Wichita State University - Parnassus Yearbook (Wichita, KS)

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lt's been the policy to have a variety of attractions so you don't get 10 big bands that all play the same thing. We were playing to have a premiere, said Gary Gibson, the band's leader, and Q' they lik- ed it . . . well, they seemed to. We deyinitebf have been given much warrner receptions since then. The Pan America Steel Orchestra is Gibsons dreamchild. ln a way it was a flash Q' inspira- tion. When I first moved down to Texas, my roommate and I were talking about what a drag it was to be down there. I just got this idea, 'Wouldn 't it be great to fubill this dream and have a band and not play garbage? Most W the performers are percussion majors at Wchita State University and receive one hour credit for being part M the group. But the group is not ojicralbf sanctioned by the univer- sity or offered as a course in the music depart- ment. The group is given space in the bowels of Duerksen Fine Arts Center to store equwment - 24 'drums made from 55-gallon oil barrels - and to practice. Funding for the band, mainbf for instruments l and any recorrhng ventures, comes from Gibsons savings and a loan he took out. i Im still paying of the loan. And we have l received some private support. The group is a prokssional band and prides itsel on playing good music, not being locked into T a stereotypical cahpso or reggae mode. The group i also faces another problem in Wchita. T H you don 't play country-and-western in Wchita, Kansas, nobody likes you, Gibson said. But out here at Wchita State, the percus- sionists are further into the future than music students in any other school in the country. That can be debated, M course. The band is planning an album which it hopes to' release through a national label. Otherwise it will promote the record itsef at its concerts. The big point behind the album is that its go- ing to be a cornpleteb' unexpected new sound because people, when they think ofa steel band, think W Marianne and Yellow Bird. The point is to open people up to new sounds. The music then shifted to ,what the ma- jority ofthe audience had been hoping for and expecting. The Navy Commodores Big Band, along with the jazz All Stars - made up of Butch Miles, jay McShann, Herb Ellis, Milt Hinton and Clark Terry,

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Jazz vocal group Rare Silk receive applause after their afternoon per- formance in Century ll. 4!29f84 The solo trumpet player for the Jazz Commodores is silhouetted against the glowing arches of the Cotillion's stage. 4!28f84 Clark Terry, ajazz festival regular, helps get things started at the kick- off party Saturday night. 4!28!84 Herb Ellis, one of the Jazz All- Stars, plays along with Clark Terry and the Jazz Commodores. 4!28!84 Carol Baldwin, a fine arts major, stretches out during the 14-hour main concert at Century Il. 4!29!84

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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Headline attraction for the XIII Wichita Jazz Festival, Mr. Ray Charles sings his monster hit, What'd I Say. 4!29!84 Jeff Lorber plays jazz fusion as the last attraction of the festival. 480184 Stage lights reflect green and red highlights off saxophones downstage. 4!30!84 Saxophonist for Jeff Lorber Fusion solos during their hit, Wizard Island. 4!30!84 Ray Charles draws the audience's applause to his back up vocalists, the Rayettes, and his band during the Ray Charles Show. 4!29!84