Hrothgar15 Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 How far back does it go? The furthest back I've read is Spirit in the late '80s, but I'm sure he had prior experience before that. Definitely my favorite drum corps arranger. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjeffeory Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 How far back does it go? The furthest back I've read is Spirit in the late '80s, but I'm sure he had prior experience before that. Definitely my favorite drum corps arranger. I knew him best as a marching band stock music arranger. I think I saw stuff arranged by him around 1985. Good question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bawker Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 I knew him best as a marching band stock music arranger. I think I saw stuff arranged by him around 1985. Good question. Yeah, I remember Jenson stuff by him way back . . .some really good stock charts from him along the way. Anyone else remember the big LPs your band director used to get with the demo tracks on there? tongue: edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Bocook Mr. Bocook began his composing and arranging career in graduate school, and began to write for Jenson publications while serving as the band director at a small high school in Travelers Rest, South Carolina, leading them to become the South Carolina AAA state marching band champions in 1978. He served as the Director of Bands at Furman University from 1982 until 1989, where he continued his rise to fame as an arranger. His arrangements were featured at the 1984 Olympic Games. He writes for a wide range of ensembles, from elementary bands to the United States Marine Band. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 Jay came out of Largo High School and at one time was married to the daughter of the band director, who went on to found Suncoast Sound. I was at his final performance as a band director at Travelers Rest HS. This was at the National Band Association convention in Knoxville, TN in June. He was leaving to go to work with Jenson Publications full-time. Famed marching band innovator A.R. Casavant put together a show for the convention at the University of Tennessee stadium and Jay's band came in. They weren't all that big, but they were magnificent. The band was one of the earlier adapters of what used to be named "corps style," a direct and brassy tone with a lot of visuals one didn't normally see at that time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 (edited) When was the band show Mike? I had A Rs son, Charles Casavant as a college director in the late 70s and got to see A R once when he came up (from Florida?) to see one of his sons shows. And Corps style matched what Charlie did with the band. My favorite quote from him was "I don't want more than 150 in the band. Too many people get in the way of my drill". On Topic: No idea of how far back but my corps is playing some of Bocooks charts, including the National Anthem. Definitely fun to play and listen to..... Edited September 14, 2010 by JimF-LowBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 Jay was at Traveller's Rest HS circa 1983, I think he went to Furman that fall, then moved on not long after that- He'd been doing the Jenson arrangements earlier than that, maybe even when I was in HS in the late 70's. I think after Furman fell through, was when he started doing more and more in the arranging end of things, etc. Unsure what kind of 'core job' he had after Furman if he had one at all to ensure steady income, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 (edited) Jay was at Traveller's Rest HS circa 1983, I think he went to Furman that fall, then moved on not long after that- He'd been doing the Jenson arrangements earlier than that, maybe even when I was in HS in the late 70's.I think after Furman fell through, was when he started doing more and more in the arranging end of things, etc. Unsure what kind of 'core job' he had after Furman if he had one at all to ensure steady income, etc. No, he was gone from Travelers Rest well before 1983. I had a personal meeting with him at Jenson's headquarters in Milwaukee when he was editor of the marching band publications and heard on the way up to see him that Anwar Sadat had been assassinated. That was October 6, 1981. The convention I went to in Knoxville, which was announced (at the marching band exhibition) as his last performance as band director, was in 1979 or 1980, because I had recently left band directing was was thinking of getting back in after my masters work in music composition. Jay was living in Milwaukee full-time until the Furman gig came up, then did the Jenson thing on the side. He had written for Jenson as a band director at Travelers Rest before leaving high school band directing. According to his biography on the Hal Leonard website, Jay took the "full-time appointment as Jenson's Director of Band Publications in 1980..." and, "In 1982, he was appointed director of bands at Furman University." Edited September 14, 2010 by Michael Boo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnZ Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 I thought Jay is still at - or maybe returned to - Furman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boybugle63 Posted September 14, 2010 Share Posted September 14, 2010 Jay came out of Largo High School and at one time was married to the daughter of the band director, who went on to found Suncoast Sound. I was at his final performance as a band director at Travelers Rest HS. This was at the National Band Association convention in Knoxville, TN in June. He was leaving to go to work with Jenson Publications full-time. Famed marching band innovator A.R. Casavant put together a show for the convention at the University of Tennessee stadium and Jay's band came in. They weren't all that big, but they were magnificent. The band was one of the earlier adapters of what used to be named "corps style," a direct and brassy tone with a lot of visuals one didn't normally see at that time. Very cool to know the Great Michael Boo watched my high school marching band perform at “ An Evening with Marching Bands” event in 1980 ... Tennessee had two bands representing the state … McGavock (Nashville) and Riverdale (Murfreesboro). On the audio recording, the Travelers Rest High School band dedicated their performance to Jay … because he was leaving the school … They opened their show with Westside Story … awesome arrangement I might say … Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted September 15, 2010 Share Posted September 15, 2010 I thought Jay is still at - or maybe returned to - Furman. Man this is weird as I found out an in-law of an in-law just started his freshman year at Fuhrman. Weirder yet when his grandfather checked the map location, grandfather thinks he might have been stationed there or nearby around the end of WWII. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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