RUFFIN: NOW, A JAZZ MOMENT

Screamin’ Meemies under

AS A TEENAGER IN KENTUCKY, NEA JAZZ MASTER JAMEY AEBERSOLD SOUGHT OUT A COLLEGE WITH A SOLID JAZZ PROGRAM. AND HE FOUND IT AT INDIANA UNIVERSITY.

JAMEY AEBERSOLD: I heard a friend of mine mention, who was goin' to Indiana University. He said, "They're jamming in the halls." So that to me meant there must be some jazz goin' on there. And that's only a hundred miles away. So I guess I'll go there.

RUFFIN: HERE, AEBERSOLD WAS EXPOSED TO THE SOUNDS OF COMPOSER AND ARRANGER DAVID BAKER, ALSO A NEA JAZZ MASTER.

JAMEY AEBERSOLD: David Baker's band would come and rehearse in this quad that I lived in, over in the cafeteria at nighttime. And I'd go over and listen to them practice. And I couldn't believe there was a band like that in Indiana, because they sounded like the records to me. They sounded great, they to me, they sounded like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.

Screamin’ Meemies up, hot

Excerpt of “Screamin’ Meemies” from the album, Basically Baker, composed and arranged by David Baker and performed by the Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra, used courtesy of GM Recordings and used by permission of Keiser Classical (BMI).