Bass: Ardis currently works as band director at Magnolia Charter School upper campus, in Shreveport, LA, providing band, guitar, piano and string instruction for 6th – 11th grade students. Ardis attended all Caddo Parish Public Schools where Mr. Bill Causey was his high school band director. This friendship created a bond that lasted for 49 years up to the present.
He has formerly worked in the Caddo Parish School System, as a middle and high school Orchestra Director at Youree Drive Middle Advanced Placement Magnet and C.E. Byrd Magnet High School for 39 years, until his retirement. In addition to his teaching career, Ardis has been part of the 156th Army Band of Louisiana for twenty-four years in good standing with an Honorable Discharge. The Army Band, under the direction of Chief Warrant Officer (W-4) Douglas Peterson and Chief Warrant Officer (W-2) Leon Anderson, Sr. has served band positions across the United States, including the West Point Academy, and the National Jazz Ensemble of America. He has played with several celebrities such as the Commodores, Earth Wind and Fire, Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Temptations, Joan Rivers Chilites, Kenny Rogers and Charlie Daniels to name a few. Moreover, he has toured the South Pacific with the United Service Organization – (USO) with a musical group called “Soul Maskossa,” entertaining the men and women of the Armed Forces for three months. He is dedicated in serving as a local, state, and national church musician currently at Grace United Methodist Church and Mt. Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, as bass guitarist. Ardis also is presently bassist for The Shreveport Regional Jazz Ensemble, The Bill Causey Orchestra, and resides in Shreveport with his wife Gloria and two children.