ALL THAT JAZZ
Guest artist,competition featured at jazz festival
By Colleen Casey
Staff Reporter

Scott Sunde, a freshman trombonist in TCU’s Jazz Ensembles, says he considers Bill Watrous to be one of the most incredible trombonists alive today. This weekend he will get the opportunity to play his music alongside him.

David Dunai/SKIFF REPORTER The 25th TCU Jazz festival will be held today and Saturday. Special concerts will be held by the Shelly Berg Trio, Bill Watrous, competition of local high school jazz programs said Curt Wilson, director of jazz studies.

The 25th TCU Jazz Festival on Friday and Saturday will feature concerts by the Shelly Berg Trio and the world-famous Watrous as well as a competition of local high school jazz programs said Curt Wilson, director of jazz studies.

Junior lead trombonist John Valentino said the festival, which started in 1977, has longevity that speaks well about the jazz program.

“Every year it gets better,” Valentino said. “I think being around a pretty long time means a lot to the program and to the community.”

For 25 years the festival has invited guest artists and allowed aspiring high school students a chance to come to TCU and compete against each other. This year there are 22 high school bands that will include about 600 of the best high school musicians in Texas, Wilson said.

Wilson said the festival also serves as a good recruiting source.

David Dunai/SKIFF REPORTER The 25th TCU Jazz festival will be held today and Saturday. Special concerts will be held by the Shelly Berg Trio, Bill Watrous, competition of local high school jazz programs said Curt Wilson, director of jazz studies.

Junior saxophonist Jeff Dazey said he participated in the TCU Jazz Festival as a high school sophomore and familiarized himself with the campus which he now attends.

“At that time, watching the TCU band was a great experience and that whole thing made me want to come here,” Dazey said.

Valentino said the recruiting aspect of the festival is especially important this year.

“We’re re-building,” he said. “We got a lot of new talent this year and we’re hopefully going to have some good prospects coming.”

The Shelly Berg Trio is set to play Friday night and Watrous will perform at the awards concert with the TCU Jazz Ensembles Saturday. The concert will award the top high schools from the competition that will take place earlier in the day.

The festival will be a production of the TCU Fine Arts Guild, which will give a portion of the proceeds to scholarship funds for the College of Fine Arts and College of Communication.

Colleen Casey
c.m.casey@student.tcu.edu

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TCU Daily Skiff © 2002