Back in Good Old Morris, But Different

I went back to Morris yesterday to catch a concert put on by the UMM Jazz Ensembles. It's been almost a year since I last visited my old school, the last time being when I went back for the annual Jazz Fest last April, so it was really nice to see the town again. It was strange that I had been away so long considering there once was a time not so long ago I spent just about all my time there. At the same time it seems like a lifetime ago.

Let me give some perspective on this. I joined the band my first semester of college and stayed in it for the full five years I went to Morris (except for the one semester where I went to Australia). It was through the band that I managed to make 3 trips to New Orleans and 2 trips to Europe during my college years. I also even spent a couple years on the student-run guiding council. I spent more time doing stuff in the band than anything else I did in college and it is probably the most fun I had those 5 years. It was certainly the most rewarding. It was an honor to play in the Morris Jazz Ensemble.

As for the band itself, there are actually 4 big bands at Morris because of the number of people in it. Three of them directed by Jim "Doc" Carlson (everyone just calls him "Doc"), and the fourth by a student director. The concerts also feature a number of smaller student-directed combos which round out the show each concert. It is by far the largest student organization on campus and the best attended. Not even the football team attracts the audience the Jazz program does. The annual Jazz Fest, which was started by Doc 28 years ago, is the single largest event on campus all year. This is all because of Doc.

So it was with some despair that I read down the list of students in the band at on the back of the program and the number of names I no longer recognized. After all, I used to know almost all of them. Things change in two years. But I was surprised by the number of people I did still know in the band. I noted, however, that almost all of them wore the rose corsage that night, the traditional symbol for the graduating seniors in the band. They will be moving on themselves this May.

So I guess the strangest thing about going back was just looking around. The campus and the town have hardly changed at all. But the people are all different. All the people I entered school with have long since graduated. All the people I considered to be the "young'uns" in my final years are all seniors themselves now, almost ready to enter the dreaded "real world". I thought back on all the days I spent on that campus - going back and forth from class and my dorm, worrying about those papers that are due, wondering how I am going to fit everything into my schedule, stressing about the next homework assignment, hanging out with friends at Turtle Mountain Cafe. That was only 2 years ago, but it seems so much farther away. And yet, not so far. It was worrysome and exciting at the same time. It was an amazing time in my life. But this time is gone now.

But despite everything different there was one thing that did not change. The music was still amazing. It was fun. Doc is still his same old self, always excited about the band's performance even though he has been doing this for 28 years. It was at this concert that several members of the Jazz Council came forward to announce that Doc had been inducted into the MMEA (Minnesota Music Educators Association) Hall of Fame and presented him with a framed copy of the newspaper story. Anyone who has worked with Doc knows that this distinction is well-deserved and long overdue. He received a standing ovation and Doc, who rarely shows anything but an undying enthusiasm for what he does, was visibly moved.

It was a good night.