About Lipscomb
Vocal Jazz Ensemble
The Vocal Jazz Ensemble is a small auditioned group that specializes in jazz arrangements of pop, rock and standard jazz literature. The group performs four concerts per year, each with a different set of music. The University Jazz Band also performs at these concerts, and several numbers combine the two groups. The Jazz groups rehearse on Tuesday & Thursday.
Ensemble Director
Dr. Gary Wilson, earned his bachelor’s degree in music from Harding University, the M.M. in choral music from Baylor University, and the D.M.A. in choral conducting from the University of Nebraska. He was director of choral activities at Central Arkansas Christian High School in Little Rock for thirteen years, where he also directed the variety show "Showtime!" During his tenure as a high school choral director he founded and directed the Arkansas Chamber Singers Youth Chorale, served as an adjudicator and clinician in choral festivals and competitions, and made presentations to the Arkansas Choral Directors Association.
In 1998 Dr. Wilson accepted a position at York College in Nebraska, where he founded and directed the Chamber Singers, a select auditioned group that performed major choral works such as Schütz’s Musikalische Exequien and the oratorio Jephthe by Carissimi. He also directed the Songfest variety show at York for several years, and during the summer session served as artistic director for Harding’s Summerstage. He completed the D.M.A. in choral conducting in 2004 with a dissertation on the choral music of Edward MacDowell, one of the most significant American composers of the 19th century, which was nominated for the Julius Herford Award for Outstanding Doctoral Document by the American Choral Directors Association.
Recordings
Vocal Jazz Ensemble