Temple’s director of jazz studies, Terell Stafford, leads a Temple Jazz Band rehearsal at Temple’s Performing Arts Center in Philadelphia on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026.
Photo by Elizabeth Robertson
Article by Earl Hopkins for The Philadelphia Inquirer
On a recent Wednesday evening, thundering percussions and the sweet whistles of woodwind instruments filled Temple University’s Performing Arts Center. Some of the notes even escaped the thick doors and pour out onto the street.
The stage was full but few spectators sat in the cherry-colored seats watching Temple’s Jazz Band rehearse familiar and new tunes. Among them was the band’s director Terell Stafford, instructing the ensemble. The student musicians followed every word.