By: Booker Rohlf
It was a memorable night in Hays, Kansas as winter seemed to finally arrive. Not to mention we were in for a treat, a kind tenor saxophonist by the name of Doug Miller was reuniting with the jazz band at this year’s Fall Concert. Doug Miller was a TMP graduate here in Hays before moving onto his career at Fort Hays State University. Brad Dawson who leads the jazz band had the fortune of playing with him in Doug’s last year here at FHSU and again the night of the concert.
Ensemble #2 was first up to play and did a phenomenal job. The end number was called “Bunch of Blues” which was our first introduction to Doug’s playing that we got to see. Ensemble #1 also did incredible when they stepped up half way to intermission. Throughout the night various members of the jazz band had amazing, technical solos. My personal favorite part of the night was when the band did a rendition of “Beyond the Sea”. I got to catch up with Doug after the show, we talked about how it was playing here and his past in Hays and the following is what he had to say. “To be back here is, how do I describe it, it’s like revisiting home in a way. I graduated with a BME here at FHSU; my original major was clarinet actually. I spent a lot of time here on campus in Malloy Hall in the practice rooms, happy to see that it hasn’t changed much. Neither has the main part of the campus, it all seems to be quite familiar still.”
The end of the show included a back and forth section with Prof. Dawson playing trumpet and Doug playing the sax. I spoke with Prof. Dawson after the show about how it was playing with Doug again after a while. He had this to say “It was great; I haven’t seen him in decades. It was a real pleasure; he is really such a musical player. We played together for one year in college and it was a good year. He was up here to rehearse with us last night and that’s all he needed.” Needless to say, we have an extremely talented band with an awesome director and I for one look forward to the next performance. Thank you, Jazz Concert band.