Houston Jazz

Music has long been my passion. I recall the first time when I was 12 years old when I first heard the music of Stan Kenton. I recall feeling somewhat “intoxicated” with the sound. I had never heard anything like it. The screaming trumpets, the always solid trombone section, always anchored by two bass trombones. The reeds section was also unique, with, as Kenton did with the trombones, two baritone saxes solidifying the section and he never featured a clarinet. Kenton also later added a conga drum, to give a beautiful latin texture. Then, in extreme contrast, Kenton could play a subtle piano, with muted accompaniment. As a rather average alto and baritone saxophone player, all I could do was just imagine what a thrill it would be to be able to play at that level. Throughout the 1970’s I was fortunate to hear the Kenton band many times, in Michigan, in Frankfurt, Germany and at the old “La Bastille,” a long-gone jazz joint on Franklin Street. It was in a basement, a real dump, underneath the Mel Trotter Mission, with a stage so small that the five Kenton trumpet players could only stand! Somehow five people were sitting a tables clearly designed for two. There would usually be two lines competing for space on the sidewalk, one line to get in to hear music and the other of poor down-on-their luck men seeking refuge at the mission.

(Photo of “Rendevous with Kenton”, my first Kenton album that so very much has influenced me, even to this day)

Besides Kenton, I also was fortunate to be able to hear and meet The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Buddy Rich, Benny Goodman, Bill Chase, Dizzy Galespie, and the legendary Maynard Ferguson. Even the Four Freshmen. (I know, four singers, but they were also great jazz musicians and they were discovered by Kenton. Their tight and complex harmonies were such that they sounded like eight to ten singers.) I own more Kenton and Duke Ellington recordings than any other performers. Suffice it to say that I own virtually every Kenton recording and have nearly a hundred of the Duke!

What do the above legends all have in common? Well, they are all dead. With their passing the ability to hear such great music had gone the same way that these giants did. “Ghost” bands, such as the Count Basie Band, continued for a while, but Kenton and Ellington considered it better to have their contribution end with their deaths. Until the last few years it was virtually impossible to hear a big band locally and then I became acquainted with a local group of musicians who perform regularly here in Houston.

I introduce to you the “Houston Jazz Orchestra.” Although founded in 1989, they have had a renaissance for the past few years and are now the “Band in Residence” playing one Monday night a month at the House of Blues.

So who are these players you ask? Well, they are all professional musicians who have made Houston their home. I have known several of them for many years. Drummer Joel Fulghum and I go back some 25 years, and 22 years for trombonist Thomas Hulten. While I do not know him personally, I have been listening to tenor Warren Sneed, Head of Jazz Studies at the Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts for well over 40 years. The trumpet section includes the heads of the jazz departments at TSU and Sam Houston State University. Trumpet player Dennis Dotson played with the bands of Buddy Rich and Woody Herman. Lead trombonist Jim McLaughlin played with my personal favorite former Kenton trombonist, Archie LeCoque, for many years and many other jazz greats in Las Vegas. I apologize that space does not permit me to list the resumes of all of the players but I must mention their names –
Saxophones – Johnny Gonzales, David Caceres (also sings), Sneed, Brian Perez and Martin Langford.
Trombones – McLaughlin, Hulten, Eric Schneller and Rick Reeves.
Trumpets – Robby Yarner, Brian Fischer, Dotson, Mike Harris and Tim Gates.
Piano – Pamela York, guitar Greg Petito, bass Anthony Sapp and drummer, Fulghum.

The Mission Statement of the HJO, says it all – “To present and promote the appreciation of large ensemble jazz through live performance, recording, and educational outreach.” The group is well known for hosting and participating in jazz clinics for young area musicians who would have no other opportunity to hear this great music in person were it not for the Houston Jazz Orchestra.

https://www.houstonjazzorchestra.org/ is the organization’s thorough website. There you will find their performance calendar, bios on the players and much more. There is no cover charge at their monthly venue, the House of Blues.

The big band greats, the legends, are long gone, but their music lives on through the dedicated musicians of the Houston Jazz Orchestra.