Big Accomplishments and Big Challenges A YEAR TO REMEMBER FOR JAZZ STUDIES The 2012-13 school year was one of great highs and lows for the jazz program at Southern Miss. The Jazz Lab Band 1 was selected by audition to perform at the annual Jazz Education Network National Conference in Atlanta, and the band prepared the entire fall semester to be razor sharp for their concert in January. The work showed as they gave a truly great performance to a very appreciative audience. But a full month did not pass before the low point hit.
encouraged me greatly. Without them, I do not think I could have dealt with it all and gotten back to teaching. This has been the hardest time of my entire career.”
Thanks to the tireless work of Dr. Steven Moser, dean of the College of Arts and Letters, and Dr. Michael Miles, director of the School of Music, we ended up in a temporary home in the old post office located in the HUB. “We were back up On Sunday afternoon, Feb. 10, 2013 an EF4 tornado came through Hattiesburg and running in the new space in little more than a week, working hard to pull cutting a 16-mile path of destruction that ran right through the Southern Miss things together despite having lost a lot of equipment and music.” In addition, campus. The Jazz Station was destroyed and the Mannoni PAC and the Fine Arts Panella’s garage became a drying unit with clothes-lines full of hanging music Building were also among the damaged buildings on campus. Thankfully, no one and paperwork, along with ventilated shelves with more books and music, was injured. racks of records and whatever else could be salvaged. Two dehumidifiers and a Larry Panella, director of jazz studies fan ran 24/7 for a month to help save as recalls, “I was at home huddled in the much material as possible. hallway with my children waiting out the storm. Shortly after it passed, I got Despite all the challenges this disaster a voicemail message from a colleague presented to the School of Music, things who had been rehearsing in the PAC. are moving forward toward placing both He said, ‘Larry, the Jazz Station is gone, just gone! The walls have been blown out the displaced orchestra program and the and the roof ripped off and there is stuff jazz program in the lower floor of the everywhere.’ Then the text messages with Fine Arts Building. The new space will photos started showing up on my phone. actually result in larger accommodations, and the jazz band will rehearse in I couldn’t leave my family to come see what was the band hall prior to the it, and it was yet two more days before I construction of the Mannoni Performing could see it up close.” Arts Center. “We will end up with more square footage than we had in the Jazz The damage to the facility was Station and be able to improve our irreparable. “I was thankful no one was capabilities with more spaces in which to hurt, but I was struggling to come to teach and practice,” said Panella. grips with it all. I spent the rest of the week trying to retrieve whatever was He went on to say, “I have high hopes usable out of the wreckage. The smell for where things are going for us and am of dampness and mustiness having penetrated everything was overwhelming grateful for Drs. Moser and Miles being such strong advocates for getting us back at times, and I went home physically exhausted and emotionally drained each on track. That means a great deal to me day. Lots of people pitched in to help and personally and says volumes about their leadership. We will come back from this even better than before.”
Jazz Station, February 11, 2013
NOTABLE The Jazz Lab Band 1opened last May for the University of North Texas 1 O’Clock Jazz Lab Band under the direction of Southern Miss alumnus, Steve Wiest. They also performed at the Jazz Education Network Conference in Atlanta, GA on Jan. 4, 2013. This was the band’s first performance at the conference, and they were in good company with ensembles from some of the most notable programs in the country, including the University of Miami, Berklee College of Music, the University of Southern California,
the University of North Florida, as well as professional ensembles that include the Army Blues (Pershing’s Own) Jazz Band, Rufus Reid, David Liebman, the Capitol Bones with John Fedchock and many more. While there, Southern Miss students got to attend various seminars and workshops, as well as the performances. They got a taste of what their colleagues in other programs are doing in addition to hearing and meeting great professional artists. Their performance was highlighted by jazz educator, Earl MacDonald, on his blog as being especially note worthy.