Jimmy Clark is the associate professor of low brass at Texas A&M University-Commerce.

Mr. Clark is a native of Commerce, Texas.  He received his undergraduate degree at the University of North Texas where he was a member of the One O’clock Lab Band on bass trombone and tuba.  He did graduate work at Yale University and received his master’s degree from East Texas State University (Texas A&M-Commerce).    His teachers have been his father, James Clark, Neill Humfeld, John Swallow, Royce Lumpkin, John Kitzman, Ed Jones and Vern Kagarice.  He currently teaches trombone, euphonium and tuba.

 In addition to his teaching responsibilities at Texas A&M-Commerce, Mr. Clark has an active performance schedule.  He is the principal trombone of the Dallas Opera Orchestra. He is also principal trombone with the Dallas Wind Symphony with whom he has recorded nine CD’s.   He has performed with the New York City Ballet Orchestra, Santa Fe Opera, Singapore Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, East Texas Symphony, Richardson Symphony, Plano Symphony, and Keith Brion’s New Sousa Band.  He performs frequently as acting Principal Trombone with the Dallas Symphony and Fort Worth Symphony.   He has also played with the big bands of Claude Gordon, Les Elgart, and Warren Covington.   He has played with such noted performers as Ella Fitzgerald, Carol Lawrence,  Dion Warwick, The Supremes, Marvin Gay, Jack Jones, Marvin Hamlisch, and Gladys Knight, to name a few!  Mr. Clark was selected as a member of the University of North Texas One O’clock All-Star Alumni Band in 1996 and has also taught at the University of North Texas. He has been on the staff of Blast of Brass summer camp at Southern Methodist University since its inception in 1997.  He is a member of Sundance Brass Quintet, which performs throughout the Southwest and is a clinician for Bach Trombones.

In 2003 Mr. Clark formed the Texas Trombone Octet, which won the Remington Trombone Choir competition of the International Trombone Association. This group performed at the International Trombone Festival in Helsinki, Finland.  His recordings of the TMEA all-state trombone etudes are produced by Jordan Sound Productions and are distributed throughout Texas as a performance guide for high school trombone students.  His students have gone on to Southern Methodist University, Baylor University, The Curtis Institute, The Cleveland Institute, The Juilliard School, Temple University and The President’s Own US Marine Band.

 Twice, in 1997 and most recently in 2007, Mr. Clark has been presented with the President’s Award by the International Trombone Association, for his work as Advertising Manager of the International Trombone Association Journal.

 Mr. Clark is also active as a euphonium specialist and has performed on euphonium with the Dallas Symphony, the Dallas Wind Symphony, The Fort Worth Symphony, and various other groups.

Jimmy Clark is a Conn-Selmer artist & Endorses Bach Trombones Exclusively! Mr. Clark's Bach trombone is outfitted with a Greenhoe Valve.

His wife Lou Ann is the high school librarian in Sulphur Springs, Texas, and their son Chris, is a member of the trombone section of the President’s Own United States Marine Band in Washington, DC.

Michael Morrow is in his 32nd year as Associate Professor of Horn at Texas A&M University-Commerce and his 20th season as 2nd Horn of the Dallas Opera Orchestra. A student of Philip Farkas at Indiana University, Mr. Morrow also studied at Indiana State University and Morehead State University. In 1994, Indiana State University honored him with the Music Alumni Outstanding Achievement Award. He has appeared as a soloist at the University of Arkansas, University of Kansas, University of North Texas, and at the 25th International Horn Workshop. Mr. Morrow is also of member of the Dallas Wind Symphony and has performed on 6 compact discs with conductors Fredrick Fennell and Jerry Junkin.  The newest Dallas Wind Symphony CD, "The Music of Percy Grainger” was released in January 2009.  As a member of the Dallas Opera Orchestra he recorded the World Premier of Tobias Picker’s opera “Therese Raquin.” Mr. Morrow has performed over eighty different operas with the Dallas Opera orchestra including Wagner’s monumental 4 opera “Ring” cycle and Alban Berg’s 20th century masterpiece Wozzeck.  For the past 19 summers, he has performed with the Breckenridge Festival Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colorado.  Mr. Morrow’s recording of “Contest solos for Horn” was released by Summit records. Michael lives in Heath, Texas with his wife, Amanda, an oboist, and their 6 year old daughter, Bailey Anne. 


 

Jeff Baker currently serves as the adjunct instructor of tuba and euphonium at Texas A&M University-Commerce.  Raised in Garland, Texas, Mr. Baker started playing tuba at the age of 11 and picked up bass trombone upon entering high school.  Mr. Baker went on to pursue music degrees from the University of Oklahoma (BM) and the University of North Texas (MM).  Mr. Baker is a graduate teaching fellow at the University of North Texas where he is working towards the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts with an emphasis in ethnomusicology.  Mr. Baker's previous teaching experience includes applied low brass instruction at Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma as well as a healthy studio of young aspiring musicians in the Dallas metroplex. 

 

As a performer, Mr. Baker is a freelance bass trombonist/tubist in the Dallas area and has performed with numerous ensembles throughout the southwest including the Lone Star Wind Orchestra, Metropolitan Winds, Allen Philharmonic, Longview Symphony, Lawton Philharmonic, and the Oklahoma City Philharmonic.  Mr. Baker has been a part of over fifteen recording projects on the Klavier and Naxos labels.  As an aspiring solo artist, Mr. Baker was a semi-finalist for the Leonard Falcone International Tuba and Euphonium Competition (2006, 2009) as well as the Potomac Music Academy (2005) and the International Tuba and Euphonium Association Quartet Competition (2006).  Mr. Baker has also performed as a featured soloist with the US Army Band (2007).  Mr. Baker is a member of TMEA, ITEA, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.  When Mr. Baker is not performing or teaching, he enjoys fishing, camping, and spending time with his wife, Cassidy.