Texas Instruments Jazz Band

The Texas Instruments Jazz Band is a full 20-piece big band consisting of saxes, trombones, trumpets, a rhythm section, and a vocalist. The band is organized through the Texins Association (Dallas, Texas) of Texas Instruments. Membership is open to all people eligible for Texins Association membership. The band is a non-profit organization and all earnings are used to support the operating expenses of the band. For details see our Organization Charter.

The group formed in the summer of 1986, sparked by an ad placed in a TI company newspaper. The band quickly reached a sustainable level and has remained active since it's inception. Openings are filled with Texins Association members when they are available. The band has musicians from numerous organizations across Texas Instruments and Raytheon Systems. Almost everyone played in high school and college and is glad to have an outlet to continue to study and play jazz.

The band rehearses every Tuesday night at The Collin County Community College Spring Creek Campus in Plano, Texas from 7:30 - 9:30. The group is listed as a closed enrollment program by the college and registers the members as students. The College provides a director and rehearsal space. Kris Berg, our director, is a bass player by trade and holds a master’s degree from The University of North Texas in Denton.

The group currently owns several hundred charts spanning the range of big band music. The concerts are normally geared more toward performance type events rather than dance band jobs, but the band can cover any event. The band performs about a dozen times each year.

Don't let the amateur status of the band fool you. The group has performed at Artfest, Montage, The Meyerson Symphony Center, The Starplex Amphitheater, and The Texas Jazz Festival. At a judged festival at Loyola University in New Orleans in 1995, the band walked away with top honors - a Superior rating in both performance and sight-reading. Artists who have performed with the band include Clark Terry, Kurt Elling, Peter Erskine, Randy Brecker, Gregg Bissonette, Lorraine Feather, Kevin Mahogany, Frank Mantooth, Bobby Militello, Denis DiBlasio, Bobby Shew, Chris Vadala, Carol Welsman, Marvin Stamm, Kim Park, Sandra Booker, Leon Breeden, Willie Thomas, and Galen Jeter. The band performed at the world renowned Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland in July of 2000.

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