The Dallas Jazz Orchestra (DJO) is an American jazz big band based in Dallas, Texas. Founded by Galen Jeter and Thom Mason in 1973, [1] the DJO was once called "the only community-supported jazz orchestra in the world" by radio show host Dr. Cone Johnson. [2] The DJO performed internationally, twice at the Montreux Jazz Festival, at the Seville Expo '92 in Spain, and on SS Norway Caribbean jazz cruises. [3] [4] [5] The twenty-piece jazz orchestra also played for two United States presidents, [5] [6] including an impromptu performance of "Georgia on my Mind" for President Jimmy Carter, [5] and a performance on the campaign trail for then-Vice President George H. W. Bush. [7] The original band recorded eleven albums, and released Scrapbook: The Best of the First 25 Years, a retrospective, in 1998. [8]
In the early 2000s, Jeter left the DJO to form the Dallas' Original Jazz Orchestra (DOJO), taking nearly the entire band with him. [3] In 2004, Galen Jeter and Dallas' Original Jazz Orchestra recorded "The Big 3-0", commemorating their 30th anniversary. [8]
Co-founder Galen Jeter played trumpet in the University of North Texas One O'Clock Lab Band and in the Woody Herman Orchestra. [3] [8] In the late 1960s, Jeter moved to Dallas and worked as a high school biology teacher in Garland, Texas. [8] [3] In 1973, Jeter and Thom Mason, then a professor at Southern Methodist University, decided to look for local musicians to jam with and "help keep the big-band spirit alive". [1] Forming the Dallas Jazz Orchestra, they held rehearsals at the SMU band hall, [8] which they quickly outgrew, and performed live for the first time the following year. [1]
Co-founder and saxophonist Thom Mason was musical director through 1977. [9] [10] As the band gained momentum, many accomplished musicians joined DJO, [8] including instrumentalists who had performed with jazz greats such as Duke Ellington, Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Maynard Ferguson, and Stan Getz. [11] Leon Breeden, Director of Jazz Studies at the University of North Texas College of Music, who had taught Jeter as a student, served on the governing board of DJO. [2] He helped the jazz orchestra find musicians, and was a guest clarinetist. [2] Wayne Morgan, a long-time proprietor of several Dallas nightclubs, became chairman of the board. [1] [12] Over three decades, Galen Jeter also encouraged hundreds of talented young musicians from UNT and other schools to join the DJO or play alongside them. [13] [1]
Dallas Jazz Orchestra held its first concert at Joe Miller's club in 1974. [1] Later that year, the DJO started playing at jazz singer Maxine Kent's Club on Lemmon Avenue in Dallas once a month and attracted standing-room-only crowds. [1] They eventually moved to performing there twice a month, with rehearsals during alternating weeks, for a period of four years. [1]
The DJO recorded its first album, Hey Man!, live at Maxine Kent's in Dallas on February 9, 1975. [14] Its second album, Tuesday the 15th, was also recorded at Maxine Kent's in 1976. [14] In a review published in D Magazine, David Ritz characterized the band as "first-rate Dallas musicians who play together, not for profit, but sheer pleasure. The results are uneven, loose, spontaneous and whimsical." [15]
From 1978 through most of the 1980s, the Dallas Jazz Orchestra played every Sunday night at Popsicle Toes, a club owned by Wayne Morgan, who became more involved with the group and served as chairman. [1] [16] In 1982, Popsicle Toes's listing in the Texas Monthly said that the DJO "rallies the fans of Kenton, Herman, and Ferguson, many of whose alumni staff the band." [17]
The Dallas Jazz Orchestra was invited to perform at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland in 1985 and 1989. [3] By January 1989, the DJO had moved to Poor David's Pub, [18] before becoming regulars at the Village Country Club for many years. [6] [8]
In October 1989, the Dallas Jazz Orchestra was featured on the SS Norway jazz cruise, described by Norwegian Cruise Line as its "seventh annual floating jazz festival". [4] In 1992, the DJO was invited to perform at the World's Fair in Seville, Spain. [1] On tour and at jazz festivals, the Dallas Jazz Orchestra accompanied a long list of celebrity artists, including Diahann Carroll, Billy Eckstine, Doc Severinsen, Bob Hope, Steve Allen, Mel Tormé, Joe Williams and the Four Freshmen. [19]
In 1998, the Dallas Jazz Orchestra released its twelfth album, Scrapbook: The First 25 Years. [8] Its 1990 album, Thank You, Leon, was a tribute to Leon Breeden, with a title track commissioned by Abilene, Texas, radio personality Cone Johnson, also known as "Dr. Jazz", a major supporter of the DJO who attended nearly all of their performances. [1] [2]
As a nonprofit organization, the band struggled at times to stay afloat. [1] Band members would typically take home $10 each after a weekly performance, and then put any remainder of earnings from the $5-per-person door charge toward a travel fund. [1] Otherwise, the DJO relied on donor contributions and sales of CDs and t-shirts. [1] To finance the group's trip to Switzerland in 1989, Galen Jeter took out a loan for $23,000; for the trip to Spain, he helped to raise $50,000. [1]
In the early 2000s, Galen Jeter left the DJO to form the Dallas' Original Jazz Orchestra, taking most band members with him. [3] The Dallas Jazz Orchestra continues to perform concerts as a separate entity. [3]
Dallas Jazz Orchestra:
Galen Jeter and Dallas' Original Jazz Orchestra:
Dallas Jazz Orchestra directed by Curtis Bradshaw: