Скачать или смотреть LAURA'S WALTZ, original by John DeRoule. Wright Jr. College Jazz Band, 1963

The fifth annual Notre Dame Collegiate Jazz Festival in 1963 featured an outstanding band from Chicago. The Wright Jr. College Jazz Band under the direction of the amazingly talented director, John DeRoule, competed in the Fest and was picked as one of the top 3 bands overall by Leonard Feather along with many other judges. All 5 songs we performed are from the evening show.
LAURA'S WALTZ is an original tune by John DeRoule and one of three of his original works presented at this Festival. His other originals are COOKIE and FRANKS DREAM. The remaining 2 songs, Flight Of The Foobirds and Night In Tunisia were also performed.
I was there and it was awesome.
In 1963 I was a talented freshman French Horn player who caught the ear of band director John DeRoule. He was going to contest and asked me to be in his WJC Jazz Band. As the only girl I felt very lucky indeed to be able to participate in this group. He wrote parts in the music especially for French Horn which you can hear in the recordings. It was a total change from the type of music I was playing at the time. French Horn was pretty much relegated to orchestra/concert band music. But John DeRoule thought different. And I'm glad he did. I know my side kick Howard Lorentzen and I loved the experience.
This shows the early beginnings of some wonderful performers such as Oscar Brashear on Trumpet and Frank Tesinsky on Trombone along with James Aebersold on Alto Sax who performed in another band (from Indiana U.).
To quote Leonard Feather, briefly he says "It is from the college bands that the real jazz talent of the future will probably be drawn. Saxophonists like Don Myrick and Jamie Aebersold, trumpeters like Oscar Brashear (who already sounds strong enough to play lead in any band in the country) and trombonists like the extraordinary Frank Tesinsky reflect not only the success of the college stage band program in general, but also the incredibly high standards that prevail among the instrumentalists (and writers) in the age group who have decided to dedicate themselves to music."
I dedicate these YouTube videos to John DeRoule and remain thankful to him and remain in awe of his talent and foresight many years after his passing. I will be posting all 5 of the tunes played at the 1963 Notre Dame Collegiate Jazz Festival on our Shelley Music Publishers site for everyone to hear. Thank you John DeRoule, you were an inspiration to us all.