Schools of cool: jazz performance education providing a different kind of gig - Cover Story

Black Issues in Higher Education, Jan 22, 1998 by Ronald Roach

The Violet Cafe is owned by NYU but managed by a restaurant company. It has become, over the past few years, a performance venue for NYU's musical groups. Hilgenberg, who coordinated NYU jazz group performances at the cafe last semester, says the Tuesday night gig gives NYU jazz musicians the opportunity to experience the conditions that musicians normally experience in jazz clubs.

"This is as close to the real club experience as you can get," Hilgenberg says.

Although Casey Benjamin was offered a full scholarship to the Berklee College of Music, in Boston, he turned it down to remain in the New York area where he has lived much of his life. A sophomore at the New School for Social Research, Benjamin stayed in New York to take advantage of the city's impressive jazz scene.

"It was the faculty that attracted me to the New School. Being in New York gives you a great opportunity to network," he says.

Benjamin, a saxophonist, aspires to have a career similar to that of composer and media entrepreneur Quincy Jones, who built his career around the success of being an accomplished jazz musician. Benjamin believes having skills in jazz composing, producing, writing, and performing will enable him to branch out into other music and fields such as film production.

HBCUs Doing More With Less

While jazz education programs have blossomed all over the country, a number of HBCUs have managed to develop and maintain quality programs.

Dr. Ira Wiggins, director of jazz studies at North Carolina Central University (NCCU), says it would be easier to maintain quality if the university granted more resources to the program. Currently, Wiggins -- a saxophonist and flutist -- is the only full-time faculty member in the school's jazz program. The program has four ensembles -- including a big band, two combos, and a vocal jazz ensemble.

Despite being understaffed, NCCU's jazz groups have, in recent years, received top honors at numerous music festivals. NCCU groups claimed dominance at the Villanova jazz Festival in Philadelphia and the Count Basie jazz Festival at Hampton University in Virginia.

Additionally, the NCCU jazz Ensemble performed at the Montreux jazz Festival in Switzerland and at Euro-Disney in Paris in 1996. And last month, the NCCU jazz Combo and Vocal jazz Ensemble played in Washington, D.C., at a White House reception which was hosted by President Bill Clinton.

Wiggins -- who praises schools such as the University of Miami and Indiana University for investing heavily in jazz education -- says the jazz program staffing shortage at NCCU is not unique among HBCUs. He believes that one reason for the shortage is that HBCUs are typically more accustomed to devoting so much of their resources to their high-profile marching bands.

"The support of marching bands keeps the primary focus on sports rather than the music," Wiggins says. "You don't want to neglect the music."

Howard University's Dawkins is optimistic about the overall growth of jazz education across higher education, but worries that HBCUs are not keeping up with wealthier and predominantly White schools in supporting jazz programs. Like Wiggins, Dawkins says HBCUs place a high priority on supporting marching bands. He believes that programs, such as the one at Howard, can enable Black institutions to continue having a leadership role in the development of jazz musicians if schools recognize the music's increasing popularity.