Dr.
James Polk was born into a musical family and grew up in Corpus Christi,
Texas. He excelled in all music classes in elementary, junior and
senior high school. James moved to Austin, Texas to attend Huston-Tillotson
College where he graduated in 1962 with a B.A. Degree in music education.
He taught band in Elgin, Texas and later moved to Massachusetts to
work at the Rodman Job Corp as entertainment director. He returned to Austin
to work at IBM as a buyer in production purchasing where he stayed
for ten years. He left IBM to join the Ray Charles Orchestra in 1978 as
organist, pianist and later writer, arranger and conductor. James moved
back to Austin in 1988 and has since become the Associate Director of Jazz
Studies at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas where
he is currently employed..