Dozens gather to celebrate new Alford Rehearsal Room, scholarship

Hilda Alford stood in an East Carolina University music rehearsal room among dozens of friends and family members, holding lined sheets filled with her handwritten stories about her late husband, Charles Stephen Alford, for whom that room is now named.

During the June 21 event in room B105 of the Fletcher Music Center, young musicians and their families filled the hallways outside with their instruments as they auditioned for placement at the start of ECU’s Summer Band and Orchestra Camp. Their commitment to music was coincidental timing to the remembrance of Charles Alford.

Hilda Alford, seated, the wife of the late Charles Stephen Alford, greets friends and family during an event to dedicate a School of Music rehearsal room to Charles Alford and announce a student scholarship. (Photos by Rhett Butler)

“Charles always believed in rehearsing; everyone who plays music believes in practicing,” Hilda Alford said. “So this is the rehearsal room. He knew how important that was, and we want to encourage young musicians with their practice to continue through our scholarship.”

Charles Alford, who died in 2021, played trumpet and saxophone since his youth, founded the Tar River Community Band, co-founded the Emerald City Big Band and played in the St. James United Methodist Church praise band. He also co-founded the School of Music (SOM) Friends of Jazz, the fundraising group for the university’s jazz program. He was a 1973 ECU graduate, receiving a Master of Arts in Education with a rehabilitation counseling concentration.

In addition to the designated rehearsal room, Hilda Alford and the couple’s family worked with ECU to launch the new Alford Family Endowed Scholarship in Memory of Charles Stephen Alford.

The $2,000 annual scholarship will benefit an SOM undergraduate or graduate student who plays a brass or woodwind instrument.

Frank Alford, Charles and Hilda’s youngest of two sons, and Dr. Jeff Bair, the SOM’s jazz studies director, took turns telling more stories about Charles Alford, to the joyful laughter of event attendees. They both played saxophone during the event, accompanied by SOM piano assistant professor Dr. Sam Gingher.

After playing “Anthropology” by Charlie Parker, Bair received a laugh when no one in the room could identify the tune.

“Charles would be ashamed of all of you,” he said.

Bair turned emotional when he noted that he did not program his performance that day for the audience.

“I programmed this for Charles,” he said. “He liked esoteric stuff, so we’re just going to play the blues.”

Bair said he had hoped to play Charles Alford’s saxophone, but that it still requires some restoration work, as both their “horns” are at least 50 years old. Frank Alford added that restoration takes about a year, but noted both his father’s instrument and the late Ed Wheatley’s, another local musician and co-founder of the SOM’s Friends of Jazz, were donated to the school.

Betty Wheatley, Ed’s widow, was one of the many friends who attended the event, her first time back at ECU since her husband died in 2018.

“It’s good to see people,” she said, adding that she enjoyed hearing the music, especially the jazz standard “Misty,” played by Frank Alford. “I love that. That’s what I miss; him practicing. We always had music.”

Frank Alford said the family plans to seek student art to display in B105 and perhaps include art inspired by some of the “great albums” in Charles Alford’s extensive collection, whittled down from thousands to hundreds, which now belong to Frank.

“Dad did rehearse a lot,” Frank said, holding his own saxophone his father gave to him, ready to play “Misty.” “Unfortunately, me and (Gingher) didn’t get rehearsed, so bear with us if it goes wrong. I guess that’s why they call it jazz.”

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