Jazz Ensemble to perform with Mad Medics

Jazz Ensemble to perform with Mad Medics

The MSU Jazz Ensemble will present a Spring Concert of big band jazz music at 7:30 p.m. April 23 in Akin Auditorium. Special guests at the concert will be the Mad Medics Dixieland Band. The Mad Medics are a group of area musicians who actually began as medics with a passion for jazz and Dixieland music in the '50s that was revived by doctors in the '60s. They have met on a weekly basis since 1971 at #1 Basin Street, their home base. Led by Dr. V. C. Saied on cornet, the group includes longtime musicians from the Wichita Falls area. They have been honored by the governor and community leaders, and are featured in an upcoming PBS documentary. Playing together for more than 40 years, they play Dixieland music with youthful excitement. The group has supported a scholarship for MSU music students for many years. The MSU Jazz Ensemble, directed by Alan Black, will play big band tunes which relate to the exciting music of New Orleans, and the Mad Medics will finish the concert with selections from the Dixieland era. The concert is free. For more information, call 397-4267.