One O'clock Lab Band at Winspear Hall, Murchison Performing Arts Center

One O'Clock Lab Band, Steve Wiest, director

with Guest Artist Billy Harper, tenor saxophone and
The Cookers
David Weiss, trumpet
George Cables, piano
Cecil McBee, bass
Billy Hart, drumset

Billy Harper's unique music creativity was first noted in Houston, Texas, where, at age 5, he was singing at sacred and secular functions and participating in choral and solo singing events. By age 14, he formed his first Billy Harper Quintet while a student at Evan E. Worthing High School. Graduating cum laude, he went on to study saxophone and music theory at North Texas State University and received his Bachelor of Music degree. He continued graduate studies at NTSU and became a member of their "big band." That year, 1965, the University's big band won first prize at the Kansas Jazz Festival....

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One O'Clock Lab Band, Steve Wiest, director

with Guest Artist Billy Harper, tenor saxophone and
The Cookers
David Weiss, trumpet
George Cables, piano
Cecil McBee, bass
Billy Hart, drumset

Billy Harper's unique music creativity was first noted in Houston, Texas, where, at age 5, he was singing at sacred and secular functions and participating in choral and solo singing events. By age 14, he formed his first Billy Harper Quintet while a student at Evan E. Worthing High School. Graduating cum laude, he went on to study saxophone and music theory at North Texas State University and received his Bachelor of Music degree. He continued graduate studies at NTSU and became a member of their "big band." That year, 1965, the University's big band won first prize at the Kansas Jazz Festival.
Harper moved to New York in 1966 and began attracting attention from some of jazzdom's giants - Gil Evans, Max Roach, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, Lee Morgan, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. He performed, recorded and toured Europe, Japan, Africa and throughout the United States from 1966 to 1979 with these groups, as well as his own Billy Harper Quintet.
As a teacher and lecturer, Harper has taught at Livingston College and Rutgers University. He has also received a special grant from the New Jersey StateCouncil for the Arts to teach improvisation at 15 high schools. Awards and honors included 3 Music Composition Grants; two from the National Endowment of the Arts, and one from the Creative Arts Program. He also received the International Critics Award for Tenor Saxophone for two years consecutively.
The Cookers take their group name from a 1965 Blue Note album by the late, great trumpeter Freddie Hubbard (The Night of the Cookers: Live at Club La Marchal). Experience counts, especially in jazz. The more time musicians spend interpreting tunes and interacting with others, the more articulation an audience can expect. You can hear the fruits of such work in the expressive language The Cookers bring to their material in the studio and on the bandstand. Here’s a group of veteran improvisers approaching their current songbook with both ardor and eloquence.

Ticket information:
$15 Adults
$10 Senior Citizens 55+, Students, Children, UNT Faculty/Staff/Retirees, Groups of 10+
Tickets available January 27- Purchase online or call 940-369-7802

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