Meet our Members
Steve Quinn
Music has always been a significant part of my life.
When I was very young, before I started grade school, my mother musically influenced me. She taught private piano lessons in our home, and played organ at church. I remember vividly when she was alone, she would practice for weddings or compose new music. Those are my first memories of music.
My family traveled to Hereford to visit my aunt and uncle when I was a child. My uncle exposed me to a different type of music when we visited. Jazz. My uncle was an early jazz devotee. He listened to performers like Louie Armstrong, Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw. His influence made me interested in newer jazz, despite his lack of interest. However, when I would play Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Dizzy Gillespie, he would listen with me.
These moments are what sparked my interest in music. I grew to love it and started Band in 5th grade. I knew what I liked, but I couldn’t as good as the musicians I heard. Bebop and Boogie music merged into Rock and Roll. That sparked me to join a band. We played for dances in the area during high school. Most of our band was in the school band. Mr. Norvel Howell taught us contemporary concert music. He had us play music by Williams, Granger and Mehler. It broadened my musical interested further.
When I was in college, I quit playing concert music, and worked solely on learning my acoustic guitar. While I wasn’t in an organized concert band setting, I never really quit playing music.
After my time in the Army and graduating law school, I returned to Clovis. I joined the Clovis Community Band, and we’ve been playing together for almost 40 years now.
This season, I am playing bass clarinet. I like switching between instruments when I can. It keeps me musically flexible!
If you played an instrument years ago and quit, get your horn out out of the closet, dust it off and practice some. The band practices every Monday evening at 7 PM and we will welcome you.
