The Bridge

Rod Neis sends word that on Saturday (October 6) he shipped out all orders that he has currently received for CDs from this year’s AKAA reunion. Any additional orders that he receives at this point should take four weeks or less to ship.

If you weren’t able to attend the 2007 reunion, or didn’t get a chance to place your order while you were there, we’re still accepting orders for CDs and cassettes of the 2007 AKAA Reunion. You can also order CDs and cassettes for the 2005 and 2006 reunions.

Every order for the 2007 reunion comes with a special bonus CD, “The Late Night Jam”, which captures a jam session from the wee hours of Saturday morning. That session included, among others, Steve Means on drums, John Norton on piano, Richard Garrett on bass, Pat Bruce on guitar and bass, and John Conner, Jr. on sax.

Download a copy of the order form and get your order in today!

The 3rd annual Bob Richardson Memorial Jazz Concert will be held this Sunday, June 24, at 7:00 p.m in Auburn University’s Goodwin Music Building Recital Hall. Guest artists are Peter Cho on piano and Brian Graber on trumpet, along with Jane Drake (vocals), Sonny Harris (drums) and Robert Dickson (bass). Admission is $10 per person ($5 for students). For more information, please call (334) 750-8697.

The June 2007 issue of The Bridge, the newsletter of the Auburn Knights Alumni Association, is now available for download as a PDF. The print edition has gone to press and should be mailed to all AKAA members within the next few weeks.

If you haven’t made your reservations for this summer’s AKAA Reunion, July 26-28, at the Auburn Marriott Opelika Hotel & Conference Center at Grand National, please don’t delay! There is currently a waiting list for rooms, but you can now call (877) 563-4301 to be placed on a waiting list as vacancies become available. Ask to speak with Amber Windham and be sure to request the special Auburn Knights rate of $75.

The April 2007 issue of The Bridge, the newsletter of the Auburn Knights Alumni Association, is now available for download as a PDF. The print edition has gone to press and should be mailed to all AKAA members within the next few weeks.

The rehearsal and performance schedule for the 2007 reunion is now available online.

It’s not too early to make reservations for this summer’s AKAA Reunion, July 26-28, at the Auburn Marriott Opelika Hotel & Conference Center at Grand National! Please call (800) 593-6456 to make reservations, and be sure to request the special Auburn Knights rate of $75. Rooms will go fast, so make your reservations now!

A message from Tom Winstead:

The library is growing a little (1897 charts) and getting into better shape as some of the older charts are rewritten and recovered for use. To do that properly, I need to find tapes for several charts, since proper recovery is to keep the structure like it was originally intended. Carol Cunningham wrote wonderful charts, and Jay Owen has reconstructed several, and graced the reunion with the original intent. We have most of “I’ll Remember April,” by Cunningham, but need a recording to get the reconstruction right. There is also a good-looking chart on “Without a Song,” arranged by Gerlach, but without any rhythm parts, and I would like a recording so we can recover that chart for use.

We also need a copy of the Alto I part to a Wolpe chart on “Chattanooga Choo Choo” which has gone missing from the 70-80′s band library.

Please send what you can to Tom Winstead, 12002 Mt. Charron Drive,
Huntsville AL 35810, and I will return your copy promptly with many thanks.

The SuperJazz Big Band will be performing on Sunday, November 19, 2006 at 3 p.m. at John Carroll High School. The cost of admission will be $5.

This will be the second concert of the season and will feature guest vocalist Jane Drake. Jane will vocalize on two big band charts and perform two songs with a trio, including one from her current CD, “Brand New Woman.” The band also features 21 of Birmingham’s top professional jazz players.