OCEAN BEAT APRIL 2020 The Official Publication of the Texas Southern University Ocean of Soul Alumni Chapter
Texas Southern University Ocean of Soul Alumni Chapter Officers 2019-2020 Donald Greer President Joselyn Coats V. P. of Membership Garnet Foster V. P. of Finance Donald Black Treasurer Darren Champs Recording Secretary Justin Dorsey Corresponding Secretary Julia Richardson Parliamentarian Justice Smith Financial Secretary Reginald Thompson Chaplain Linda Boyd Auxiliary Committee If you want to submit information to the TSUOOSAC Newsletter, please email information to: Oceanalumni@gmail.com or mail to: Texas Southern University National Alumni Association Ocean of Soul Chapter P.O. Box 88155
ALUMNI NEWS
Congratulations to Ocean of Soul Alumnae Brittney Hawkins. Dr. Hawkins is a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery from the prestigious Meharry Medical College.
Dr. Austin Lane and Texas Southern University Part Ways
Statement from Dr. Austin Lane Dear TSU Faculty, Staff, Students, and Alums: My wife Loren and I would like to thank each of you for allowing us to serve at this indomitable institution, The Texas Southern University! Our last four years have been the best four years of our lives and we can only hope that we lived up to your expectations of making TSU the best HBCU in the country. With your input, recommendations, and support, we were able to do great things in a very short period of time:
brought homecoming traditions (parade in 2016; football game in 2019) back to the yard, increasing community and alumni engagement
construction of new 100,000-square-foot library learning center, expanding access to research and tools for students, faculty, staff, and alums
creation of a capital expenditure plan, reallocating funds to make much-needed campus infrastructure improvements and reduce deferred maintenance
safety enhancements, including the hiring of new TSU Department of Public Safety leadership, a new student-focused policing philosophy, overhaul of the policing fleet, and improved campus lighting
revival of Greek life, expanding the number of fraternities and sororities and bringing some off of probationary status
clearance of NCAA probation for the TSU athletic program, along with recordbreaking academic successes and graduation rates for TSU student-athletes
acceptance of the largest single gift from an individual (approximately $3 million) from the estate of alumnus Joan M. Lafleur to the College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences
establishing the Maroon & Gray Affair annual fundraiser for student scholarships and programs, resulting in more than $3 million raised• increase in enrollment over targeted projections, including double digit percentage growth in 2017, and further growth in 2018
increase in persistence & graduation rates, following enhancement of the Freshman Seminar course and Project Graduation – a customized pathway to student success and completion
over a three-year period, TSU’s investment rating from Moody’s Investor Services improved from ‘negative’ to ‘stable’ to ‘positive,’ resulting in more favorable borrowing scenarios for TSU in the future
hosting the ABC News Democratic Debate, becoming the first HBCU to host such a debate in more than a decade; the debate brought incalculable attention to TSU
received a $5.1 million CPRIT (Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas) grant, helping TSU become a major player in cancer research and prevention
received a $2.7 million grant from the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and the Charles Koch Foundation to fund the newly-established Center for Justice Research
implemented a comprehensive compensation study, resulting in a new salary and compensation structure that addresses internal equity for all TSU faculty and staff
formed partnerships with Harris County and the City of Houston to launch major improvements to streets and roads surrounding the TSU campus
entered into a leading-edge partnership with Houston METRO to pilot an autonomous vehicle/shuttle service along the Tiger Walk; the project also resulted in research opportunities for students and faculty in TSU’s Center for Transportation Studies
achieved major successes in the 85th and 86th Texas legislative sessions, resulting in increased funding and appropriations for campus programs and infrastructure, and fixing an athletics fee issue that will ensure sustained funding for all athletics programs
These are just a few of our accomplishments that led to the success of our top five priorities (Student Success and Completion, Academic Program Quality and Research, Culture, Partnerships and Finances) and shared vision we created in 2016. TSU will always be the Heart & Soul of Houston and will forever have a special place in our hearts. We are moving on with our heads held high knowing we did our best and that its confirmed and on record that we did nothing wrong. Go Tigers, Dr. Austin A. Lane First Lady Loren R. Lane
William “Bubbha ” Thomas Legendary Houston Musician and Educator
Houston’s reputation for developing first-class jazz drummers is well established. Bubbha Thomas was a key player in that tradition, among the musicians and mentors who stood tallest despite sitting behind a drum kit. Thomas’ distinguished career included time playing on storied Duke-Peacock recordings in the 1960s, and he led an incredible spiritual jazz ensemble, the Lightmen, in the 1970s. Thomas died Saturday in Houston, according to a statement by his son. Earlier in the week, Thomas told the Chronicle, he'd been in declining health for some time. Despite a storied career as a drummer and bandleader, perhaps Thomas’ most enduring work that of founder of Houston’s Summer Jazz Workshop, a remarkable program that nurtured young talent for generations. “The older I get the more I realize how fortunate I was to be a part of the Summer Jazz Workshop,” says jazz drummer Reggie Quinerly. “When you get older, you realize the importance of time. And to share something like that with young people, it’s priceless. I can’t begin to count the number of young people who benefitted from the exposure to music and the arts because of Bubbha Thomas.” Adds drummer Jeremy Dutton, who last month appeared in Houston with Vijay Iyer, “You really can’t overstate what he meant to the Houston music community.” FROM SOUL TO "SPIRITUAL JAZZ" Before becoming an artist and educator, Thomas was a Fourth Ward kid who grew up in a music-filled household. He attended Booker T. Washington High School, dividing his time between music and basketball. The former found Thomas studying with Houston jazz legend Conrad Johnson. Thomas continued his study at Wiley College, but returned to Houston in the 1960s, where he found work drumming on sessions for Don Robey’s Duke and Peacock labels starting in 1963. Thomas drummed on recordings by artists including O.V. Wright, Buddy Ace and the Mighty Clouds of Joy.
In 1970, Thomas released “Free as You Wanna Be,” with his band the Lightmen. A half century later, the record still bristles with ageless energy as Thomas and his collaborators – including the great Ronnie Laws on saxophone and blues guitarist Kinny Abair on guitar -- cut a new path through jazz that had a progressive sound and an international bent that felt earthier than the jazz fusion that was in vogue during that time. His was a soulful sort of jazz with a socially inclusive bent. With no real peer, it was dubbed “spiritual jazz.” The Lightmen albums eventually fell out of print until 2019 when the Now-Again record label brought “Free as You Wanna Be,” “Energy Control Center,” “Fancy Pants” and “Country Fried Chicken” back into circulation and generated new interest in Thomas’ work as a composer, band-leader and drummer. NEW LIFE AS AN EDUCATOR Because the Lightmen albums became rarities, more people in Houston knew Thomas for his other job, founding and operating the Summer Jazz Workshop, which he launched in the early 1970s in collaboration with Conrad “Prof” Johnson, a premier jazz player who worked as the instructor, organizer and orchestrator of Houston’s storied Kashmere Stage Band. Mark Speer of the band Khruangbin recalls being in in Austin a few years ago with the head of NowAgain, who was carrying a record by Johnson. “I was talking to him about Prof and the Summer Jazz Workshop, and I had no idea (record) diggers were into that stuff. It was like waking up one morning and finding out your high school teacher is a legend.” The Summer Jazz Workshop turns 48 this year. Thomas and a remarkable team of instructors – including another drummer, Craig Green – ran a program that had an inestimable positive effect on the city and its aspiring musicians. “It wasn’t like, ‘Here’s today’s bass lesson,’” says Speer. “There was no bass lesson. It’s here’s how you play music. That program really taught me to play in an ensemble.” Drummer and bandleader Chris Dave – whose career includes his own band the Drumhedz as well as a long resume including credits with Adele and Ed Sheeran and several jazz and hip-hop players -says, “It was nothing like summer school. It was a school where everybody was mad when it was over. ‘Only three more days left? Man that sucks.’ Dave also describes a program that threw its gates open to all players who showed promise. “They’d work things out for anybody,” he says. “I’d seen them let in students for free because a kid was too talented on whatever, guitar, marimba, to miss out. Bubbha always wanted to have those kids.”
Jason Moran – like Quinerly, Dave and Dutton, an alumnus of the High School for the Pe and Visual Arts – remembers Thomas as an educator even before the Summer Jazz Wo Moran recalls Thomas doing a jazz and poetry project at Moran’s elementary scho
“I remember joining Summer Jazz Workshop and realizing that it was intergenerational in rad Johnson were the ultra cool,” he says.
In high school, Moran discovered Thomas’ recordings “with the great drum breaks … w friends and I would look for to sample.
“Bubbha possessed the funk and soul of jazz and knew how to share it with everyone," M "And that everyone was the city of Houston.” andrew.dansby@chron.com Repinted from the Houston Chronicle
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IN MEMORIAM Cleon Bernard Freeman, Sr. Trombone Section Member of the First Generation of the Ocean of Soul
1970-1973
Special thanks to Kirk Jackson and A & R Brake Service for his generous contribution and their continued support of the Ocean of Soul Marching Band
Special thanks to Ocean Alumnus Cory James and Colistics Pharmacy for his generous contribution and their continued support of the Ocean of Soul Marching Band