The Dallas Jazz Orchestra (DJO) is a jazz big band

Big band

A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...

 based in Dallas, Texas

Dallas, Texas

Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

, founded by Thom Mason and Galen Jeter. Since its beginning in 1973, the DJO has produced numerous notable recordings, two of which were Grammy nominated, and has performed internationally in concerts and jazz festivals, such as the Montreaux Jazz Festival. Over the years, the orchestra has featured many of the most outstanding jazz players from the world class jazz program at the University of North Texas

University of North Texas

The University of North Texas is a public institution of higher education and research in Denton. Founded in 1890, UNT is part of the University of North Texas System. As of the fall of 2010, the University of North Texas, Denton campus, had a certified enrollment of 36,067...

. Co-founder Galen Jeter is himself an alumnus of the University of North Texas One O'clock Lab Band

One O'Clock Lab Band

The One O’Clock Lab Band for years has been the premier ensemble of the Jazz Studies Division at the University of North Texas College of Music in Denton. The band has performed and toured abroad in Australia, Canada, England, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway,...

, later going on to play trumpet for the Woody Herman

Woody Herman

Woodrow Charles Herman , known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders...

 Orchestra.

30th Anniversary

October 2003 marked the 30th anniversary of the Dallas Jazz Orchestra. In celebration of this landmark, Jeter released a recording titled "The Big 3 - 0." In addition to its triumphant performance at the world famous Montreaux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, DJO represented the United States at the World’s Fair in Seville, Spain. The orchestra, under Geter's leadership, has also entertained two United States presidents and accompanied numerous musical celebrities, including Diahann Carroll, Billy Eckstine

Billy Eckstine

William Clarence Eckstine was an American singer of ballads and a bandleader of the swing era. Eckstine's smooth baritone and distinctive vibrato broke down barriers throughout the 1940s, first as leader of the original bop big-band, then as the first romantic black male in popular...

, Doc Severinsen

Doc Severinsen

Carl Hilding "Doc" Severinsen is an American pop and jazz trumpeter. He is best known for leading the NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.-Early life:...

, Bob Hope

Bob Hope

Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...

, Steve Allen

Steve Allen

Steve Allen may refer to:*Steve Allen , American musician, comedian, and writer*Steve Allen , presenter on the London-based talk radio station LBC 97.3...

, Mel Torme

Mel Tormé

Melvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...

, Joe Williams

Joe Williams (jazz singer)

Joe Williams was a well-known jazz vocalist, a baritone singing a mixture of blues, ballads, popular songs, and jazz standards.-Early life:...

 and the Four Freshmen. Former President George Bush remarked, “Your music was great; and, now that I have your sixth album and cassette, it doesn’t have to end.” Billy Eckstine said, “I’ve worked with practically every big orchestra you can name... The Dallas Jazz Orchestra was the big hit of the show (jazz festival), one of the big surprises. The orchestra was absolutely fantastic.”

Early Beginnings

In 1973, founders Thomas Mason and Galen Jeter brought together some of the best musicians from the Dallas area to form the Dallas Jazz Orchestra. With no outside financial support, the Dallas Jazz Orchestra played its first public concert in March 1974. The group’s first album followed soon after, recorded live at “Maxine Kent’s” in 1975. The second album, also cut live at “Maxine Kent’s,” was produced in 1978. That same year, Galen moved the Dallas Jazz Orchestra into Wayne Morgan’s “Popsicle Toes” where it played weekly for many years. Later the band played at "Poor David's Pub" on lower Greenville Avenue before settling at the Village Country Club.

Recordings and Performances

Under Jeter’s leadership, the Dallas Jazz Orchestra produced numerous additional albums that are programmed on more than 100 radio stations throughout the United States. To this day, Galen Jeter's DJO recordings are featured regularly on jazz radio all over the United States, Canada and Europe. Over more than three decades, Galen has invited hundreds of young talented musicians to join the Dallas Jazz Orchestra, drawing from the renowned jazz programs at the University of North Texas and other schools in the Dallas / Fort Worth Area. Many of the alumni of the DJO have gone on to join the ranks of bands led by well-known jazz greats such as Woody Herman

Woody Herman

Woodrow Charles Herman , known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders...

, Buddy Rich

Buddy Rich

Bernard "Buddy" Rich was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Rich was billed as "the world's greatest drummer" and was known for his virtuosic technique, power, groove, and speed.-Early life:...

, Ramsey Lewis

Ramsey Lewis

Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis, Jr. is an American jazz composer, pianist and radio personality. Ramsey Lewis has recorded over 80 albums and has received seven gold records and three Grammy Awards so far in his career.-Biography:...

, and Stan Kenton

Stan Kenton

Stanley Newcomb "Stan" Kenton was a pianist, composer, and arranger who led a highly innovative, influential, and often controversial American jazz orchestra. In later years he was widely active as an educator....

. DJO has concertized with numerous luminaries of the jazz world, including Lou Marini

Lou Marini

Lou Marini, Jr. is an American saxophonist, arranger and composer. He is noted for his work in the jazz, rock, blues and soul music traditions.-Early life and range of musical experience:...

, Don Menza

Don Menza

Don Menza is an American saxophonist, arranger, composer, session musician, and jazz educator noted for his many contributions to American jazz and big band music. -Early years:...

, Marvin Stamm, Tom Malone

Tom Malone (musician)

Tom "Bones" Malone is an American jazz musician. As his nickname implies, he specializes on the trombone, but also plays trumpet, tuba, tenor sax, baritone sax, flutes, piccolo, and other instruments....

, Bobby Shew

Bobby Shew

-Biography:After leaving college in 1960, Shew was drafted into the U.S. Army and played trumpet with the NORAD band in Colorado Springs and on tour. After leaving the Army, Shew joined Tommy Dorsey's band and then played with the Woody Herman and then the Buddy Rich Big Bands in the mid-to-late...

 and many others.

Dallas Jazz Orchestra Spin-offs

In recent years, DJO founder Galen Jeter left the organization to form a new band, first known as the "Galen Jeter Orchestra," now known as "Dallas' Original Jazz Orchestra" (DOJO) . Following Jeter's departure, Dallas Jazz Orchestra, now under leadership of Curt Bradshaw, has become far less active than Jeter's original group (both on the concert stage, as well as in the recording studio), while Jeter's new band (DOJO) continues to perform weekly (at the Village Country Club in Dallas) and releases new recordings often. Many of the original members of the first Dallas Jazz Orchestra now perform with Jeter's new band, while none of the original DJO members participate in the current version of what is called "DJO." The latest album by Galen Jeter's DOJO is titled "Where There's Smoke."

DJO and DOJO Arrangers and Composers

A list of arrangers and composers who have written for Galen Jeter's DJO and DOJO groups includes:

• Jack Petersen
• Michael Loveless
• Ray Reach
  Ray Reach
  Raymond Everett Reach, Jr. is an American pianist, vocalist and educator residing in Birmingham, Alabama, now serving as Director of Student Jazz Programs for the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, director of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame All-Stars and President and CEO of Ray Reach Music and Magic City...
  
  
• Joe d'Etienne
• Paul Baker
• Bobby Breaux
• Paris Rutherford
• Steve Sample, Sr
  Steve Sample, Sr
  Steve Sample, Sr is a renowned bandleader, arranger, composer and jazz educator now residing in Bellingham, Washington. For more than 30 years, Sample was a professor in the Music Department of the University of Alabama, where he directed the Jazz Ensembles and taught music theory, arranging and...
  
  
• Phil Kelley
• Dave Zoller
• Dave Bowman
• Curtis Fox
• Tom Wirtel
• Bob Biegler
• Dave Romero
• Chuck Willis
  Chuck Willis
  Harold "Chuck" Willis was an American blues, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll singer and songwriter. His biggest hits, "C. C. Rider" and "What Am I Living For" , both reached no. 1 in the Billboard R&B chart...
  
  
• Gary Freeman
• Isi Rudnick

Discography

Recorded by Galen Jeter's Dallas Jazz Orchestra, and produced by Jeter:

• Hey Man, Dallas Jazz Orchestra (1975) Recorded "live" at Maxine Kent's)
• Tuesday The 15th, 1976, Dallas Jazz Orchestra. Recorded “live” at Maxine Kent's
• North Garland Jazz "Live" 1980 Guest Soloist under the direction of Jim Jeter
• Super Chicken, Dallas Jazz Orchestra (1980) Double Album
• Morning Glory, Dallas Jazz orchestra (1982)
• Fat Mamma’s Revenge, Dallas Jazz Orchestra (1984)
• Live at Montreaux, Dallas Jazz Orchestra (1985) Recorded “live” at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux Switzerland
• Romeo And Juliet, Dallas Jazz Orchestra (1988) - Dedicated to Peter Vollmers, "By unanimous vote of the band".
• Thank You, Leon, Dallas Jazz Orchestra (1990)
• Turning Twenty, Dallas Jazz Orchestra (1992)
• Dallas Jazz Orchestra Plays Dee Barton (1994, Grammy nominated, 1996), featuring Don Menza
  Don Menza
  Don Menza is an American saxophonist, arranger, composer, session musician, and jazz educator noted for his many contributions to American jazz and big band music. -Early years:...
  
  
• Scrapbook, Dallas Jazz Orchestra (1996)
• DJO Un-Numbered In The Front, Dallas Jazz Orchestra (2001) (Never released)
• Big 30, Galen Jeter and Dallas' Original Jazz Orchestra (2004)
• Messin' With Texas, Galen Jeter and Dallas' Original Jazz Orchestra (2006)
• Where There's Smoke, Dallas' Original Jazz Orchestra (2009), featuring Drenda Barnett

Recorded by Curt Bradshaw and the current Dallas Jazz Orchestra:

• The Dallas Jazz Orchestra Presents Victor Cager, Dallas Jazz Orchestra (2006)

External links and references

• Review of DOJO's CD, "Messin' With Texas," at AllAboutJazz.com
• Dallas Jazz Orchestra (Not the Galen Jeter group) website
• Big 30, Galen Jeter and Dallas' Original Jazz Orchestra (2004) at CD Universe
• "Acoustix" jazz vocal group with Galen Jeter's Dallas Jazz Orchestra
• Dee Barton Biography, mentioning Dallas Jazz Orchestra's Grammy nominated recording
• Galen Jeter website