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Paul Baker - Paul is a native of the Dallas area, getting his musical beginnings in the Richardson
Schools. He has a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of North Texas where he was a member
of the famed One O'Clock Lab Band. Currently he is a free lance writer and musician in the Austin, Texas
area, writing and expressing his creative talents through the band's performance of his music and his
playing ability.
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Steve Sample - Professor of Music and Director of Jazz Studies in the School of Music at the University
of Alabama. He served as a staff arranger for the University Bands from 1955 to 1973. In 1967, Sample
started the University of Alabama Jazz Ensembles. He has served nationally at festivals and competitions
as a judge, clinician and director. His arrangements are being performed by jazz ensembles, symphony
orchestras, tuba ensembles, trombone choirs, marching bands, dance bands, woodwind quintets, brass quintets,
choral groups, featured soloists and vocalists all over the country. Other professional activities include
serving as a staff memeber of the Stan Kenton Summer Jazz Band Camps, serving on the U.S. All-Star Jazz
Band Advisory Board and serving two years as president to the Alabama State Chapter of the National Association
of Jazz Educators.
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Pete Vollmers - Pete was active in many phases of music. He had been jazz ensemble director at
Southern Methodist University, jazz tenor saxophonist and writer with the Dallas Jazz Orchestra and leader,
clarinetist and arranger for the Dallas Chamber Players, a woodwind quintet. He had also been soloist
and conductor with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for their summer pops series. Pete did his graduate
study at the University of Miami where he was solo clarinetist under Fredrick Fennell and lead alto sax
with the Univerity of Miami jazz ensemble. He became a well-known figure on the Miami jazz scene. His
writing reflected his broad musical activities and tastes in a fresh and innovative way.
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Raoul Romero - Raoul was a longtime Las Vegas jazz composer, arranger, big band leader and saxophonist.
He died in 1999 of a heart attack in San Luis, Mexico at the young age of 64. Romero was an icon in
the Las Vegas jazz scene for many years. He toured with the Woody Herman Band in 1964 and 1965, arranging
and composing for the band as well. In May of 1994, Raoul composed a tribute piece for a Woody Herman
festival at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He also performed with or arranged music for Gene Krupa,
Benny Goodman, Maynard Ferguson and Stan Kenton. All-Music Guide, an Internet music encyclopedia, list
two albums by Romero on Sea Breeze Label: "Raoul Romero: Las Vegas Jazz Jestival" and "The Music of Raoul
Romero".
Romero's most recent compositions and arrangements were devoted to high school and college
jazz bands and orchestras and have been played worldwide. The Young Sounds of Arizona perfomred his
last two commissioned compositions. Orchestras in his native El Paso have performed his works for jazz
orchestra concerts and contests, as well. The National Association of Jazz Educators and the Lake Tahoe
Symphony Association both bestowed awards to Romero for his compositions and arrangements. Raoul's big
band compositions feature a variety of Latin-jazz rhythms and lush harmonies. His music incorporates
techniques in converting Latin-jazz to swing and vice versa. Raoul loved creativity and left the jazz
solist a great opportunity for freedom in musical expression.
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Thomas Wirtel (aka Shabda Nur) - Thomas is a former, original member of the Dallas Jazz Orchestra
and can be heard as both jazz soloist and writer on the first two albums. He has a doctorate in music
composition from Indiana University and is a graduate of the University of North Texas One O'Clock Lab
Band (1963). Not only does Thomas play excellent trumpet, write all types of music and is a good clinician,
he is also currently working on a new series of jazz compositions which include study materials and practice
recordings for improvisers. Miss Wu is the prototype for this series.
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