Mr. Dick Bauman started his first jazz band when he was a high school student in Lake City. After graduating from Northwest Missouri State University, Dick began his Iowa teaching career at lrwin High School in 1961 and by 1962 jazz band, was offered in the music curriculum during the school day. For the next five years, the lrwin Jazz Band placed at festivals in Stanton and Jefferson and was one of the first jazz bands invited to perform at the Iowa Girls State Basketball Tournament.

In 1966, Mr. Bauman accepted a position at Burton R. Jones Jr. High School in Creston and started a jazz program that fall. Over the next 10 years, this band won or placed in every festival it entered and, in 1969, Dick reestablished the Creston Jazz Festival.

In 1976 he became Director of Instrumental Music at Southwestern Community College and developed a full two-year curriculum for music majors. The Creston Jazz Festival became the SWCC Jazz Festival and served as the Southwest District Jazz Festival. The Southwestern Community College Jazz Ensemble performed at the Wichita and University of Northern Colorado Jazz Festivals as well as the Iowa Bandmasters Convention. Dick believed that it was important to sponsor quality jazz artists for young musicians to hear. Many jazz educators can remember taking students to the clinic/concerts by the big bands of Woody Herman, Buddy Rich, Gerry Mulligan, Maynard Ferguson, Count Basic, Tommy Dorsey, and Dick's personal favorite, the Stan Kenton Orchestra.

Mr. Bauman has served on the staff of several summer jazz camps and started the SWCC Summer Jazz Camp in 1984. He has adjudicated numerous jazz festivals throughout the United States and is one of the few educators that has directed an Iowa All-State High School Jazz Band and the Iowa College All-Star Jazz Ensemble. In addition, Dick has served as president of the Iowa Jazz Educators Association, president of the Southwest Iowa Bandmasters Association, and has played trombone professionally since he was 16 years old.