TPSMEA ALL-STATE JAZZ BAND

John Wasson to conduct the 2025 TPSMEA All-State Jazz Band

 

From his arrangement of Caravan heard in the final scene of the Academy Award winning motion picture “Whiplash” to his orchestrations performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Philly Pops and his published compositions and arrangements numbering in the hundreds, John Wasson’s music has been heard and performed around the world by professional artists and  educational organizations alike. Born and raised in the Twin Cities in Minnesota, John attended the University of North Texas where he earned degrees in music theory and trombone performance, and played in the world-renowned One O’Clock Lab Band, appearing on four of their recordings. He is a charter member of the world-renowned Dallas Brass and produced several of their recordings. He toured as a member of the Stan Kenton and Woody Herman Orchestras and has performed with a variety of major artists including Tony Bennett, Reba McIntyre, Johnny Mathis, and Natalie Cole.
John has composed and produced music for such organizations as National Geographic, the United Way, the Ken Burns American Heritage Prize, and the Salvation Army. He has been commissioned to compose and arrange band and jazz ensemble works by high school and collegiate ensembles around the country, and has created works for various professional ensembles including the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Winds, and the U. S. Air Force Bands and Airmen of Note. John currently resides in the Dallas area where he leads and performs in his own Strata Big Band and CoolBrass Jazztet; both groups have performed by invitation at the Jazz Educators Network annual conference. The Big Band released its first album Chronicles in 2022 on the Summit Records/MAMA label, and the Jazztet released its first CD, The New Cool, on CD Baby in 2012. John is an XOBrass Trombone artist.

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TPSMEA 2024-2025 All State Jazz Audition Music Cuts from Year D

 

1 – Just Ahead, 2 – Sink or Swing, 3 – C Modal Blues for Improv

 

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Click here for

TPSMEA JAZZ AUDITION INSTRUCTIONS

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Additional Information:

Recordings are due by midnight on November 6th.  All entries will be judged remotely on November 8th-9th.

All recordings should be made so that the judges can hear both the student and the background tracks. Please use the appropriate track for each instrument as marked on the CD that came with your music set.

There are various ways of recording your students that will yield an acceptable audition. I use a handheld digital recorder and play the accompaniment CD over the band hall stereo. A trial run will let the student know how to adjust his or her volume level. My recorder allows me to dump all tracks into iTunes, where I group them by student, select the appropriate tracks, make a playlist and upload the audition. Please remember to test-play all of your final audition once you have upload them to OpusEvent.

Use OpusEvent to register and upload your mp3 files for the audition

Send money/checks to Ron and please notate that it’s for All State Jazz Band Auditions