Kashmere Big Band Reunion

From the early 1960s through the mid 1980s, most every American high school band director took the initiative to record and release his pupils’ music on vinyl. But in Houston, Texas, Conrad O. Johnson pursued a far loftier goal with his stage band at Kashmere High School, a predominantly black school located in the city’s north end (referred to in Houston as “Kashmere Gardens”). He wanted to lead not only the best high school stage band in Texas, but the best high school stage band in the world. In the mid ’60s through the ’70s, in Houston’s bustling metropolis, Johnson (known by many as “Prof.”) made a career of producing leagues of musicians capable of playing competitively with any band in the nation, professional or otherwise.
More than simply a product of the big band era (his childhood friends and early musical peers included legends like Illinois Jacquet and Arnette Cobb), Johnson bestowed a living history to his young students. And while many band directors simply tolerated the use of popular rhythms in their stage bands, Johnson embraced the funk movement that enveloped his kids. He encouraged composition – both by writing original funk songs for his band to perform and by allowing the Kashmere Band to play songs written by band members. Never one to succumb to novelty, Johnson didn’t simply throw funk beats beneath a jazz song to please his kids. He instructed his band to play funk because he respected the funk idiom in the same way he respected jazz. Nor did he simply borrow charts from progressive big banders such as Herman, as was common amongst high school bandleaders from the era. He arranged nearly every one of his band’s songs himself, and those that he didn’t arrange he allowed his students to arrange. He worked year-round with his eager charges, constantly pushing the limits as to what their band could accomplish. He built the Kashmere Stage Band from scratch and his winning combination of powerful funk rhythms beneath expertly executed jazz solos quickly influenced those bandleaders directly within his sphere and those he met – and almost always bested – in competitions across the world. Kashmere Stage Band will perform , December 7th at 7 P.M. with Funky Cold Medina and Magician Bada Bing in the Horne Theater. Tickets available at all three student stores. Bring your current student I.D. for extra discount. A percentage of the proceeds will go to help "Children without Rhythm."