SOSU Reunion Jazz Band to perform at Lake Texoma Festival
Press Release Date: 04-10-2007
Southeastern Oklahoma State University’s inaugural SOSU Reunion Jazz Band is an idea whose time has come.
The group will perform at the Lake Texoma Jazz Festival April 21 at Lake Texoma’s Catfish Bay Marina. The evening session begins at 5 p.m. and the SOSU Reunion Jazz Band will be on stage at 5:45.
The reunion band is the brainchild of Jesse Speer, a current member of the jazz band who will graduate this year and wanted to keep coming back each year for the Jazz Festival.
Dr. Michael Miles has directed SOSU’s jazz bands for the last 16 years and felt the timing was right with so many graduates from which to select. He made calls to two highly respected and popular former members and that’s all it took.
He contacted Steve Rigazzi, a jazz bassist in Kansas City who records and performs on a regular basis with the best musicians in the country, and Fernando Braxton, who moved to New Orleans to further his career as a trumpet player just in time for Hurricane Katrina. After six months at home in Denison, Texas, he is now a working musician in New Orleans.
Dr. Miles said, “I was very surprised at their initial reactions. They were both so excited they almost came through the telephone. They both committed immediately, saying they would cancel their gigs to come and play. Once I had them, I knew others would follow, but I had no idea how quickly they would follow.”
So many former players contacted Miles he didn’t even have to pursue others. He put a “call for members” on the website, but already had a full band by the time it was posted.
Miles said, “The standard jazz band has 20 members, but at the current count we have 30 members coming back to perform with the Reunion Band. There are so many we will have to rotate players on certain pieces so everyone gets a chance to play.”
The most rewarding part of this effort for Miles has been the level of positive reaction by his former students and to see that through their participation, the SOSU music program has had a tremendous impact on the lives of people in such a various array of professions and careers.
Many of the Reunion Band members are working musicians or music teachers, but many others are professionals with careers from Wal-Mart managers to Occupational Safety managers and beyond.
The Reunion Band members will come from Antlers, Ardmore, Durant and Lone Grove in Oklahoma; Denison, Denton, Garland, Longview, Sherman and Tom Bean in Texas; Baton Rouge, Kansas City and New Orleans in Louisiana; California, Las Vegas and Oregon.
Tickets for the Lake Texoma Jazz Festival, including the inaugural SOSU Reunion Jazz Band, are priced at $15 for general admission, $5 for students and $25 for VIP tickets that include a seat at a table in front of the stage, plus snacks.
