The show, which drew about 800 fans and raised more than $6000 last year though it was held on the night of the closest Presidential election in US history, was conceived by Nicholas after he worked with various students around the state in a Music in the Schools program sponsored by Texas Folklife Resources of Austin. "That gave me the idea to do a real show here in Fredericksburg, but to get the kids involved as musicians rather than just as students," says the bluesman and proprietor of the Hill Top Café on the Mason Highway west of town. "This show exposes kids in the band programs to music in a real situation. We show them things they can’t get from sheet music, like introducing them to the intangibles of groove and swing." They also learn about grass roots Texas music such as blues, which isn’t taught in the schools.

In all, about 75 students participate, along with Nicholas’ regular band the Texas All-Stars, augmented with some additional players for the occasion. Pianist/singer Marcia Ball, Austin’s queen of Gulf Coast rhythm and blues, and San Antonio multi-instrumentalist/singer Augie Meyers, former Texas Tornado and a bandleader in his own right, return as special guests. This year, they’re joined by bilingual singer and country star Rick Trevino of Austin, making his first appearance at the bash. The evening’s program includes individual sets from the two jazz bands. The choir members, dancers and a few individual student musicians are integrated into sets by the All-Stars and special guests. Everybody—students and pros alike--returns to the stage for the grand finale.

Nicholas, who’s had sons of his own in Fredericksburg schools music programs, often sits in on classes to offer pointers during the year. But in the weeks before the benefit, which is the first major event of the new year for the school bands, he gets more involved, working with the students to pick material and to play it with blues feeling as well as technical skill. Meanwhile, choir members are learning the parts they’ll be singing behind the lead vocalists, and the dancers are working out their choreography. The night before the concert, they all come together for a rehearsal with the All-Stars. "It’s really great how the students pick up on everything; they listen carefully and really groove with the band at rehearsals and during the show. Some of the stars are really surprised," Nicholas recalls. "It’s always such a blast for me to get all these musicians together."

Marcia Ball recalls her first Big Band Bash two years ago. "After hearing about it, I called up Johnny and basically invited myself," she laughs. "I just thought it would be a great thing to do for the community, not just for the money but for the ways music can bring a community together. Plus, I just love to sing with that big band behind me. My first year, I did the Irma Thomas song ‘It’s Raining,’ and when I heard that student choir come in behind me going ‘drip, drop’ in the background, they sounded so good I almost couldn’t sing."

"We didn’t have anything like this when I was in school, but I wish we had," adds Meyers. "Most of these kids don’t get much chance to hear our kind of music, but hopefully they’ll go buy albums of blues and conjunto and old rock ‘n’ roll and they’ll learn to like it and play it. If we’d had teachers into this kind of stuff when I was a kid, I’d have done a lot better in school."

It was his memory of his own experiences in school bands that compelled Rick Trevino to sign on. Though best known currently for his work with Los Super Seven, an informal, ever-changing group of Spanish-language musicians, the young singer entered the music business in 1993 with the first in a string of country hits. But he still likes to reminisce about first taking up clarinet in the sixth grade, and playing in student jazz bands through high school. He was also a member of the honors band and the marching band. "Being in school bands myself made me gung-ho about supporting this benefit. I feel like it’s necessary to do whatever I can to give back, because band taught me so much as a kid," he declares. "From the school bands, I learned to have a disciplined work ethic. I learned to practice every day. And competing in various competitions was a real healthy thing for me. All this helped make me the musician I am now."

Hopefully, the Big Band Bash helps do the same for today’s students, both now and in the future. The money raised helps keep many of them together in music classes, and provides them with adequate equipment, throughout their tenures in the Fredericksburg schools. The benefit brings working musicians, students and their community together in a way that doesn’t happen the rest of the year. The students showcase their talent to family, friends and neighbors, while the community gives back moral and financial support. And the students get a good look, usually their first ever, at how the pros do it—because after all, one day these young musicians might be pros, too.