Rene A. Sandoval Sr. Jazz Scholarship Fund

Rene Adrian Sandoval Sr. was a pioneer in the Texas jazz scene from the late 1950s until his death in 2022. He grew up in a humble but loving environment in Pharr, TX to a hard-working day laborer and musically gifted housewife. Growing up in the Rio Grande Valley, Rene began playing clarinet and saxophone with Mexican orchestras at the age of 12. He played boleros, "rancheras," polkas and cumbias, as well as old standards in the style of Count Basie and Glenn Miller. But it wasn't until he heard the sounds of John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley that his true passion was ignited. He followed his jazz passion to Houston, where he established a group of like-minded Latino jazz musicians called The Houstonians. With this new band, Rene became one of the founding members of the Texas Jazz Festival in Corpus Christi, TX. Later, he joined The Diamonds, a 1950s group, of "Little Darling" fame, where he toured with the group in the early 1970s. In the Rio Grande Valley, Rene established two bands - one that would perform the traditional Mexican/Frontera music of his childhood and the Rene Sandoval Jazz Quartet, where he performed jazz standards, bebop and romantic Mexican classics. His jazz group performed at the Embassy Suites in McAllen for more than 30 years and set the standard for jazz music in South Texas.