The sound of a jazz big band—popular from the 1920’s and 1930’s, flows from a downtown DeKalb drinking establishment one night a week, providing the town and NIU students with the jazz sound that they cannot get anywhere else in the area.

NIU Graduate Assistant Rob Parton formed the Jazztech Big Band, with a partner, in Lexington, Kentucky in 1984.

Parton said at that time they performed at local functions including dances and weddings.

The band began performing in DeKalb in March, 1988 and continued through the end of the spring semester, Parton said. A smaller group played regularly during the summer. The entire group is back together again for the fall semester.

The band plays every Thursday evening at Daddio’s Shamrock, 142 E. Lincoln Hwy.

The band will continue to play until the end of the semester, Parton said.

“The Shamrock is the only place that could fit the big band,” Parton said. The band consists of eighteen members.

Parton said he brought his band to DeKalb to enable other NIU students and non-students to gain sight reading experience that might be valuable to them.

About half of the band members are NIU students and the rest includes former NIU students and an NIU professor.

“We play a wide variety of music including Thad Jones, Woody Herman and the Bob Mintzer Big Band that has three C.D.‘s (compact discs) out right now,” Parton said.

“We try to aim to please everyone, but we do a lot of things we really like doing. We’re more of a rehearsal band,” Parton said.

“It’s an outlet for our frustrations to play what we want and have a good time,” he said.

During the summer, the band gained a following consisting mainly of town residents, Parton said. “Now that school has started, there is a bigger crowd,” Parton said.

Tom Link, NIU student and big band member, said the larger crowd consists of a lot of student musicians and friends of the band members.

“I joined (the big band) because all of the players are really good and it’s a good chance to play without spending a lot of time practicing,” Link said.

He said playing in the band allows the members to be relaxed, and it does not include the pressure that is associated with the “high paying jobs.”

Link said he plays the same type of music in the big band as in the NIU Jazz Ensemble, but his involvement in the big band is “completely different and can’t be compared to the classroom.”

Al Broholm, NIU student and big band member, said, “It is similar to school as far as music and talent goes, but it is a different scene.

“It’s (the Jazztech Big Band) an excellent big band and there really hasn’t been any regular live jazz in DeKalb. I know there are a lot of listeners,” Broholm said.

“We are probably one their (DeKalb’s) better big bands and maybe even as far as the Chicagoland area,” Broholm said.

“A lot of people preclassify the big bands and think of Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman. We’re not like that. We have a lot more modern and interesting sound, combining jazz with pop, rock and contemporary music.”

“A lot of people preclassify the big bands and think of Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman. We’re not like that. We have a lot more modern and interesting sound, combining jazz with pop, rock and contemporary music.”

Al Broholm, JazzTech Big Band member