6th Annual Hill Country Jazz Festival

Texas State University is excited to announce the 36th annual Hill Country Jazz Festival. The festival will be held on Saturday, February 3rd, 2024 on the beautiful Texas State University campus. In addition to our excellent facilities, including a just-completed renovation to Evans Auditorium, our outstanding adjudicators, clinicians, and performers promise to make this a memorable experience. As a non-competitive event, The Hill Country Jazz Festival does not select winners but does recognize exemplary big bands, combos, and individual instrumentalists with “Outstanding Performance Awards.”

We are excited to announce that this year’s guest artist is trumpeter Terell Stafford! Since the mid-1990’s, Stafford has performed with groups such as Benny Golson’s Sextet, McCoy Tyner’s Sextet, Kenny Barron’s Quintet, Frank Wess’ Quintet, Jimmy Heath’s Quintet and Big Band, Jon Faddis’ Jazz Orchestra, The Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, and The Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Alumni Band. He performed with the Hamilton- Clayton Jazz Orchestra on Diana Krall’s GRAMMY nominated From this Moment On (2006). Stafford is a member of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, which was awarded a GRAMMY in 2009 for Best Large Ensemble, Live at the Village Vanguard. Stafford can be heard on over 130 albums including his own, BrotherLee Love, and Celebrating Lee Morgan, which received an NAACP Image Award nomination. His most recent album, Family Feeling, is a BCM&D release. Mr. Stafford is the Director of Jazz Studies and Chair of Instrumental Studies at Temple University, founder and band leader of the Terell Stafford Quintet, and Managing and Artistic Director of the Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia (JOP).

Bands will perform throughout the day on Saturday in Evans Auditorium and the Performing Arts Center. At 5 p.m., there will be an hour-long clinic presented by Terell Stafford. Immediately following the clinic, the Jazz Ensemble will take the stage at Evans Auditorium.

This year we are excited to offer an online registration and payment option! The link to do so is at the top of this page .This should make it easier for many schools to control their registration and payment. For those schools wishing to still do paper registration and checks, the registration for is attached! Jazz ensembles wishing to participate in the Hill Country Jazz Festival should complete the registration and fee of $200 by January 10th.

In addition to the above activities, an all-star big band will play a free concert on Friday, February 2nd , at 7:30 p.m. in Evans Auditorium as part of the Eddie Durham Celebration. The band will feature Count Basie Orchestra tenor saxophonist Doug Lawrence, Terell Stafford, members of the Texas State jazz faculty, and Texas State alumni. The evening will also include a talk by Director of the National Jazz Museum Loren Schoenberg. We hope you can attend both events, but all school performances are only on Saturday

Date: February 3, 2024

Location:

Texas State University -

601 University Drive

San Marcos, TX 78666

Cost: $200.00

Register here

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