Allan Horney will conduct his last concert at Eastern on Saturday.

The professor of trombone and jazz studies is retiring this semester after teaching for 35 years.

The Alumni Jazz Band Concert will be in Horney’s honor and will feature former members of Eastern’s Jazz Ensemble from the past 40 years.

The concert is at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in The Theatre of the Doudna Fine Arts Center.

More than 40 alumni are coming to take part in this event.

“People are coming over from across the states spanning back from 1969,” said Paul Johnston, music professor.

Horney will conduct the concert, because he wanted to work with the alumni that are returning.

“(Horney) has done a lot for Eastern,” Johnston said. “The majority of people coming back are former students of his.”

Horney said the jazz department has been talking about bringing back former Eastern students for the past five years.

The department thought this concert should take place this year because of the reopening of Doudna.

“We have been celebrating that this entire year, and it will be a good way for folks, who have not seen the building, to see it,” Johnston said.

The alumni, while on campus, can also attend a reception in the Tarble Arts Center followed by an optional jam session today.

Saturday, a four-hour rehearsal, along with a lunch at the campus pond, will take place. And Johnson will present a speech to the alumni at 1 p.m. in the Doudna Lecture Hall.

Dinner will also be provided before the concert for the alumni and all their guests.

“This has been in the works a long time,” Horney said. “We actually pulled together and did it. It will give the alumni a chance to get together again, play some music, see the new building and rekindle old friendships.”

Horney said he is glad to have the opportunity to get together with people he worked with in the past.

“We can share some time together,” Horney said. “That’s what is important to me.”

Johnston said this event is the first of its kind and the first time jazz alumni are playing together again.

The concert is $5 for the general public and $3 for students with open seating available.

Heather Holm can be reached at 581-7942 or at haholm@eiu.edu.