The Alabama Winds

Performer Details

Performer Bio Synopsis

The Alabama Winds is an all-adult community wind band based in Birmingham, Alabama. The Alabama Winds was organized in the summer of 2013 and is comprised primarily of practicing music educators residing in the central Alabama area. The band rehearses on the third Sunday of each month for three hours. The mission of the Alabama Winds is to foster and promote the appreciation of high-quality wind band music through performances of artistic merit for our audience, the residents of the state of Alabama and the members of the ensemble. In a typical season, the ensemble will present a holiday concert in mid-December and a spring concert in mid-May. Alabama Winds has given invitational performances at the 2015 Alabama Music Educators' Association Inservice Conference, the 2016 Alabama Honor Band Festival and the 2017 Alabama Bandmasters Association District 6 Honor Band. Members of the ensemble also completed at two week tour of Italy in June 2016.

The Alabama Winds

Conductor's Bio

Randall Coleman is currently the Associate Director of Bands and Associate Professor of Music at the University of Alabama where he serves as the conductor of the Alabama Symphonic Band, the Associate Conductor of the Alabama Wind Ensemble, and the Associate Director of the Million Dollar Band.  He also teaches graduate and undergraduate conducting and wind band literature classes.  In addition, Professor Coleman is the Coordinator of the Crimson Music Camps and the Alabama Honor Band Festivals. Additionally, Professor Coleman serves as Conductor and Artistic Director of the Alabama Winds, an all-adult community wind band based in Birmingham, Alabama. Prior to his appointment to the faculty at the University of Alabama in 2007, Mr. Coleman enjoyed a successful 25-year career as a high school band director and supervisor in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Music Education at Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama, and the Masters of Music Education degree from Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. During his teaching career in Georgia, Mr. Coleman was an active member of the Georgia Music Educators’ Association, where he held the office of President, First Vice-President and State Band Division Chair. He also served as Georgia State Chair for the National Band Association. Professor Coleman has been awarded the Citation of Excellence from the National Band Association on ten occasions and was the 1992 recipient of the American School Band Directors’ Association’s Stanbury Award for the state of Georgia and the southeastern United States. Mr. Coleman was inducted into the John Philip Sousa Foundations’ Legion of Honor in 2004 and is also listed in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers. Under his direction, the Milton High School Wind Ensemble performed at the 2004 GMEA Inservice Conference, the 2004 Bands of America National Concert Band Festival, and the 2006 National Convention of the Music Educators’ National Conference. At the University of Alabama, Professor Coleman has conducted the Alabama Symphonic Band at the 2014 College Band Directors’ National Association Southern Regional Convention, and the 2012 Alabama Music Educators’ Conference. He has also conducted the Alabama Wind Ensemble at the 2014 American Bandmasters’ Association National Conference and at the 2010 College Band Directors’ Association Southern Regional Conference. A strong proponent of new music for wind band, he has personally commissioned four pieces for wind bands. Diamond Fanfare by Samuel R. Hazo, premiered by the Milton Wind Ensemble, Diabolus Ex Machina by Jim Bonney premiered by the Alabama Wind Ensemble, and Alabama Fanfare by Robert W. Smith and The Best of Rooms by Tyler S. Grant, both premiered by the Alabama Winds. He conducted the world premiere of Mutiara by Anthony Barfield with the Alabama Wind Ensemble and the regional premiere of Auto ’66 by James David with the Alabama Symphonic Band. Professor Coleman has served as a guest conductor of the Sabina Wind Orchestra in Rieti, Italy and conducted the Alabama Wind Ensemble as a part of the International Music Meeting in May of 2012 in Padova, Italy. Professor Coleman also recently led the Alabama Winds on a 12-day tour of Italy, performing concerts in Como and Rome. He presented a Rehearsal Lab clinic session at the 2010 Midwest Clinic in Chicago, Illinois and conducted the 2010 Georgia All State Concert Band. Professor Coleman has been published four times as a Research Associate to the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band book series published by GIA publications. He has conducted the University of Alabama Million Dollar Band in performances at the Southeastern Conference Football Championships, and in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, and the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona where the Crimson Tide won the 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2015 National Championships. Professor Coleman was recently elected to membership in the prestigious American Bandmasters Association and also holds membership in the College Band Directors’ National Association, the National Band Association, the National Association for Music Education, Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters’ Fraternity, the Alabama Music Educators’ Association and the Alabama Bandmasters’ Association.