Ray Chambers

I was born and raised in the Dallas, Texas area. I began playing saxophone in 1979 under the direction of Steve Pike at Cedar Hill Middle School. I went on to high school in Cedar Hill and played under both Steve Killough and Roger Ashcraft in the Marching Band, Symphonic Band, Jazz Band, and many ensembles. While in high school, I placed in all district and all region bands, and earned superior ratings with the band and many ensembles including groups that performed at Texas State Solo & Ensemble Contest. Also during my time in high school I performed as a member of the Plano Community Band under John Hammerle, the Mountain View College Jazz Band under Mark Hettle, and as a member of many performing ensembles at Scarborough Faire Renaissance Festival. I first attended Tyler Junior College in 1987 and performed in the Apache Jazz Lab Band and the TJC Wind Ensemble under the direction of Gary Jordan. I have performed with the Tyler Community Band under the direction of Richard Highfill, Ronald Todd, Mark Crim, and Dr. Jeffrey Emge, Dr. Nate Templeton, and Bill Waltemath. From Tyler, I moved to the University of Texas at Arlington where I was a member of the jazz program under Bill Snodgrass and Dr. Rex Cadwallader, and the UTA Marching Band & Mav Brass basketball pit band under Bobby Francis. After UTA, I enlisted in the Texas Army National Guard and was a member of the 49th Armored Division Band in Austin under CWO Roland F. Simon. I returned to Tyler in the late 90's and was a member of the TJC/UT Tyler combined music program under Ronald Todd. During my time at TJC I served as President of Zeta Xi chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Fraternity for Band. I have performed extensively in the Dallas and Tyler areas, and currently am a member of the Tyler Community Band and the East Texas Jazz Orchestra.