Who's Who

WACO JAZZ ORCHESTRA, is a 17 piece ensemble specializing in the performance of Big Band jazz that is sponsored by the McLennan Community College Department of Commercial Music. Under the artistic direction of trumpeter Tim Cates, the WJO performs music by the greatest writers of today and yesterday. WJO members have careers as educators, accountants, entrepreneurs, doctors, and other businessmen as well as being active performers on their instruments in numerous settings throughout the Central Texas area. The WJO has been entertaining audiences throughout Central Texas since 1989 and has hosted a wide variety of guest artists including: Louis Bellson, Carl Fontana, Chris Vadala, Dennis Dotson, and Pete Christlieb.

MARCUS PRINTUP, who was born and raised in Conyers, Georgia, had his first musical experiences hearing the fiery gospel music his parents sang in church and would later discover jazz as a senior in high school.

While attending the University of North Florida on a music scholarship, he won the International Trumpet Guild Jazz Trumpet Competition. In 1991, Printup's life changed drastically when he met his mentor to this day, the great pianist Marcus Roberts. Roberts introduced him to Wynton Marsalis, which led to his induction into the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in 1993.

Printup has performed and/or recorded with Betty Carter, Dianne Reeves, Eric Reed, Cyrus Chestnut, Wycliffe Gordon, Marcus Roberts, and many others. He has several records as a leader, "Song for the Beautiful Woman," "Unveiled," "Hub Songs," "Nocturnal Traces," "The New Boogaloo," "Peace In The Abstract," "Bird of Paradise," "London Lullaby," "Ballads All Night" and his latest, "A Time for Love."

Printup is in demand as an educator. He facilitates masterclasses/clinics at middle schools, high schools and universities across the US. He is an educator for Jazz at Lincoln Center's Essentially Ellington competition, the Jazz @ Lincoln Center Middle School Jazz Academy, the Savannah Music Festival Swing City Competition and an adjunct faculty member of the New School in Manhattan.

Printup made his screen debut in the 1999 movie "Playing By Heart" and recorded on the film's soundtrack In 2005, a proclamation was granted to him declaring August 22 “Marcus Printup Day” in his home town of Conyers, GA.

In 2008, Printup did a live Gospel CD recording for his childhood church, Peek's Chapel Baptist Church, as a benefit to raise funds for the building of a new church. Marcus Printup is endorsed by and exclusively plays with Antoine Courtios Trumpets and Flugelhorns of Paris.

ED CALLE is known for his extraordinary ability to play bebop, Latin, contemporary jazz, and pop. Born in Caracas, Venezuela of Spanish parents, it was obvious from the start that he was a natural player, and now Calle can be heard on hundreds of recordings both as a sideman and soloist . He appears on Grammy-awardwinning albums by Frank Sinatra, Vikki Carr, Arturo Sandoval, and Jon Secada, as well as on numerous television and motion picture soundtracks.

He also has recorded and performed around the world with such artists as Gloria Estefan, Julio Iglesias, Michael Bolton, Bob James, Bobby Caldwell, Rhianna, Extreme, and Vanessa Williams. Among his many solo recordings, Ed Calle Plays Santana garnered a Latin Grammy Award nomination in 2005.

His latest release In the Zone (2006) features original compositions and jazz standards and earned a Latin Grammy nomination in 2007. Besides being an internationally-acclaimed jazz performer and prolific composer and arranger, Calle is in great demand as a jazz clinician and enjoys working with students.

He has served as a guest artist and clinician with the Monk Institute and at colleges including Brigham Young University, Temple College, The University of North Florida, The University of Florida, The University of Miami, and West Palm Beach Community College.

Ed and Sari Calle live with their three children in South Florida where Ed serves as Associate Professor Senior of Music Business and Production at Miami Dade College. Calle also owns and operates One-Take Recording Studios , leads the Fuego Caliente Latin Jazz Orchestra and has earned a Doctorate of Higher Education Leadership from Nova Southeastern University where he graduated with a perfect 4.0 average. Addressing one of America's greatest educational challenges, Dr. Calle's doctoral dissertation compares the effectiveness of online and traditional remedial mathematics education