Jazz Ensemble

The ABAC Jazz Ensemble is composed of 17-20 musicians and selected by audition. This group performs swing, blues, ballads, and rock. Instruments include saxophone, trombone, trumpet, bass, keyboard, guitar, and drums. Members are usually selected from the concert band.

ABAC Jazz Ensemble

A Short History of the ABAC Jazz Ensemble

The Abraham Baldwin Jazz Ensemble from Tifton, Georgia has given numerous performances throughout the Southeastern United States, Mexico and Europe. They are composed of 17-20 musicians and selected by audition. This group performs swing, blues, ballads, and rock. Instruments include saxophone, trombone, trumpet, bass, keyboard, guitar, and drums. Members are usually selected form the concert band.

The jazz ensemble has taken two European tours and performed at two of the most prestigious jazz festivals in the world: the Montreaux in Switzerland and the North Sea in Amsterdam. The jazz ensemble has also performed for two of the most celebrated functions in Georgia: the opening of the Olympic Games and the Governor’s Art Awards Ceremonies, both held in Atlanta, Georgia. The ensembles have also performed at two World’s Fairs in Knoxville, Tennessee and in New Orleans, Louisiana. In the fall of 2006, The ABAC Jazz Ensemble was the only group chosen to perform for the newly appointed Chancellor for the Board of Regents for the State of Georgia in Atlanta, Georgia.

The group has been featured at several theme parks: Disney World, Epcot Center, Sea World, and Six Flags over Georgia and at many arts festivals in St. Augustine, Florida; Daytona Beach, Florida; Destin, Florida; Panama City, Florida; Ocala, Florida; Augusta, Georgia; Savannah, Georgia; Atlanta, Georgia; Vienna, Georgia; and Cordele, Georgia.

The jazz ensemble has also participated in the Florida State University and Valdosta State University Jazz Festivals, where they took top honors as the best overall two-year college jazz ensemble.

Each year the jazz ensemble sponsors a major jazz festival at the college, in which regional and state jazz bands participate. The festival, currently in its 31st year, consists of performances, jazz clinics, and workshops with a well-known jazz educator and performing artist. The artist is then featured in an evening concert with the Abraham Baldwin Jazz Ensemble. Past festivals have showcased such jazz greats as Bill Watrous, Nat Adderly, Jamie Abersold, Dominic Spera, Mike Vax, Steve Wright, Roger Pemberton, Vincent DiMartino, Rich Matteson, Bobby Shew, Ron Diehl, Willie Thomas, William Kennedy, Jeff Jarvis, David Springfield, Branford Marsalis, Steve Turre and Tommy Dorsey, to name a few.