HJR240INTRODUCED
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HJR240
JPZZBFF-1
By Representatives Clarke, Jones, Bracy, Drummond
RFD: Rules
First Read: 15-Apr-25
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5 JPZZBFF-1 04/15/2025 NG (L)NG 2025-1649
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First Read: 15-Apr-25
HJR___ COMMENDING FRED IRBY III ON HIS STELLAR CAREER AND
RETIREMENT FROM HOWARD UNIVERSITY.
WHEREAS, Fred Irby III is highly commended on his
career of 51 years with Howard University as Professor of
Music; while he will be missed, his contributions to the
university and the world of music are unparalleled; and
WHEREAS, Fred Irby III is a native of Mobile,
Alabama, and a graduate of Grambling State University and
Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville; as Professor
of Music at Howard University since 1974, he is the
Coordinator of Instrumental Music, trumpet instructor, and
Director of the internationally-acclaimed Howard University
Jazz Ensemble (HUJE); and
WHEREAS, HUJE was founded in 1975 by Mr. Irby;
outstanding performances in the United States, Europe, South
and Central America, China, Japan, Africa, and the Caribbean
have led to it being recognized as one of the foremost
university jazz ensembles in the world; HUJE has been heard
on the radio and television as well as in concert, often
appearing with celebrated artists; members of HUJE have won
awards as performers, composers, and arrangers; and the
ensemble includes among its alumni many celebrated jazz
artists; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Irby holds active membership in the
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WHEREAS, Mr. Irby holds active membership in the
Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, the National
Association for Music Education, the International Trumpet
Guild, the International Association of Symphony and Opera
Musicians, the American Federation of Musicians, and is a
member of the Board of Directors of the Washington Jazz Arts
Institute and the International Women's Brass Conference;
and
WHEREAS, major orchestral performances in which Mr.
Irby has taken part include the Twentieth Century Fox movie
Alvin and the Chipmunks, the ABC-TV show Dancing with the
Stars, the NBC-TV show America's Got Talent, the 56th
Primetime Emmy Awards, the 87th, 88th, and 89th Academy
Awards Gala, the Kennedy Center Honors Gala, and the
Christmas in Washington Gala; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Irby received the 2008 DownBeat Magazine
Achievement Award In Jazz Education, and also in 2008 was
inducted into the Grambling State University Alumni Hall of
Fame; he received the Disney Performing Arts Award for
Excellence in Teaching Jazz in 2009 at the MENC Teaching
Music Awards ceremony and was designated a Lowell Mason
Fellow in 2010; in 2016, he received the Ronnie Wells Jazz
Service Award at the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival, the DC Jazz
Festival awarded him a Lifetime Achievement Award at their
2016 Gala at the Kennedy Center, and he was inducted into
the Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville Alumni Hall
of Fame; and
WHEREAS, he has served as the Music Director of the
Maryland, Oklahoma, Northwest MENC All-State Honor Jazz
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Maryland, Oklahoma, Northwest MENC All-State Honor Jazz
Ensembles and the inaugural MENC Honor Jazz Ensemble; he has
served as an adjudicator for the DownBeat Magazine Student
Music Awards, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, and the
Congressional Black Caucus Spouses Foundation Performing
Arts Scholarship; and
WHEREAS, Professor Irby established the Benny Golson
Jazz Master Award in 1996 to honor the legacy of the 1996
NEA Jazz Master and was instrumental in Mr. Golson receiving
an Honorary Doctorate in Music from Howard University, his
alma mater, in 2014; additionally, he was instrumental in
creating the endowed Abraham S. Venable Scholarship for
students in the Jazz Studies program at Howard University;
now therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA, BOTH
HOUSES THEREOF CONCURRING, That Fred Irby III is highly
commended and congratulated on his esteemed musical career,
and this Legislature and Howard University thank him for his
contributions to the musical community and university and
wish him luck in all future endeavors.
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