Former "Tonight Show" music director Doc Severinsen playing the trumpet as he re-records the theme music for CBS News Sunday Morning in this file photo.IF YOU GOWhat: All State East Jazz Clinic concert with Doc SeverinsenWhere: Walker Valley High School, 750 Lauderdale Memorial Highway, Cleveland, Tenn.When: 7 p.m. SaturdayCost: Free
CLEVELAND, Tenn. - Some of East Tennessee's best high school jazz musicians will be teaming up with trumpet legend "Doc" Severinsen this weekend, and the public is invited.
The 2012 All State East Jazz Clinic begins Friday at Walker Valley High School. Some 60 high school musicians from Chattanooga to Johnson City will be here Friday and Saturday.
On Friday the musicians will rehearse and participate in clinics with Jamey Simmons, director of jazz studies at Middle Tennessee State University; Phillip Gregory, band director at Siegal Middle School in Murfreesboro; and Jeff McIntosh, band director at Notre Dame High School in Chattanooga.
An improvisation clinic for students will be led by Lee University's Alan Wyatt.
Students also will record audition tapes for the All State Band, which will be selected in April.
On Saturday, Severinsen, famed music director for the "Tonight Show With Johnny Carson," joins students for rehearsal and a clinic with band directors.
Severinsen and the students will present a public concert at 7 p.m. in the Walker Valley auditorium.
Alan Hunt, Walker Valley band director, said the East Tennessee clinic has been hosted in Knoxville in the past. This is Walker Valley's first time as host.
Walker Valley students John Burton and Catherine Betts said improvisation attracted them to jazz.
"It's different from the concert band because the style is so laid back," Betts said.
"It's really cool to take what you know about classical music and apply it to jazz," Burton said.
Both have traveled to band clinics, so they expect to be welcoming friends from the other schools.
The audience can expect some big band sounds with all that jazz, Hunt said.