Trombonist Ron Wilkins has played with some of the brightest stars in show business: Ray Charles, Lena Horne, Dizzy Gillespie, Rosemary Clooney and Bob Hope.Wilkins will be in Tyler as a guest artist for TJCs annual Jazz Festival on Wednesday and Thursday, March 25 and 26, held in Wise Auditorium.Wilkins will perform with the TJC Jazz Ensembles at 7:30 pm both nights. Admission is free.”We are thrilled to have an artist of Ron’s caliber and enthusiasm come and play with our groups,” said Heather Mensch, TJC director of jazz studies. “We’ll have two excellent, high-energy events of jazz performance.”Wilkins lives in San Antonio, and attended the University of North Texas and graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio. He enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1984 and performed in the USAF Band of the West as lead and bass trombonist, principal euphonium, tubist and feature vocalist.Wilkins is currently playing with the Ron Wilkins 4tet in San Antonio and Austin at Luna Fine Music Club. He was featured artist at the International Trombone Association’s 2002 International Trombone Festival.The full schedule of the TJC Jazz Festival is:Wednesday, March 25th-1:30 pm Boulter Middle School-2:30 pm Moore MST Magnet School-4 pm UT Tyler Combo-5 pm Mount Pleasant High School-6 pm North Texas Community College-7:30 pm TJC evening concert
Thursday, March 26th-11 am Grace Community School-12 pm TK Gorman High School-1 pm Quitman High School-3:30 pm Texarkana Middle School-4:30 pm Texarkana High School-5:30 pm Robert E. Lee High School-7:30 pm TJC evening concert
