Davis, drummer Kobie Watkins, music pedagogue Victor Zajek, composers Merle Isaac and William Owens, and renowned music educator Walter Dyett, who taught Gene Ammons, Nat King Cole, Bo Diddley, Dorothy Donegan, Von Freeman, Johnny Hartman, Dinah Washington, Redd Foxx, Red Holloway, and many more.
=== Midwest Clinic ===
Co-founders H.E. Nutt of VanderCook School of Music, Howard Lyons of Lyons Band Instrument Company and Neil A. Kjos of the Kjos Music Company formed the Mid-West International Band and Orchestra Clinic in 1946. The Midwest Clinic began as a local entity, quickly expanding to become one of the most recognized instrumental music education clinics in the world. The VanderCook Symphonic Band has been involved with the clinic since the beginning, with faculty and undergraduate students participating in clinic work, concert performances, reading sessions, and other operating activities for the clinic to run successfully.
=== Presidents ===
John H. Beckerman, 1950–1966
Hubert E. Nutt, 1966–1974
Richard …
