Holdings Fine Arts and Applied Arts University Bands Donnie Heitler Sound Record... Finding Aid Holdings Fine Arts and Applied Arts University Bands Donnie Heitler Sound Record... Finding Aid By Katie Nichols
Title: Donnie Heitler Sound Recordings, 1980-1982
ID: 12/9/162
Primary Creator: Heitler, Donald "Donnie" (1936-2018)
Extent: 1.0 cubic feet
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically.
Date Acquired: 05/03/2018
Subjects: Alumni, Jazz, Medicare 7, 8 or 9, Music - United States, Piano, Restaurants
Languages: English
Consists of 10-inch reel-to-reel sound recordings of Donnie Heitler, Joel Spencer, Ron Dewar, George Staley, John Campbell, Kelly Sill, and Ed Peterson performing at Nature's Table and Autumn Tree between 1980 and 1982, documenting Heitler's piano performances within the local jazz scene in Urbana-Champaign.
Donald "Donnie" Heitler (1936-2018) was born in Pekin, IL. The son of Elma and Hallet Heitler, he began piano lessons as a young boy at the Jacksonville School for the Blind in Jacksonville, IL, where he learned to read Braille music. As a high school student, Heitler performed piano with professional jazz bands at McMurray College. After graduating in 1955, he attended Illinois Wesleyan University before transferring to the University of Illinois to study with Stanley Fletcher and Soulima Stravinsky. He graduated with a bachelors performance in 1959, joining Phi Mu Alpha fraternity. As a student Heitler performed dixieland jazz at KAMs, the Capital Restaurant, in the Common's "Jazz U Like It" series. Heitler performed with Johnny Bruce's big band, which performed throughout central Illinois and Indiana. He would go on to earn a master's degree in music education (1960) and a masters in guidance and counseling from the University of Illinois (1961). After graduating, Heitler played professionally in Scottsdale, Arizona; New York; and Las Vegas.
In the mid-1970s, he settled once more in Champaign, performing regularly at the Autumn Tree (in the Huntington Tower), Nature's Table, Caputos, Zorbas, Minecci's, Schnucks (at Christmas time), and the Iron Post. He also performed with Medicare 7, 8, or 9. Heitler died in Urbana in 2018, at 81 years old.
Repository: The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music
Acquisition Source: David Peters
Acquisition Method: Gift
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