December 13, 2015

JPL Program Calendar

The Florida Brass Ensemble

The Florida Brass Ensemble is a collection of like-minded brass players who enjoy brass ensemble music. We believe that no matter whether it is secular or sacred, swing or “legit,” it deserves our best effort.


Members
Dr. Bill Prince, professor emeritus at the University of North Florida has been able to maintain two career paths, one as a performer and the other as a teacher. As a performer he has recorded on over 70 albums and has worked with a wide range of luminaries from the big bands of Buddy Rich, Harry James and Les Brown, vocalists Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald and Rosemary Clooney, jazz legends Dave Brubeck and Billy Taylor to the orchestral sounds of Henry Mancini, the American Wind Symphony Orchestra and the Warsaw National Philharmonic. On the teaching side Bill has taught at five universities in three countries and has guest lectured on over 70 campuses. Music has taken Bill to all 50 states and to 81 countries.

William McNeiland was Principal Bass and Associate Conductor of the Jacksonville Symphony from 1970-1995, and Professor of Music at Jacksonville University, where he directed the orchestra. He was also orchestra director at Lee University in Tennessee for three years. He is currently Music Director of the St. Augustine Orchestra.

Jeff Keller currently serves as Tuba Instrumentalist and Low Brass Section Leader with the United States Navy Band Southeast in Jacksonville, FL. He has toured nationally as a soloist and clinician while maintaining a very active private lesson studio. He has also been associated with the Louisville Orchestra, Lexington Philharmonic, Lexington Brass Band, Saxton’s Cornet Band, Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps, and is a founding member of The Blue Ribbon Tuba Quartet. He and his wife Liz currently reside in St. Johns, FL with their two children, Maddie and Charley.

Susan McGee has been playing the French horn professionally for 34 years. For the past 19 years, she has been a member of the Brevard Symphony Orchestra and the Brevard Symphony Brass Quintet. Susan was a member of the Southwest Florida Symphony and the Sarasota Symphony and has performed with numerous other groups throughout Florida. She is also the handbell choir director at Memorial Presbyterian Church of St. Augustine.

Bob Gauger started playing trombone at the age of ten, and since then has played in numerous professional orchestras and bands. He is a founding member of the Ancient City Brass, and is the chaplain at Baptist South Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida.

Cliff Newton is probably the greatest professional musician to come from St. Cloud, Florida. In fact, he is probably the only professional musician to come from St. Cloud, Florida. Like many professional musicians, Cliff began his musical study in a public school band. Growing up in tiny St. Cloud, where few people could aspire toward a musical career, his early motivation was simply the enjoyment of music and the participation in a musical group.

Community Standards : Tuesday, December 16 @ 7pm

Ancient City Brass Band
William McNeiland, Director

Holiday Fare
Traditional Carols & Jazz Renditions of Seasonal Favorites

Trumpets
  Cliff Newton, Bill Prince,
   Gene Moniot & Susan Hunter
Horns
  Laurie Flynn & Bonnie Cranmer
Trombone
   Roger Peck
Euphonium
  William McNeiland
Tubas
  Carl Clark & Jim Williamson

The Ancient City Brass Band is an ensemble of First Coast musicians spear-headed by retired Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra Principal Trumpet Cliff Newton and retired JU Professor and former J-Sym bassist William McNeiland. The Band’s volunteer members perform in a variety of ensembles including a British brass band, an historical ensemble using Civil War-era instruments, and modern brass quintets and quartets.


Texas native William McNeiland began playing tuba and string bass in junior high school, and while in high school began playing double bass with the Amarillo Symphony. He earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees in music education from the University of Illinois, and taught band and orchestra in elementary and secondary schools in Texas and Illinois. In 1969, Mr. McNeiland joined the music faculty at Jacksonville University. Following a year as Resident Conductor of the Jacksonville Symphony, he continued with the Symphony as Principal Bass and Assistant Conductor for over 25 years. He also conducted youth orchestras and all-state orchestras in Alabama and Florida, and for six years was resident conductor at the Sewanee Summer Music Center in Tennessee. Additionally, Mr. McNeiland has served as president of the Delius Association and the Florida Orchestra Association, and has been much in demand as clinician and adjudicator at district and state music festivals. Retiring from Jacksonville University in 2007, he accepted a three-year appointment as orchestra conductor at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee, and now serves as conductor of both the St. Augustine Community Orchestra and the Ancient City Brass Band.

Prior to his retirement Cliff Newton was Principal Trumpet with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra for 32 years, during which time he had many opportunities to shine as soloist while performing in a variety of classical and jazz styles. Formerly a member of the NORAD Band in Colorado Springs, Colorado, he currently performs as a soloist with the Belle Fleur String Quartet and the Palm Court Society Orchestra, and is co-founder of the Ancient City Brass Band. A native of Central Florida, Cliff began studying trumpet at age 12 and received Bachelor's degrees in Music Performance and Music Education from the University of South Florida. He later earned a Master's degree in Trumpet Performance with an emphasis on college-level teaching from the University of Northern Colorado. Mr. Newton has been an instructor of trumpet at the Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, Canada, as well as at Jacksonville University and the University of North Florida. He continues to teach, both in his private studio and at the Northeast Florida Conservatory. In addition to classical music, he is an aficionado of early jazz, Argentine tango and American Civil War era brass band music.

Bill Prince, professor emeritus at the University of North Florida, has performed with numerous bands and orchestras including Buddy Rich, Billy Maxted, Pee Wee Hunt, the NORAD Band, the Denver, Ft. Lauderdale, Palm Beach and Jacksonville Symphonies, the American Wind Symphony Orchestra, Xavier Cugat, Ray Anthony, Tex Beneke, Les and Larry Elgart, Harry James, Tommy Dorsey, and Louis Bellson. He has appeared in televised broadcasts in the United States, Canada, Japan, the Philippines, Costa Rica, Colombia and Ecuador, and has performed on over 70 albums including his The Best Kept Secret in Jazz. His performing instruments include trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone, flute, clarinet, saxophone, piano, and electric bass. For his own CD, Happy Thoughts, he composed, arranged and performed all the parts himself. Bill holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree with a major in Theory and Composition from the University of Miami. He has taught at Florida Atlantic U, the U of Colorado/Denver, St. Francis Xavier U, Nova Scotia, the U of North Florida, and served as a visiting lecturer in South Africa. Dr. Prince has appeared in all 50 states and 80 countries, and his compositions and arrangements have been performed and recorded by professional and student jazz ensembles throughout the United States and Canada.

SELECTED RELATED LIBRARY RESOURCES

782.42163 H732 1992 [MUSIC SCORE]
   Holiday Songbook / by Jerry Silverman
782.421723 LANKFORD 2013
   Sleigh rides, jingle bells, & silent nights : a cultural history of American Christmas songs / Ronald D. Lankford, Jr.
264.23 C
   Stories behind the best-loved songs of Christmas / Ace Collins
788.9 C178 2002
   The Cambridge companion to brass instruments / edited by Trevor Herbert and John Wallace.
CD XMAS CANADIAN 2013
   Christmas time is here [sound recording] / the Canadian Brass.
CD XMAS C212 C555 PHILIPS 1990
   The Christmas album [sound recording] / Canadian Brass.