJS Artistic Director Tom Fairlie noted, “Our primary mission is to support jazz

education.” Promoting jazz perfor-mances in the Central Texas area is only half of the equation, Fairlie said. “Without one you don’t have the other.”

“We’re putting on something that’s going to be fun for anyone who likes to dance to big band music,” Fairlie said. “And at $15 it’s probably the cheapest gala in town.”

Tickets are available at Von’s Music and at the In The Mood Ballroom, as well as through the Temple College Music Department. For details, call 254-947-5790.

Doc Severinesen Big Bands, featuring the work of arrangers Bill Holman, Gordon Goodwin, and many others.

A special feature of the concerts will be the addition of a vocalist, Toni Ringgold, who will sing several selections with the band. She is a freshman music student at Temple College with a professional background as a singer. “Toni’s big voice and great sense of swing are a perfect match for TJO”, TJO director Tom Fairlie said. “It’s nice to have a really profes-sional-quality jazz vocalist living in Temple who can sing with us.”

The Oct. 31 concert was rescheduled from last summer’s Jazz in the Park series. Spon-sors include CTJS, the city of Waco, the Cam-eron Park Centennial Celebration Committee, and HEB. The program features TC Fusion and the A.J. Moore Steel Drum Band along with TJO.

Jazz in the Park performances are slated for the Redwood Shelter in Cameron Park and are free to the public. They start at 1 p.m. The Redwood Shelter is located on University Parks Drive near the Herring Avenue Bridge on the Brazos River.

TJO’s Nov. 6 concert will be in the Mary Al-ice Marshall Performing Arts Center at Temple College in Temple. The performance starts at 7:30 p.m. and is sponsored by Scott & White. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students, and are available from Von Music, Temple

(continued from Page 1)

(continued from Page 1)

TJO adds vocalist for fall concert seriesCollege Division of Fine Arts office, and Scott & White’s mar-keting office.

On Sunday, Nov. 7, TJO will play in the Georgetown High School Performing Arts Center, starting at 4 p.m. The concert is sponsored by Georgetown Symphony Society; for details go to http://www.georgetowntexassymphony.org.

About Tom Fairlie ...(continued from Page 4)

institutions that support it. The extra funds to put on clinics, provide scholarships, bring in internationally known artists, and put on local concerts will inspire the next generation of musi-cians and listeners. If CTJS can act as a conduit to provide funding and support for those types of activities, it will fill an important role in the arts community for a long time to come.”

CTJS announces jazz scholarships for fall(continued from Page 2)

upon notification of scholarship receipt.Students will also be required to participate in at least one of

the CTJS jam sessions. There will be a jam session in November of 2009.

Applicants must submit a completed jazz scholarship applica-tion form, a essay describing their background, interests and future plans, an audio or video of their jazz musical performance, and letters of recommendation. The application form and details about the supporting documentation are available from CTJS.

Questions should be directed to Brent Colwell, CTJS Scholar-ship Committee Chair, at [email protected].

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