After about six weeks of preparation, the Troy University Jazz Ensemble performed in in the downtown Troy venue The Studio last Thursday and awarded two band members.
The performance featured both instrumental and vocal jazz tunes dating as far back as the mid-1920s.
One of the major ensembles of the John M. Long School of Music, the Jazz Ensemble is made up of about 20 students. According to Dr. Dave Camwell, the Jazz Ensemble director and a professor of music, a main goal of the Jazz Ensemble is to expose Troy University’s students to the wide breadth and depth of jazz music.
“We play a wide variety of styles,” Camwell said. “We have modern tunes, rock tunes, Latin tunes, swing tunes and ballads.
“This is true for me, and I try to pass this along to my students – I really think it’s important to be exposed to the broadness of Jazz.”
Near the end of the performance, Camwell, accompanied by Terry Mizell, presented the Bess and Terry Mizell Jazz Ensemble Endowment Awards to two band members: first tenor saxophone and freshman music industry major, Austin Horne and first trumpet and sophomore music education major Ethan Kellerman.
“I’m very shocked, and I’m very appreciative,” Horne said. “I’m very appreciative of Terry Mizell and Dr. Camwell for giving me this opportunity, and it’s really going to help, and I’m just very thankful.”
“It was kind of a shock to me and receiving it, I just felt like there was [sic] so many butterflies in my stomach,” Kellerman said. “I was really honored to receive the award.”
They performed alongside vocalists such as Brenda Jean Hamilton, co-director of Troy University’s POPulus and a lecturer of voice.
Camwell said another main goal of the Jazz Ensemble is to be expressive and musical in a way that does the music justice and provides joy to those who listen.
Kellerman noted he had significantly improved from his last concert, which he attributed to his director, Camwell.
“If you have a goal and you want to go for it, just go for it,” Kellerman said. “You’ll absolutely achieve it, and if you work hard enough towards that goal, you will absolutely achieve it before anybody else.”
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