Live jazz was back on the calendar this April as the Sherman Jazz And More Society (JAMS) and Sherman Jazz Museum teamed up for a weekend of great music. The 2022 Sherman Jazz Classic featured the Durant High School Jazz Band, Greg Waits Quartet + Chris McGuire, Chris Dickson Group, and Mr. P.C.
The return of the Jazz Classic is a harbinger of good things to come in future years. JAMS and the Sherman Cultural District Council are collaborating on ideas for an expanded festival in 2023. The new plans will build on the first two events of 2018 and 2019, which area jazz fans may recall featured Doc Severinsen and Carl Fischer as guests soloists with the famed One O'Clock Lab Band from University of North Texas. Jazz has a special place in Sherman history. The SCD is currently researching local connections to the jazz world, but likely our most famous name is George Holmes "Buddy" Tate, the legendary tenor saxophonist who played for a decade with the Count Basie Orchestra and other big names in the jazz world. Buddy Tate was born on February 12, 1912, in the Blue Creek Community just east of Sherman. He maintained ties with his hometown up until his death in 2001; he also returned in 1979 to play a concert at Austin College and in 1984 to perform at Arts Festival.
Another jazz musician of note is trumpeter John Edward "Teddy" Buckner, born in Sherman July 16, 1909. Although Buckner grew up in New Mexico and California, Sherman can claim him as a native son; he went on to some modest fame working with Lionel Hampton and Benny Goodman, and even stood in for his idol Louis Armstrong in the 1936 film "Pennies from Heaven."
Greg Waitts Quartet + Chris McGuire at Sherman Jazz Museum, April 9, 2022
In 2022, the fabulous (truly!) Sherman Jazz Museum is carrying the torch for the important work of preserving jazz and musical history from the Big Band era, from recording living legends to curating the recorded music and artifacts of past legends. The work is the passion of Bill Collins III and his wife, Susan, and daughter, Cathy. The Collins family has deep roots in Sherman, and that is a story in itself - more later on that! (Robert and Sherry Little, owners of Old Iron Post and co-founders of Sherman JAMS, shared their thoughts on the Collinses and the work of JAMS in an interview with Lake Texoma Association in 2019.) Sherman is fortunate indeed to have such talent at the Greg Waitts Quartet + Chris McGuire performing at the Museum. We'll end on that happy note, knowing more great music is just around the corner!