Saxophonist Joe Eckert said if he had a nickel for every time he played the 1940s big band classic “In the Mood,” he would have retired several decades ago. During a 20-year career in the Air Force, Eckert played upwards of 100 shows a year as a member of its famous Airmen of Note band. The director of jazz studies at TCU had ample opportunity to polish the fine details of the popular Glenn Miller composition.

But hearing his former ensemble play the song is a far rarer occasion. The top military bands, including Airmen of Note, tour a specific region each year. It is often five years or longer before they repeat appearances.

When Eckert learned Airmen of Note would return to Texas in 2016, he jumped to book a free show at TCU. On April 19, the 18-member band will perform a mix of contemporary jazz and big band tunes, with some harkening back to Miller’s World War II-era Army Air Corps band, from whom the Airmen of Note originated.

Airmen of Note Audition on Alto Sax

Military rigor and state-sponsored goodwill tours in the Middle East were not what Eckert, who directed the Air Force band for six years, intended for his musical life. But his first college teaching gig, in West Virginia, limited opportunities for live performance, he said. “I kind of went into withdrawal.”

Joe Eckert, standing at right, played at the White House during Bill Clinton’s presidency.

In 1984, after seeing an advertisement for an open alto saxophone position in the Airmen of Note, Eckert threw his name into the hat. He competed with more than 50 saxophonists for the spot during an improvisational audition.

He won the job “on the spot,” he said. After surviving the challenge of basic training, Eckert discovered that a career as a military musician was a sweet deal. Instead of scrounging for gigs, he traveled the world with his saxophone. Instead of blowing his horn in smoky jazz joints, he played for presidents and foreign dignitaries at the White House.

In the Mood to Teach

Once a musician earns a spot in the Airmen of Note, he usually is reluctant to leave, Eckert said. The stability of the lineup translates into efficient rehearsals and time to perfect cover tunes reinterpreting jazz legends from Dizzy Gillespie to Sarah Vaughan.

Joe Eckert joined his former band for its 60th anniversary concert in 2010.

After two decades with the Airmen of Note, some of which Eckert spent commuting from his home in Winchester, Virginia to the band’s base in Washington, D.C., he left. “I decided I wanted to be my own general,” he said.

Eckert came to TCU in 2007 as the School of Music’s first full-time professor of saxophone. He has ample performance opportunities in the Dallas-Fort Worth music scene. He plays occasionally with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and with visiting musicians.

Drawing from experience, Eckert said that music, even a classic song like “In the Mood,” is constantly changing. He learned this fundamental rule in the Airmen of Note. To reflect fluctuating circumstances and keep a fresh sound, the band plays a surprise mix of songs and brings something different to each performance.

Music, like the world or the military charged with serving it, will never be a static thing, Eckert said. “I tell my students all the time, music is a journey. It’s never a destination. If you think you’ve arrived, you’re in trouble because no one ever arrives.”

Even when traveling in an Air Force jet.