Jazz Museum Video (Texas Country Reporter)

A museum in Sherman, TX dedicated to the education, preservation and enjoyment of Jazz.

Bill Collins
201 E Lamar St
Sherman, TX 75090
Phone: 903-893-5673
Website: https://shermanjazzmuseum.com/

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Video Script:: 

[Music] the energy the power the variety they could play slow fast medium tempos and then it was the improvisation every time you heard the band it's not different it's been said that like poetry jazz is the art of surprise takes some unique instrumentals at a powerhouse vocal performance and mix it all together with the genius of improvisation and you get a form of music that's captivated people for generations and here in Sherman bill Collins has turned a former Masonic Lodge into the new home for the heritage and culture of jazz this is our main trumpet room we have a lot of different trumpet players represented in here at first it was just gonna be a record how about Museum we just kind of put in record albums because I realized that the younger generations are downloading now you've grown beyond just albums well that wasn't planned how did that happen I started collecting these albums and I noticed dude that Dizzy Gillespie trumpet for sale at an auction I ended up being the only buyer so I got it as cheaply as I could have gotten it and then it just kind of snowballed I mean are you constantly on eBay and yeah I kind of got the fever for us I thought well maybe I can collect a few more because they need to be preserved to these artifacts of jazz and I need to be in a place where people can see him not in some closet somewhere I feel like that's part of the museum's role too is to let people actually see them very unusual-looking Horne said I really hold it sure but first you got to put on some gloves you're holding a real piece of history there this is the case that it came in showing that he had been all over the world bill serves this founder of the Sherman jazz museum where you can see everything from Ella Fitzgerald's glasses to the Wurlitzer travelin piano Duke Ellington practiced on there's playbills and pictures dedicated to hundreds of jazz's most influential artists but one of the biggest draws is the Maynard Ferguson collection where you can sink your teeth into all things Maynard see those teeth moles right there yeah those were Maynard impressions of his teeth that was because for a brass player if anything happens to your teeth you can't play anymore and so you want it built back exactly the way it was so you've got the loop's teeth right there I have manners teeth right there he was one of the great trumpet players of all time he had his own big band for 50 years Marvin's play and everybody else the fans come in and they just love it it's like a mission trip for them to see his stuff and everybody else it's a chance for them to learn about manner Anacin they can compare all these players and what is it about jazz and big band that you love so much well my dad was a trumpet player a part time trumpet player in the 30s during the Depression and so he had dance band records around the house that I would listen to growing up whether I wanted to or not and so I put on these records and I just kind of fell in love with jazz and so uh I started on trumpet just just loved it I loved every minute of it so this was the 1930s and 40s - band room walking through the halls of the Sherman jazz museum you can almost hear the sounds of Doris Day Benny Goodman and Miles Davis reverberating throughout the room for Bill a passion for playing music turned into a desire to preserve it and if each and every guest leaves with a newfound respect for Jazz's impact on American culture then he says it's music to his ears I knew it wasn't gonna be popular with the masses because jazz is not the popular music like it wasn't a 30s and 40s but because it's not popular is the exact reason no one's doing it and which why it needs to be done it's because this stuff does need to be preserved it's America's music it's America's history it's our art form [Music] you