HANCEVILLE, Ala. – Wallace State Community College’s Fine and Performing Arts program will celebrate around 50 years of jazz performances at its annual Big Band Dance on Friday, April 18. The event will feature a special performance by alumni representing almost the entire history of the Wallace State Jazz Band.
“As we started planning this year’s event, we realized that it’s been about 50 years since Wallace State Jazz Band organized its first jazz band,” said Ricky Burks, Jazz Band director and chair of the Fine and Performing Arts program.
Robert G. Bean was the first director of the Wallace State Jazz Band and maintained that post for more than 15 years before passing the baton to Burks. Burks performed with one of the college jazz bands in high school.
Burks is the third program chair for WSCC Fine and Performing Arts, taking over after Bean who succeeded Dr. Jim Walker, the first chair of the program.
Many alumni have signed up to play on April 18 for a portion of the Jazz Band Dance. Their time at the college ranges from 1977 to 2023. The group will gather at 4 p.m. that day to rehearse for the evening performance. Any WSCC Jazz Band alumni wishing to join in the concert may sign up at https://tinyurl.com/bdhawvxb to complete a short registration form and receive the sheet music for the performance.
Nurse practitioner Chris Williams of Cullman plans to attend the event and sit in with the band. Williams played drums for the Jazz Band from 1995 to 1998 and credits what he learned at Wallace State, and specifically from Burks, for where he is today.
“He didn’t just teach me about music, he took a kid who had no direction in life…and he put me on the right path. I would not be where I’m at today if not for him,” said Williams, who still plays the drums today in a country band called the Crooked Creek Band. Their first single is coming out soon, he said.
The Big Band Dance will be held on Friday, April 18, at 7 p.m., in the Burrow Center for the Fine and Performing Arts. Admission is a $10 donation for adults and $5 for students and children younger than 12.
For more information contact Amy McDonald at 256-352-8277 or amy.mcdonald@wallacestate.edu.
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