Q&A Session with Doc and Alan at the Sherman Jazz Museum
The afternoon of the concert on 4/14/2018 we asked Doc and Alan Baylock to come to the museum for an hour to meet the public in a short question and answer session. This is a brief excerpt from that session. I think Doc wants us to open up the ballroom for dances someday, and he said he would be the first to volunteer to play for the dance! My dad actually held a few dances there when his antique museum opened around 1986. However, I don’t plan to hold dances there at this point.
The First Annual Sherman Jazz Classic
For eight years I wanted to do a jazz concert to go along with our jazz museum in Sherman, and in 2018 we finally did the first one. I wanted The North Texas One O’Clock Lab Band to play and to backup a great jazz artist. I also wanted the director, Alan Baylock, and the band perform with someone they were excited to perform with, so I asked Alan to help choose someone. It was a long shot, but we decided to go with Doc Severinsen, who was 90 years old, but still sounded great. Hopefully, Doc would agree and he did. This was the closing tune of the concert. Doc and the band sounded great! The concert was on 4/14/2018 at Kidd-Key auditorium in Sherman, TX.
Maynard Ferguson playing “Somewhere” in 1969.
Maynard would have been about 41 and living in Europe during this time. The big bands were dying and he would reinvent himself and his music in another year when MF Horn 1 came out.
My dad’s group–1988
Here’s my dad’s group playing “Indiana” in September of 1988 in Ft. Worth. Neil Slater-piano, Dr. Gene Hall-clarinet, Jack Rumbley-drums, Jack Petersen-guitar, Perry Sandifur-trombone, unknown bass player.
They were playing for a gathering of UNT people in Ft.Worth, and my dad asked me to video the band. This was one tune they played that day. They played two hour long sets without any music, and this group had never played together before this day. My dad and Gene Hall were 75 at this time. Gene Hall died in 1993, and my dad died in 2008. They were soul mates, having been best friends throughout their lives. My mom was always in the audience to hear him play.
My dad’s music
My dad would put together a band every so often to play for groups. They played for free, although my dad would pay the musicians, because it was usually for a good cause. Here he is introducing the members of this particular band that played in September of 1988. The thing that made this group interesting was that it included the first director and founder of the Jazz Studies Program at North Texas, and the third director of the program. I think they were playing for a North Texas group that day. He brought me along to video because he knew it would be an all star band. The drummer was the only full time musician of the group, however.
This was recorded on a vhs video tape recorded which was not too great in low light. However, it was convienent and cheaper than hiring a professional to record it. Years later I transferred it to dvd, then onto my computer where I could edit it and put it onto YouTube. I’m glad it has survived.