JAZZ STUDIES - NEWS
Former Jazz GA Tom Luer (MM Performance) is touring with Queen Latifah on her latest album concert tour. Tom Luer is one of the founding members of the USM Jazz Sextet and went on from USM to the University of North Texas where he performed as a member of the 1 O’Clock Lab Band. He currently resides in Los Angeles and performs and teaches adjunct at Cal Poly Pomona.
Former Jazz GA Alexander Pershounin has accepted the assistant professor of bass position at Minnesota State University Moorhead. He taught at Westfield State College in Westfield Massachusetts prior to his MSU appointment. He earned his MM and DMA in Bass Performance at USM and was one of the founding members of the USM Jazz Sextet.
A new adjunct jazz guitar instructor has joined the Southern Miss jazz faculty. Chris Alford, a native Mississippian, studied at Belmont University in Nashville and went on for a master of music degree at Roosevelt University in Chicago where he studied with John MacLean. Alford teaches and performs extensively throughout the region.
The Southern Miss Faculty Jazz Group, formerly known as the USM JQ is back. Members include Associate Professor of Music Theory Dr. Joseph Brumbeloe, Director of Percussion Studies Dr. John Wooton, Assistant Professor of Bass Dr. Marcos Machado, Director of Jazz Studies Larry Panella, Adjunct Instructor of Percussion Harrell Bosarge, and Adjunct Instructor of Jazz Guitar Chris Alford. Performance dates are TBA.
The Jazz Sextet CD project is in production and due out in the spring of 2008. The recording is comprised of two different editions of the sextet including last year’s UNT Jazz Fest award winners. The recording is made possible by assistance from the Fine Arts Institute of Mississippi under the direction of Bill Murphy. Murphy is himself and alum of Southern Miss and performed in the jazz lab band while attending USM.
New Jazz Scholarship Established
The USM Jazz Studies program is happy to announce the establishment of the Dr. Jerald S. Hughes Jazz Trombone Scholarship. The late Dr. Hughes served the Bay Springs community as a family practice physician for 30 years. He was an avid jazz fan and played trombone throughout his life. He cofounded the Bay Springs "Jazz in the Grove" Festival with friend, businessman and fellow jazz enthusiast Joseph D. Fail.
His love of jazz trombone was cultivated by Fess Worley, his high school band director. Dr. Hughes took his trombone with him wherever he went, including the Aleutian Islands naval base, where he served as a torpedoman's mate during World War II. He felt strongly that jazz music needed to be promoted and encouraged and started his group "The Jazz Reflections," with some local musicians and high school students who had an interest in learning to play jazz. One of the first to play in the group was recent USM jazz studies graduate, guitarist Darrell Havard.
The Dr. Jerald S. Hughes Jazz Trombone Scholarship was established in his memory by his wife, Christine, and his family to further encourage the study and performance of the music Jerry loved so much.
The University of Southern Mississippi School of Music and the Jazz Studies program are deeply grateful to Dr. Hughes and his family for their support in promoting jazz at Southern Miss.
At long last, the Jazz Studies program has released a compact disc.
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Our first-ever compact disc was a labor of love, put together in our own "backyard." It comes out of our "home" in The University of Southern Mississippi School of Music, located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi (not far from the birthplace of jazz - New Orleans). It is significant because it represents the day-in, day-out creative activities of the faculty and students involved in the jazz studies program and is the culmination of several years of collecting recorded performances of various groups. With the exception of the two quintet selections, these recordings were made on campus in the instrumental rehearsal hall of the Mannoni Performing Arts Center and Bennett Auditorium.
The "cookin'" part of the CD's name has to do with both its use as slang terminology for a great jazz performance and something that has an unpretentious, natural, homemade flavor that reflects who we are as a jazz program. Anyone who has tasted great food made from scratch knows what I mean. It's not just the spices. It's the heart that went into it. We hope you enjoy what you hear and savor it for years to come. Please feel free to let us know what you think of our cookin' or drop in and hear us at work in our "kitchen!"
Click here to view CD liner notes and acknowledgements
Our compact disc is sold through the University Bookstore in the Thad Cochran Center.
(left) Jazz Lab I rehearsal at the Jazz Station
For more information on Jazz at Southern Miss, please contact:
Larry Panella
Director of Jazz Studies
The University of Southern Mississippi
School of Music
118 College Drive #5081
Hattiesburg, MS 39406
Telephone: 601.266.4047
E-mail: Lawrence.Panella@usm.edu