WICHITA MUSICIANS' ASSOCIATION Local 297 Officers

WILLIAM K. SKILLMAN, President
Bill Skillman is a trombone player and musician and has played all his life, beginning in school in Tribune, Kansas, where he grew up in the "dirty thirties". The family moved to Wichita in 1941 where he played during his senior year at Wichita East High School. He spent 3 1/2 years in the Army and returned to Wichita, living here since that time. Wichita was busy in those days, as clubs all over town used bands and live music: Shadowland, the Plamor, Blue Moon, Kalico Kat, Swingland, the Willows and the Esquire Club, to name a few. The downtown hotels, the Allis, the Lassen, the Broadview, even the Skirkmere, all had ballrooms for meetings, conventions and dancing with lots of work for musicians. There were circuses, road shows, roller shows and others at the old Forum. Ice shows at the Alaskan Ice Palace and Telethons brought in top names like Gene Kelly, Steve Lawrence, Rosemary Clooney and dozens of others. There were after-hours sessions at the old Green Tree, Monterrey, American Legion Club, Swingland, and the Stardust - if you could play, you could find a place to perform. A lot of good musicians and great bands started here. Bill remembers working through the years with Dick Haughton at Wichita University, Leonard Snider at the Plamor, Clif Sproul's fine band, Verne Nydegger's group, Jim Starkey's big band, Jim Hilts, Stan Elliott and lots of others. He helped organize Wichita's First Jazz Trombone Quartet. He and Jim Starkey staged what were probably the first Big Band Jazz Concerts in Wichita, downtown and at the Cotillion. Bill's longest association was with Norman Lee, a terrific player, singer and frontman from the Old Eddy Howard Band. After jobbing for years in and around Wichita, Bill decided to go on the road and traveled for years doing one-nighters through Kansas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio; with trips to the east and west coasts, south to the gulf, southwest to New Mexico and Arizona. All were good years until Norman and Pat's deaths. Since then it's been jobbing again.

Bill's association with the Wichita Musicians' Association, Local 297 started long ago in 1946. "Music has been good to me," he says, "good memories, good friends, good times, good playing." An old timer, still playing after all these years, he adds, "If you've got a good Dixieland gig, just give me a call."

DENNIS A. DANDERS, Vice President
Dennis Danders became a members of Local 297 in 1964. He has served as president of the Wichita Musicians' Association (1979 - 1988) and president of the Kansas/Missouri Conference of Musicians. Dennis is a past-President of Local 297, past-chairman of the Wichita Symphony Players Association and a founding member of the Regional Orchestra Players Association (ROPA), which currently has a membership of forty-six professional orchestras. He came to Wichita from the Chicago, Illinois area where he graduated from Maine Township High School East. He received his BME degree from Wichita State University and his MM degree from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. As an active instrumentalist on String Bass, Electric Bass and Tuba, Dennis performs with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra (35^th season), Metropolitan Ballet of Wichita Orchestra, Music Theater of Wichita Orchestra, various other orchestras and numerous dance bands, jazz bands, show bands and rock bands. He has toured the United States and has performed in Germany and Austria.

Dennis is also an active adjudicator at High School Regional and State Solo Ensemble Music Festivals in Kansas and Oklahoma. He has guest conducted the Wichita Elementary Area Orchestra, the Wichita All-City Seventh Grade Orchestra, the Pioneer League Honor Band in Augusta, Kansas and the Wichita Musicians' Association Summer Band. He has also been an adjunct instructor of String Bass/Electric Bass at Friends University and Wichita State University. Dennis is currently serving in his thirty-second year as an Instrumental Music Instructor in the Wichita Public Schools based at Truesdell Middle School (Orchestra). Thirty-one of these years were spent at Charles Curtis Junior High/Middle School.

Clarence M. King, Jr., Secretary-Treasurer
Clarence has been a member of Local 297 since November 1985. In addition to the Secretary-Treasurer's job, he is a performing Jazz Musician, and serves as a Director of Jazz Combos at Friends University. He is a member of The Friends University Community Jazz Band, and performs with his own combos. sp; He holds BS and MA Degrees in Business Administration, served as District Director of the Internal Revenue Service for The State of Kansas from 1981 until he retired in 1989. He has served Local 297 as a Director, Vice President and President. He is from Detroit and is the son of Maurice King ( Motown Hall-of-Fame Director of Artist Development and Arranger ).