The Temple Jazz Orchestra (TJO) is one of the leading American university jazz orchestras. Directed by Terell Stafford, it performs regularly in Philadelphia and New York City and has toured across the United States, as well as in Germany, the Netherlands, and Japan. The band won first place at the National Collegiate Jazz Championship at Jazz at Lincoln Center for the second time in 2026 and has placed among the top two in every edition of the competition. Numerous distinguished artists have performed with the TJO, including Wynton Marsalis, Jon Faddis, Benny Golson, Jimmy Heath, Clark Terry, and Frank Wess.

Terell Stafford, an acclaimed New York trumpeter, was described as “one of the great players of our time, a fabulous trumpet player” by piano legend McCoy Tyner. Stafford is recognized as an incredibly gifted and versatile musician who combines a deep love for melody with his personal style, marked by vibrant and bold lyricism. Since the mid-1990s, he has performed with groups such as the Benny Golson Sextet, the McCoy Tyner Sextet, the Kenny Barron Quintet, the Frank Wess Quintet, the Jimmy Heath Quintet and Big Band, the Jon Faddis Jazz Orchestra, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, and the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Alumni Band. Stafford also performed with the Hamilton Clayton Jazz Orchestra on Diana Krall’s Grammy-nominated 2006 album From This Moment On.

Terell Stafford is Director of Jazz Studies and Chair of Instrumental Studies at Temple University.

Barbara Parisi has been performing for many years with a repertoire spanning jazz, soul, and pop, collaborating with musicians such as Eric Daniel, Riccardo Biseo, Amedeo Ariano, Dario Rosciglione, Stefano Cantarano, Pino Iodice, Stefano Scartocci, Danilo Riccardi, and many others. She has also written songs and composed music for films.