THE BATTALION
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1980
Page 3
ocal
reeden to take era with him
Lab band cooks on its qwn
By DILLARD STONE
Battalion Staff
He’s been Breeden jazz musicians
it North Texas State University for
P years.
1 An era in NTSU music will end
Big. 31, 1981, when Leon Breeden
feigns as music director. A large
|lm with grey hair and black mous-
Rhe, Breeden obviously leaves the
jpgram with a great deal of regret,
Ipsfaction and pride.
A short conversation with
fieeden revealed him to be enthu-
T lastic, talkative and concerned ab-
y g| his students and the program.
' [ Since 1959, Breeden figures he’s
len a part of the lives of thousands
t cut it, musicians trained in the Dallas-
zed met! f' ort Worth area. He’s seen the jazz
, j ust dJcation program at NTSU grow
i i i rob virtually nothing to intemation-
’‘'““‘fpraminence,
that, eittj j| e a( i m its his bands have been
ospectivei
lefacttkiresence — but in his mind, critical
obeaproiloclaim is secondary to educational
mplishment.
|We’ve brought jazz education to
be of importance. Jazz had to
in the back door here — even
ew Orleans,” Breeden said
rsday night. “People don’t want
irkids growing up to be jazz musi-
>ff. Ifmeii:.j
refuse toil
n do the si
ay by 1m
. What a'J
easier, plis jazz education program at
ant. fm £ NTSU has helped bridge that gap, he
laid,
■We’ve been criticized for not
Bing a style of our own, ” he said.
We’re not trying to develop a North
Bas Style — we’re training these
■js to do anything. ”
Beople say the NTSU band is too
Biplined, he said, but he feels dis-
Hine is essential in a jazz musician:
me don’t want to sound like a 3 a. m.
fttclub jam.”
©espite Breeden’s claims, the
Hd does have a sound of its own,
■'diversity of the music sources
Kvithstanding. Add to that diversi-
p a director who uses the band as a
mt instead of as a showcase for indi-
George Dolan
Chip McNiell plays a tenor sax solo while Leon Breeden is in his 22nd and last year as NTSU
Breeden conducts the rest of the North Texas music director. The band played in Rudder
State University One O’clock Lab Band. Auditorium Thursday night.
By DILLARD STONE
Battalion Staff
Sometimes you have to wonder
why Leon Breeden is even
around. He must wonder some
times, too.
Breeden conducts his band
with ... well, respect is about the
only word I can think of. He
doesn’t work like a typical band
conductor, or even like a typical
college bandmaster.
But then the North Texas State
University One O’clock Lab
Band isn’t a typical college band.
Breeden appears to be there
only to start and end the band’s
numbers. A foot stomp, a click of
the fingers. Homs up. Eyes on
director. A count: “One, two.
One, two, three ...” And off they
go-
Breeden leisurely conducts a
few bars, then steps back to let
the band do its work. He treats
the band as a unit, his students
with respect.
In return he gets togetherness
and precision from the one, spon
taneity and unstructured solos
from the other.
It’s a formula that’s been work
ing wonders since the late ’60s.
NTSU’s showcase band continues
to wow the world in the same way
it wowed Texas A&M Thursday
night.
It’s a rare treat for a performer
to find an audience which re
quests two encores — and it’s
even rarer to find performers who
oblige.
Review
Those two elements meshed
Thursday night. It was my second
Lab Band concert, and I’ve still
got to convince myself that these
guys are students. Fulltime col
lege students. In addition to
being musicians.
This band is good.
Breeden’s use of the entire
band as a vehicle for training his
students is the band’s selling
point: Instead of showcasing indi
viduals, the band works as a unit.
No performer merits recognition
as outstanding; they’re all good
individually — as a unit, they’re
outstanding.
The band is amazing in its ver
satility. Ballads, upbeat medlies,
big-band melodies and modem
renditions all fall easily within the
band’s reach.
Take the opening number:
“Nanu-Nanu.” Fast-paced, good
stuff. Then the medium-speed
“Mean What You Say.” Then
slow it all the way down with a
beautiful ballad, highlighted by
Chip McNiell’s haunting tenor
sax solo.
Charlie Parker wouldn’t have
recognized his “Donna Lee,” but
then probably nobody would
have. The frenetic trombone
slide work keyed an arrangement
which, as Breeden said, “defies
all description.”
That probably describes the
band best: as a college band, it
does defy all description.
vidual talent, and you’ve got a style
as distinct as any major jazz band’s.
Breeden’s philosophy is perfect —
that of an educator trying to train his
pupils in as many varied styles as
they can handle.
The One O’clock Lab Band will
play 150 arrangements this year.
Many of them will be sight read.
“One time we even sight read a
whole concert — ten numbers,”
Breeden said with pride.
The tight, professional sound of
the One O’clock Lab Band belies
the fact that its members are fulltime
students.
“Many people who hear our band
can’t believe they’re students,”
Breeden said.
Although the musicians change
yearly, sometimes more frequently,
the band’s reputation continues to
grow each year. Two Grammy nomi
nations, a White House performance
and countless jazz music festivals af
ter Breeden took the reins, NTSU is
now a major supplier of musicians to
jazz and other bands across the
country.
But while Breeden will soon re
tire, whoever assumes his position
will inherit his legacy — one of the
finest college jazz bands in America.
troup agrees to request federal
transit funds for inter-city buses
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QUALITY FIRST
By TRACY L. FENTON
Battalion Reporter
At a meeting Thursday afternoon
if the Bryan-College Station Urban
Transportation Study Steering Com-
nittee, the two cities agreed to cer-
jfy the need for federal funds for a
mblic transit system.
The system would be an inter-city
ransportation program between
iryan and College Station.
Spokesman D. D. Williamson said
ome of the main things that council-
nen want to know is which of the two
Hies will own the system and who
pi manage and operate it.
He said joint ownership had been
Icommended and was preferred,
p the legal statutes of joint owner-
pp must be examined before any
lecisions were made.
Jjtudies on routes, costs and sche-
lules have already been made and
ipdated, Williamson said. Now, he
said the federal funds must be ap
plied for before they become un-
avai/ab/e.
In other business, improvements
on Easterwood airport, an energy
contingency plan, a connecting
street system and a rural public
transportation program for the elder
ly and handicapped were discussed.
Harry Raisor, manager of Easter
wood Airport, said the traffic count at
Easterwood is approximately 8000
aircraft per month, 1500 more than
Bergstrom Air Force Base in Austin.
Raisor said Easterwood also sup
plies fuel to a helicopter ambulance
service that flies out of Houston.
“Easterwood is what we consider
‘bursting at the seams,”’ he said.
Raisor said in the last two to two
and a half years, minor improve
ments have been made on the air
port. These include runway lights,
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“Progress has been made and
we re not totally self-sufficient but
we re working on it,” Raisor said.
Hubert Nelson and Al Mayo pre
sented a program on turning more
streets and roads into arterials or
connectors.
They said people have overlooked
the rate of growth in our community
and how it has affected our transpor
tation.
Nelson and Mayo are studying
which streets should be connector
streets and how many there should
be.
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