Bill Yeager Jazz Orchestra
The Bill Yeager Jazz Orchestra (BYJO), in residence at San Diego State University, is comprised of some of the finest jazz talent in Southern California. It is largely comprised from alumni from Yeager’s 36 years as Director of Jazz Studies at San Diego State University and his 10 years as Founder/Director of the Los Angeles Jazz Workshop. Bill Yeager has a diverse musical background, both as a conductor, performer, composer/arranger and educator. He is an Emeritus Professor of Music at San Diego State University and is a well-known studio/jazz/classical trombonist performing on hundreds of records (Ray Charles), films (Rocky), TV shows (Bob Hope) and commercials (Apple).
Bill has performed with such artists as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Sarah Vaughn, Mel Torme and Dizzy Gillespie, to name a few, and has toured throughout the world. He has played in practically every big band in the LA/San Diego area including long time associations with Louie Bellson and Les Brown.
Bill played lead trombone in Louie Bellson’s band for 17 years. Bellson donated his entire music library to Yeager, that now resides at SDSU. This concert is comprised of some of the challenging music from his extensive library.