Jazz Under the Derricks topic for the Kilgore Rotary Club
By GREG COLLINS for the News Herald

Kilgore College music instructor Kevin Kelly, right, with David Castles, president of Kilgore Rotary Club. Kelly talked to the Rotarians last week about Jazz Under the Derricks.

Kevin Kelly, a Kilgore College employee and a member of the Jazz Professors, was the guest speaker for the Kilgore Rotary Club on Wednesday at Meadowbrook Country Club.

Kelly, who teaches at KC, will join with several other music teachers at area junior colleges to play a jazz concert under the derricks this next Thursday evening. The proceeds from the concert will benefit the Kilgore Historical Preservation Foundation.

He was a longtime employee of KTPB radio, 88.7 FM, at Kilgore College before the station was sold. He now teaches Music Appreciation and several other courses at KC. He also plays the electronic bass for the jazz group which will perform this coming week.

Kelly told Rotarians a bit about the history of jazz and played a few tunes to illustrate his points. He talked about famous jazz musicians and related interesting stories about how jazz grew in the United States to its prominent place today.

He said his own interest in jazz was instilled by his father who enjoyed playing jazz records when Kelly was a youngster. That love of jazz has inspired his musical talents and allowed him to keep a great genre of music alive for many East Texans.

In playing the jazz music of yesteryear as well as some contemporary tunes, Kelly allowed Rotarians to get a taste of just how defined the music was, is and will be for the foreseeable future.

He ended his program by answering questions and, again, promoting the concert which will be held this next week.

In other Rotary news, a Group Study Exchange team from Dominican Republic visited the Kilgore Rotary Club on Wednesday. During the day, they toured the East Texas Oil Museum before coming to lunch and then eating dinner with club members.

Included in the ensemble were team leader Alfredo Batista, English teacher Yanira Suero, doctor of sports medicine Rhina Rodriguez and electronic engineer Melvin Santos.

Also, the new Kilgore College men's basketball coach visited the club meeting.

Greg Collins offered a report on the Monday golf tournament and said it was successful with 22 teams playing, over 20 hole sponsors and no rain.

Honored for birthdays or anniversaries were Paul Bolt, Sammy York, Claudia Miracle, Sondra and Stefan Scalco, Bill and Roberta Ingersoll, Debbie and Larry Dudley and Bob and Nora Schleier. The Schleiers celebrate their sixtieth wedding anniversary this month.

The district conference is this coming Friday and Saturday in Tyler, so the Kilgore Rotary Club will not have a meeting at Meadowbrook Country Club Wednesday.

The club will resume meeting at Meadowbrook one week from Wednesday at noon. Guests are welcome.