There is
always a problem when you start to make a list of people who do anything. You will inevitably leave someone out causing
them to assume you either don’t love them or, in a fit of senility, have
forgotten they exist. Earlier in one of
these epistles, I listed former students who had become band directors and left
out my own son-in-law. That being the
case, OF COURSE I am going to now list some folks. Chalk my mistakes up to old age and demon
rum.
I was
reading the paper (yep… I read) and noticed that 2 former students (John Cooper
and Jake Ingalls) will be performing in the Memphis area this Spring. In both cases it is a huge deal for those of
us who know them. I mentioned it to a
friend of mine (yep… I have a friend) and I found their response both telling
and curious. They said they thought
making it in music, as anything other than a teacher, was a “unicorn
moment”. So rare that it might just be a
myth. If you all feel that way, take
note of the former students listed below.
Being in the band at Houston was a small part of their success. Hard work and perseverance were the much
bigger factors. They are:
John Cooper – John
was a trombone player in the band. My
favorite memory of John was of his insistence on answering rhetorical
questions. If I got angry and yelled,
“Does anybody here have any idea what they are doing?” the band would get very
quiet…. and then John would raise his hand and say “Well Mr. Smith, I do and I
think Perry does but Scott doesn’t have a clue!”. John is now the lead singer and founding
member of the band SKILLET. SKILLET has been around since the late
1990’s and has performed Christian music for millions of fans. In January of 2017, their single “Feel
Invincible” topped the Billboard Christian Song Chart. The album was Grammy nominated last
year. They will be performing on March 3
at Winter Jam in the Fed Ex Forum.
Matt Wigton – Matt
was also a trombone player in the band as well as a fine athlete. His senior year, he was a bass player in the
National Grammy Jazz Band as well as the Tennessee State champion in the
Discus. Matt went on to attend the
University of North Texas and to play in the One O’Clock Lab Band. For those few reading this who understand
what that means – Wow!!! After
graduating, Matt moved to NYC and spent his time getting established as a
performing and recording jazz bassist.
He has performed on 2 Grammy nominated albums and has toured with the
likes of Englebert Humperdink, Christopher Cross and Jo Dee Messina. He moved to Nashville and, through the
Nashville Jazz Composers Collective, he released a Jazz Christmas Album this
past year that was entitled “Sleigh What?!”.
On that album, he worked with Jeff Coffin, saxophonist for the Dave Mathew’s
Band.
Jake Ingalls – Jake
was a member of the front ensemble and indoor drum line while in band. I know it is different when it is your
life, but to the rest of us, it always appeared like Jake had no pulse. He was as calm and laid back a teenager as I
ever knew. My biggest memory of Jake is
forced on me every time I go to a band directors meeting or convention or meet
someone relatively new to the profession.
You see - Jake was the kid with the guitar on top of a smoking tower
playing “Freebird” in our 2008 marching show.
His guitar work made me into a sort of hero for what I call the band
counter culture (not taking ourselves too seriously). Jake is now a keyboardist and guitar player
for THE FLAMING LIPS. They will be playing at the Beale Street Music
Festival on May 4 – 6. He is also the
frontman for his own band, SPACEFACE. I knew Jake had hit the big time when I
saw him on Letterman and again on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and again
on Colbert. He has also performed with
Miley Cyrus (as a member of the Dead Petz) and with Sean Lennon to name a
few. I really knew he had made it
when my Facebook feed had an ad for J Brand Jeans with Jake as an
endorser. And they don’t make them in my
size. Oh well…..
Tim Jones – Tim
was a tenor drummer when he was in band.
Tim came along at a time when we needed an adult in the line,
particularly since I set such a poor example in that regard. Tim
(or Timmy or “The Duke”) is a drummer and keyboardist (?) for the band FOR KING AND COUNTRY. They
are a Christian Band and I first took note of them in 2013 when they were the
K-LOVE “Breakthrough Artist of the Year”.
In 2015, For King And Country won 2 Grammy Awards but my phone really
blew up the night they appeared on Jimmy Kimmel. In the “Boy, it really is a small world”
category, For King And Country will be touring this spring with Skillet. Tim and John were never in band at the same
time together at Houston so guys, I hope the memories are fond ones!
Nathan Dugger – Nathan
was also a tenor drummer when he was at Houston and had maybe the quickest
hands of any drummer I ever taught. Nathan
caused trouble with the girls in my band (not because he had fast hands). The girls found him good looking but Nathan
never seemed to notice or pay them any attention since his mind was always on
music. He did, however, escape the dark
side (drumming) and is now a guitar player with DREW HOLCOMB AND THE NEIGHBORS. 2015
was a good year for band alumni performing on television as my phone also blew
up that year the first time Drew Holcomb appeared on Jimmy Kimmel (I believe
they have been on Kimmel a couple of times now).
Will Caviness - Will was a trumpet player in band. He knew more about jazz music, artists and
performing than I did the very first day I met him in 9th
grade. Will suffered through my
inadequacies and even did a great job with the “legitimate” trumpet playing but
his heart was always in the jazz world.
We made a recording of him playing “I Remember Clifford” with our jazz
band his senior year that is still one of my favorite things to listen to. Will went on to study jazz trumpet at North
Carolina and at the New England Conservatory.
Will moved to NYC and began to perform regularly in jazz clubs and with
a great number of prominent jazz musicians.
In 2016, his group, the WILL
CAVINESS SEXTET, released its first album entitled “A Walk”. It received rave reviews from Downbeat
Magazine and reached #8 on the Jazz Week National album chart. It is bop style jazz ala Miles Davis.
If you are keeping score, that is
Kimmel, Colbert, Letterman and Fallon.
That is also an awful lot of quality music. It is not, however, the only mark Houston
Band kids are making in the world of professional music. LAUREN
TINGLE – was a mallet player for us but is now working with CMT (Country
Music Television) in Nashville. She
turns out an amazing number of quality articles about country music artists and
the Nashville music scene in general.
Her life has allowed her to meet and interview the likes of Willie
Nelson, Shania Twain and Taylor Swift.
She has, in many ways, my dream job.
MIKAELA ALLEN – graduated
from Berklee School of Music in Boston.
She now works for TIDAL.com, a music streaming service based in NYC that
is partly owned by JAY-Z. Her job (as I
understand it) is to manage their social media and to work with artist
promotions. Exciting stuff and a long
way from playing a flute in the Houston Band!
I am sure to have forgotten
someone I meant to remember, to have gotten a fact wrong, and to have
misspelled a name or two. People who
went into music as a profession are special to me for all the obvious reasons
you would imagine. I never had the
talent any of these folks had with respect to either performing or the business
of music. I do, however, have the
ability to appreciate all they have accomplished. Read the title again – and know that I really
am proud of you all.
