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Page 4y April 8$ 1994 Jazz Ensemble Travels to Hampton for Jazz Institute This Is A 10% Discount Card By Truit O'Neal Staff Writer On March 14, 1994, the North Carolina Central University Jazz Ensemble traveled to Hampton, Va., to participate in the Fourth Annual Hampton University/ Count Basie Orchestra Jazz Institute. The Jazz Ensemble came in third place in the institutes' competition. The ensemble lost second place to James Madison and first place Florida A & M. Hampton Institute is a school with a lot a jazz history. I was so amazed by the campus and Jazz ensembles that I decided to bring forth to the Jazz Scope community some of Hampton's rich jazz history. While no one can accurately identify a specific date and time for the start of the school’s love affair with jazz music, most former students point to the Royal Hamptonians Jazz Combo of the 1920s as a logical starting point. In 1924, this nine member combo began when Joel Carter (’33) and John R. Robinson (’27) felt that a contemporary dance orchestra was needed on campus to accommodate the expanding musical taste, particularly for campus social affairs. In addition to performing for student and faculty clubs, the Royal Hamptonians enjoyed a two week tour at the school year’s conclusion. The Hamptonians grew both in numbers and national popularity during the late 40s. This 16 piece big band gained its primary strength through the number of seasoned musicians who were returning to school from World War II. Their prominence reached a peak in the late 40s when they won the nationally coveted “All-College Jazz Orchestra of the Year” award, sponsored by Ebony Magazine. The early 50s saw them as the studio band for the campus’ WHOV radio station. The group dissolved in the mid-50s, due to a shift in students’ entertainment interests. As Hampton approached its Centennial Year Celebration in 1968, President Jerome Holland sought to integrate both the cultural and educational phases of college life into a weekend celebration. This vision established the now-renowned Hampton Jazz Festival. As such, a jazz workshop was inaugurated at the beginning of the festival. Local as well as nationally celebrated jazz musicians conducted demonstration classes for many of the summer school enrollees. Now 26 years later, the Hampton Jazz Festival is still revered as the only such festival sponsored by an educational institution, a municipality (city of Hampton) and an independent entertainment enterprise (Festival Productions). In the early 70s the school’s music department, led by jazz pianist and faculty member Consuela Moore- head, tried unsuccessfully to initiate a faculty endorsed jazz studies program. However, it was not until a decade later that the school’s first degree granting jazz studies program was established. Today, a number of students are enrolled in its courses. “Hampton University is no stranger to jazz,” explained Rufus Easter, HU auxiliary services director, former Royal Hamptonian key boardist and original Jazz Festival stage manager. “We have simply come full circle to make jazz and jazz studies an integral and additional medium for our students.” "The Basie Orchestra wants to help students to understand ‘how to feel’ and interpret the rhythm, as opposed to just playing the notes - missing in many jazz studies programs across the country. This institute will help to put the ‘feel’ and ‘soul’ in the jazz,” Easter said, in reference to the focus of the Hampton University/ Count Basie Orchestra Jazz Institute. Additionally, the president of the Count B asie Orchestra, Aaron Woodward HI, "wants to preserve the big band sound and history, which he feels is slipping away,” remarked HU faculty member Sam Roberson, whose “One O’Clock Jump” musical salute to Basie in 1984 attracted the Grammy winning band’s attention to HU. Sections of this article were taken from the Hampton University!Count Basie Band Institute program handbook—author. Mon.-Sat. 8 am-6 pm 706 S. Alston Ave. Durham, NC 27703 (lai,ton Custom Shoe Repair "Quality Guaranteed" Specializing in your shoe needs. Can fix anything but a broken heart and a crack of day... (919) 688-1710 TOP FLIGHT BEAUTY AND BARBER SUPPLY 2508 Fayetteville St Durham, N*C. 27707 (919) 956-9052 Store Hours: Mon.-Frl. Sat 8*30-7:00 8:30-5:00 Presents A Grand Opening Special!!! LriV£BXl][illllS.Ci.i 2 weeks April 1st thru April 15th only W*«an7 ALL Brands: . 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April 8, 1994, edition 1
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