Thirty years of the Hill Country Jazz Festival hit a stunning milestone February 9 with a standing-room-only crowd of more than 1100 in Evans Auditorium to hear a performance by The Count Basie Orchestra. The concert opened with two numbers by our own Texas State Jazz Ensemble. The previous evening, an All-Star professional Big Band with featured guests Doug Lawrence and Loren Schoenberg made the 15th Eddie Durham Celebration an exciting kickoff to this year’s Hill Country Jazz Festival.
The Festival was founded by a visionary jazz educator, Texas State Professor Keith Winking. Over the years, the Festival and the Eddie Durham Celebration have become a unique, popular educational and cultural event unlike any other in the U.S.