The annual Jazz Festival event will be celebrating its 52nd year at Texas A&M University-Kingsville on March 29 and 30.
There will be 33 high school and middle school jazz bands coming from Austin to the north, Victoria to the east, Mission to the south and Del Rio to the west.
There will be a special guest at the Jazz Festival this year – Bernie Dresel. Dresel is a noted drummer and leader of the BBB featuring Bernie Dresel.
Dresel will be preforming at 7 p.m. on Saturday at the festival. Tickets will be $7 each and can be obtained by calling the music department at 361-593-2803. You can also visit them at the Bellamah Music Building in Room 112 for a ticket.
This event is important and much anticipated for the students in the music department.
The annual event provides students with the opportunity to experience multiple talents and see the amazing performances by students and well-renowned artists.
“I always look forward to what the jazz bands have to bring to the stage. They give amazing performances; I have attended almost four jazz festivals,” said Abigahil Castillo, music major.
Students are excited for the opportunity to listen and participate in the Jazz Festival. This festival provides the students with knowledge of the music. Students are also very excited to see who the special guest will be and to listen to what they will bring to the stage.
“I will be attending this year’s event. I am looking forward to performing alongside our guest artist, Bernie Dresel, with the TAMUK Jazz Band I. Prior to this festival, I have participated in the past four festivals. I am very excited to meet our guest artist. This year will be the most special to me as it will be my last festival I will be participating in. I cannot wait to share the stage with my colleagues and my professors,” said Javier Salinas, music performance major.
The Annual Jazz Festival gives students the opportunity to flourish into even better musicians and enhance their performance.
“It provides the opportunity to experience America’s original musical art form – Jazz. The festival provides a platform for middle school and high school bands to perform, compete and receive comments from experienced judges. Students also get to see and hear fantastic professional jazz artists like Bernie Dresel,” said Chair of the music department Paul Hageman.
The Jazz Festival brings a lot of possibilities for the students to experience and learn from these kinds of events.
“College students will get the opportunity to rehearse, prepare and perform great jazz music and interact with the guest artist, Bernie Dresel,” Hageman said.