My name is Asa Tabor, I am 22 years old, from Ventura, CA and I attended the Sacramento Summer Youth Traditional Jazz Camp back in high school, thanks to the Channel Cities Jazz Club.

The Channel Cities Jazz Club gave me a wonderful opportunity to expand my knowledge of jazz and music as a whole. As a young musician, I had limited knowledge on how to play my trumpet effectively in jazz. Thankfully my time at the Sacramento Summer Youth Traditional Jazz Camp helped me improve on my skills and more. It was a wonderful week and I thank CCJC for giving me that opportunity.

Over the years after the camp I continued on with jazz and music as a whole. My band director in high school, Paul Hunt, was a great teacher and mentor that encouraged myself and the other students to perform to the best of our musical abilities. It was a fun and educational experience being in music all throughout middle and high school, and I saw myself getting better and better as time went by.

After I graduated from Ventura High School in 2013, I started my college career at Abilene Christian University. ACU was kind enough to offer me a scholarship to play in their marching band and concert band my freshman year at school. I had a great experience being involved in a college level music program and I sharpened my skills even more with my trumpet throughout out that academic year.

After I graduated from Santa Barbara City College with an Associate’s Degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Management, I decided to go back to university and earn the Bachelor’s Degree that I started at Abilene Christian University.

I am currently attending Oklahoma Christian University, on track to graduate in the Spring of 2018 with an undergraduate degree in business management. While I do not currently play my trumpet for the school, I do my best to pick it up and play occasionally so I do not lose what I worked so hard for in the past. To this day I still listen to jazz regularly and I still have the interest and passion to keep being involved in music in some sort of way in the future.

I would like the thank CCJC for giving me the opportunity years ago to attend the jazz camp. It has been a memory that I have not forgotten and think about regularly.