SU director of bands announces his retirement

Lawrence Jackson, director of the world-renowned Southern University "Human Jukebox" Marching Band, is retiring. The Crowley native has been director of bands on the Baton Rouge campus since 2006.

"I'm excited. I’m pumped," Jackson said Thursday afternoon after announcing his decision to SUBR chancellor James L. Llorens.

"I think I'm leaving the band in great shape," said Jackson, who has been associated on a full-time basis with the SU band for 18 years and five years part time.

The former "Jukebox" tuba player said, "I could have directed this band for another eight years. But there were more reasons to retire than to stay," he said. "At first it was hard to come to grips that I was going to retire. But I took some leave time to see what it would be like to be retired. I liked it."

Read full story here (www.subr.edu).