During the 60’s and 70’s, the feeder high schools for Princeton often had a stage band. A critical mass of matriculating freshmen was familiar with the big band classics. These student musicians (mainly non-music majors) were interested in recreating a big-band experience in college and tackling more challenging material.
The Princeton University Jazz Ensemble (PUJE) was founded in spring 1974 by Gary Getz '76 and Eva Lerner-Lam '76. They made the decision to found the organization as an official Princeton student organization recognizing that a band with 20 or more performers would need support of the University to obtain rehearsal, performance, and storage space. This decision created a more stable organization with officers, budgets, and formal freshman recruiting. While initially a fully student run and spiritually renegade organization in the 1970’s and 1980’s, it became in the 1990’s an arm of the music department.
Bill McHenry served as President of PUJE for three years from fall 1976 to spring 1979. His goal from the beginning of his tenure was to create an ensemble with all strong players and no weak positions. In the spring of 1976, PUJE had two bands of generally equal stature. Bill kept the two bands, but in spring 1977 assigned the best players to the “A” band. PUJE hired a series of conductors to coach the bands. During Bill’s tenure, PUJE moved away from playing the Swing Era standards into more challenging and improvisational jazz as evidenced on the LP.
During the 60’s and 70’s, the feeder high schools for Princeton often had a stage band. A critical mass of matriculating freshmen was familiar with the big band classics. These student musicians (mainly non-music majors) were interested in recreating a big-band experience in college and tackling more challenging material.
The Princeton University Jazz Ensemble (PUJE) was founded in spring 1974 by Gary Getz '76 and Eva Lerner-Lam '76. They made the decision to found the organization as an official Princeton student organization recognizing that a band with 20 or more performers would need support of the University to obtain rehearsal, performance, and storage space. This decision created a more stable organization with officers, budgets, and formal freshman recruiting. While initially a fully student run and spiritually renegade organization in the 1970’s and 1980’s, it became in the 1990’s an arm of the music department.
Bill McHenry served as President of PUJE for three years from fall 1976 to spring 1979. His goal from the beginning of his tenure was to create an ensemble with all strong players and no weak positions. In the spring of 1976, PUJE had two bands of generally equal stature. Bill kept the two bands, but in spring 1977 assigned the best players to the “A” band. PUJE hired a series of conductors to coach the bands. During Bill’s tenure, PUJE moved away from playing the Swing Era standards into more challenging and improvisational jazz as evidenced on the LP.