Terell Stafford, director

Led by Director of Jazz Studies and Laura H. Carnell Professor of Jazz Terell Stafford, the Temple University Jazz Band (TUJB) performs on Temple’s main campus and throughout the greater Philadelphia region, and hosts the annual Essentially Ellington Eastern Regional High School Jazz Band Festival. Other festival appearances include the Mellon/PSFS Jazz Festival, International Association of Jazz Educators Conferences, the East Coast Jazz Festival, the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conferences, and the Detroit International Jazz Festival. The TUJB is also a frequent award winner at the annual Villanova Jazz Festival.

In addition to numerous on-campus performances, the TUJB has performed many times at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and performs each spring at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center. In March 2003, the TUJB toured Germany, which included five performances with the Phoenix Foundation Jazz Band. In May 2008, they traveled to Amsterdam where they performed with the Amsterdam Conservatory Jazz Band and at The Hague Jazz Festival. The band has performed at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with the Terell Stafford Quartet and Carla Cook in a tribute to Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughan. Other performances in recent seasons have included appearances with John Faddis, Frank Wess, Clark Terry, Joe Wilder, Jimmy Heath, Benny Golson, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Karrin Allyson, and Freddy Cole.

Among the many respected jazz artists who have played with the TUJB on stage, in master classes and in clinics are Wynton Marsalis, The Vanguard Orchestra, Slide Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, Dr. Billy Taylor, Max Roach, Frank Wess, Phil Woods, Jon Faddis, Mel Lewis, Dick Oatts, Byron Stripling, Conrad Herwig, Claudio Roditi, Antonio Hart, Carl Allen, JoAnne Brackeen, Regina Carter, Cyrus Chestnut, Joey DeFrancesco, McCoy Tyner, Norman Simmons, Benny Golson, Savion Glover, Joshua Redman, Huston Person,  John Clayton, Rene Marie, Wycliffe Gordon, and Marshall Gilkes.

Dan Monaghan and Jon Shaw, directors

Temple University has a long tradition of big band jazz, and by 2008 the number of students auditioning for Temple University Jazz Band and Temple University Lab Band had grown so large that a third and fourth band were formed to offer students additional performance opportunities. Jazz Band Number 3 is led by Dan Monaghan and Jazz Band Number 4 by Jon Shaw.

The educational mission of both is to provide an environment in which students can improve knowledge and application of rhythmic interpretation, section and ensemble blend, expansion of dynamic range, and ballad concepts. The repertoire covers a wide chronological range, from the Count Basie and Duke Ellington catalogues, to contemporary compositions and arrangements that the band deems worthy. Jazz Band Number 4 has performed in the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, the Temple Performing Arts Center, Tomlinson Theater and Klein Recital Hall. It plays for the annual Temple University Swing Dance and is available for external events. The band has featured guest artists such as Joe Magnarelli, Ralph Lalama, Wycliffe Gordon and Larry McKenna. Both bands perform on campus up to two times a year.

Steve Fidyk, director

Since its inception in the late 1980s as a large reading ensemble for Jazz students, the Lab Band has served as a valuable feeder for students moving into the Temple University Jazz Band. Led by Steve Fidyk, previous conductors include founder Larry McKenna, as well as Terell Stafford, who reintroduced the band to accommodate the growing jazz student population.

Temple University Lab Band has served as the opening act for the Temple University Jazz Band at its Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts performances and as the headliner for the annual Big Band Dance swing dance held each Spring. The band has also performed at the Temple Performing Arts Center and in Tomlinson Theater. The band’s impressive list of recent guest artists includes trumpeter Joe Magnarelli, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, and saxophonists Larry McKenna and Ralph Lalama. The fundamental educational premises of the group are to focus on playing within sections, to learn about phrasing, tonal blend, and dynamics, and to develop professional-level performance techniques and habits. Lab Band performs on campus once a year.

Chris Oatts, director

Temple University Swinging Owls 6 & 8 is a community-based jazz ensemble consisting of students, faculty, and members of the Temple and Philadelphia communities. Split into two sections, it is a traditional big band, performing standard band literature. Both ensembles perform Fall and Spring concerts on campus. 

Ruth Naomi Floyd, director

Temple University Swinging Voices is a choir consisting of 4-12 singers divided into soprano, alto, tenor, and bass parts. It performs standard jazz choir repertoire with full rhythm section accompaniment (piano, bass, drums). Each meeting is devoted to rehearsing parts, focusing on blend, dynamics, intonation, articulation, expression, interpretation, and stage presence. Iconic groups that would be emulated include The Manhattan Transfer, New York Voices, Syncopation, and Vox One. Vocal arrangements recorded and published by these groups (and others) are performed, in addition to the works of contemporary arrangers.

Rite of Swing Jazz Café is a weekly jazz performance at the Temple Performing Arts Center, taking place from 4:30 - 6:30PM on almost every Thursday of the academic year. It features performances by students, alumni and faculty of the Jazz Studies program, attracting a lively gathering of jazz lovers from the Temple and Philadelphia communities. The performances are recorded and aired during jazz programming on WRTI 90.1 FM.

Coached by Dick Oatts, the Senior Jazz Ensemble features the top senior jazz musicians each semester.

Coached by Tim Warfield, the Graduate Jazz Ensemble features the top graduate jazz musicians each semester.

Through study and performance, this ensemble explores the diverse reportoire of Latin Jazz across all time periods and styles.

This ensemble explores the distinct, influential syle and traditions of New Orleans, with a strong focus on improvisation.

All jazz students have the opportunity to enroll in small jazz ensembles coached by Jazz Studies faculty members, from combo to instrument-specific groups, some with full rhythm section.

Small ensemble assignments are made during the first two weeks of each semester. Ensembles typically present end-of-semester performances in The Art of Bread café in Presser Hall, a gathering place for performing and visual arts students and faculty.