Paris Milton Rutherford III

Submitted By jd0307 on Wed, 12/14/2022 - 8:05am

Paris Milton Rutherford III, 88, of Dallas, Professor Emeritus of jazz studies who was pivotal in elevating jazz education in his 30-year career at UNT, died Nov. 23.

He began playing piano at age 4, and as a young adult he played the trombone in the 4th Army Band and Dallas Symphony Orchestra and wrote advertising jingles while living in Dallas. He used his immense love for music to begin educating others at UNT in 1978. He taught instrumental arranging, led a group of vocalists called The Commercial Singers, and founded and developed the vocal jazz degree at UNT. For 30 years he coordinated vocal jazz studies and directed the award-winning UNT Jazz Singers. He was named a Regents Professor in 2008.

In 2009, alumni, faculty and friends of the vocal jazz studies program established The Jazz Leadership Fund in his honor to provide scholarships for vocal jazz majors. He was a President’s Council member with his wife, Lynne, and, after retiring in 2009, he continued to write and produce new vocal jazz arrangements for Hal Leonard Publications.

He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Southern Methodist University.

Services are scheduled at 11 a.m. Jan. 14, 2023, at Stonebriar Community Church, 4801 Legendary Drive, Frisco.

Donations may be made to the Jazz Leadership Scholarship in Honor of Paris Rutherford at UNT. A memorial concert is scheduled at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, May 6, at Voertman Hall in the UNT Music Building.

Paris Milton Rutherford III, 88, of Dallas, Professor Emeritus of jazz studies who was pivotal in elevating jazz education in his 30-year career at UNT, died Nov. 23.

He began playing piano at age 4, and as a young adult he played the trombone in the 4th Army Band and Dallas Symphony Orchestra and wrote advertising jingles while living in Dallas. He used his immense love for music to begin educating others at UNT in 1978. He taught instrumental arranging, led a group of vocalists called The Commercial Singers, and founded and developed the vocal jazz degree at UNT. For 30 years he coordinated vocal jazz studies and directed the award-winning UNT Jazz Singers. He was named a Regents Professor in 2008.

In 2009, alumni, faculty and friends of the vocal jazz studies program established The Jazz Leadership Fund in his honor to provide scholarships for vocal jazz majors. He was a President’s Council member with his wife, Lynne, and, after retiring in 2009, he continued to write and produce new vocal jazz arrangements for Hal Leonard Publications.

He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Southern Methodist University.

Services are scheduled at 11 a.m. Jan. 14, 2023, at Stonebriar Community Church, 4801 Legendary Drive, Frisco.

Donations may be made to the Jazz Leadership Scholarship in Honor of Paris Rutherford at UNT. A memorial concert is scheduled at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, May 6, at Voertman Hall in the UNT Music Building.

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