UNA Music Program Partners With Music Preservation Society for Annual W.C. Handy Jazz Camp

Ken Watters

FLORENCE – The annual W.C. Handy Jazz Camp for middle school, high school and college-age musicians will take place at the UNA Department of Music and Theatre from Monday, June 10, through Thursday, June 13.

“Students will perform in jazz combos and big band,” said camp director Ken Watters, a nationally renowned jazz trumpeter who serves as camp director. “Students will also have daily private lessons and two levels of jazz theory.”

A native of Huntsville and longtime favorite of the W.C. Handy Music Festival, Watters has performed with artists ranging from Natalie Cole to Wynton Marsalis. The jazz camp faculty includes several Handy regulars who are considered top players in their fields.

“The purpose of the camp is to provide intensive instruction in the theory, history and performance of jazz and big-band literature,” Watters explained. “The faculty has performance and teaching experience in all aspects of music and provides a unique learning opportunity for the student.”

The camp is presented each year by the UNA Department of Music and Theatre and the Shoals area’s Music Preservation Society. The society sponsors the annual W.C. Handy Music Festival each July in the hometown of the “Father of the Blues” – Florence native Handy, composer of “St. Louis Blues,” “Beale Street Blues,” “Memphis Blues” and other American musical standards. This year’s festival takes place from July 19-28.

Tuition for the W.C. Handy Jazz Camp is $250. Brochures and applications are available at the Handy website, www.wchandymusicfestival.org.

Students can register until the first morning of the camp on Monday, June 10. Faculty will be accepting applications and tuition payments in the UNA Band Room between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. that day.

For more information on the camp, call the W.C. Handy Music Festival office at 256-766-7642, the UNA Band Room at 256-765-4362 or Watters at 256-603-5059.