Jazz Education
Encyclopedia
Non-academic
- ca. 1890: Jenkins OrphanageJenkins OrphanageThe Jenkins Orphanage was established in 1891 by Rev. Daniel J. Jenkins in Charleston, South Carolina. Jenkins was a former slave turned minister who, upon stumbling across homeless youths, decided to organize an orphanage for young African American children...
Bands. The Rev. Daniel Joseph Jenkins established an orphanage in CharlestonCharleston, South CarolinaCharleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
, South Carolina. - 1890s: Alpha Cottage SchoolAlpha Boys SchoolAlpha Cottage School is a school on South Camp Road in Kingston, Jamaica, run by Roman Catholic nuns...
An orphanage in Kingston, JamaicaKingston, JamaicaKingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...
offering a music programme. - No date: Colored Waifs Home for Boys (see Louis ArmstrongLouis ArmstrongLouis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
). - No date: Jane AddamsJane AddamsJane Addams was a pioneer settlement worker, founder of Hull House in Chicago, public philosopher, sociologist, author, and leader in woman suffrage and world peace...
's Hull HouseHull HouseHull House is a settlement house in the United States that was co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located in the Near West Side of , Hull House opened its doors to the recently arrived European immigrants. By 1911, Hull House had grown to 13 buildings. In 1912 the Hull...
, ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
(see Benny GoodmanBenny GoodmanBenjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
). - 1916: Major N. Clark Smith taught at Lincoln High SchoolLincoln High SchoolLincoln High School or variations such as Abraham Lincoln High School or Lincoln Park High School, may refer to:- California :*Lincoln Continuation High School - Garden Grove, California*Lincoln High School...
, Kansas CityKansas City, MissouriKansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
. From 1922 he taught at Wendell Phillips High School in Chicago. - 1917: Industrial High School in Birmingham, Alabama. Fess (John T.) Watley offered extracurricular marching and concert bands, and the Jazz Demons in 1922.
- 1927: Jimmie LuncefordJimmie LuncefordJames Melvin "Jimmie" Lunceford was an American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader in the swing era.-Biography:...
organised a jazz band at Manassa High School, MemphisMemphis, TennesseeMemphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, known as the Chickasaw Syncopators. - 1930s: The Bama State CollegiansBama State CollegiansThe Bama State Collegians is a student jazz orchestra made up of students at Alabama State University. This group, founded in the 1930s, has been directed by a number of notable musicians, including Tommy Stewart and Erskine Hawkins....
, a student jazz orchestra was founded in the 1930s at Alabama State UniversityAlabama State UniversityAlabama State University, founded 1867, is a historically black university located in Montgomery, Alabama. ASU is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund.- History :...
and was organized by Len Bowden and Fess Whatley. They were directed by Tommy StewartTommy Stewart (trumpeter)Tommy Stewart is an American trumpeter, arranger, producer, composer and pianist residing in Birmingham, Alabama. He is a member of several active performing groups, including the Magic City Jazz Orchestra, Cleveland Eaton and the Alabama All-Stars, the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame All-Stars, and Ray...
and Erskine HawkinsErskine HawkinsErskine Ramsay Hawkins was an American trumpet player and big band leader from Birmingham, Alabama, dubbed "The 20th Century Gabriel". He is most remembered for composing the jazz standard "Tuxedo Junction" with saxophonist and arranger Bill Johnson...
. - 1931: Capt. Walter Dyett produced many well-known jazz musicians at Wendell Phillips High School and from 1935 at DuSable High SchoolDuSable High SchoolDuSable High School was a public high school in Chicago opened in the Bronzeville neighborhood in 1934. It was named after Chicago's first permanent non-native settler, Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. DuSable was built to accommodate the growing Phillips High School in the 1930s. The campus was...
. - ca. 1935: Samuel R. Browne taught music at Jefferson High SchoolJefferson High School (Los Angeles, California)For schools with a similar name, see Jefferson High School.Thomas Jefferson High School, usually referred to as Jefferson High School was founded in 1916, it is the fourth oldest public high school in the Los Angeles Unified School District...
in Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. - ca. 1940: Prairie View Co-eds was a poplular all-female band.
- 1964: Jazzmobile, Inc. is founded in 1964 by Daphne Arnstein, an arts patron and founder of the Harlem Cultural Council and Dr. William "Billy" Taylor.
Academic
- 1928: The first academic courses in Jazz anywhere: Jazz studies started by Bernhard SeklesBernhard SeklesBernhard Sekles was a German composer, conductor, pianist and pedagogue.Bernhard Sekles was born in Frankfurt am Main, the son of Maximilian Seckeles and Anna, . The family name Seckeles was changed by Bernhard Sekles to Sekles. From 1894 to 1895 he was the third Kapellmeister at the Stadttheater...
at the Hoch ConservatoryHoch ConservatoryDr. Hoch’s Konservatorium - Musikakademie was founded in Frankfurt am Main on September 22, 1878. Through the generosity of Frankfurter Joseph Hoch, who bequeathed the Conservatory one million German gold marks in his testament, a school for music and the arts was established for all age groups. ...
in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Way ahead of his time, Sekles started the jazz program although under heavy criticism throughout Germany. The jazz courses were headed by Mátyás SeiberMátyás SeiberMátyás György Seiber was a Hungarian-born composer who lived and worked in England from 1935 onward.-Career:Seiber was born in Budapest, and studied there with Zoltán Kodály, with whom he toured Hungary collecting folk songs. In 1928, he became director of the jazz department at the Hoch...
. A recording of the jazz band from 1931 can be heard on German Radio archives. http://www.dra.de/online/dokument/2004/dezember.html Both Sekles and Seiber were Jewish and the Nazis stopped the program in 1933. The program was restarted in 1976 with Albert MangelsdorffAlbert MangelsdorffAlbert Mangelsdorff was one of the most accredited and innovative trombonists of modern jazz who became famous for his distinctive technique of playing multiphonics.-Biography:...
as head of the department. - 1932: Percy GraingerPercy GraingerGeorge Percy Aldridge Grainger , known as Percy Grainger, was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist. In the course of a long and innovative career he played a prominent role in the revival of interest in British folk music in the early years of the 20th century. He also made many...
, a student at the Hoch ConservatoryHoch ConservatoryDr. Hoch’s Konservatorium - Musikakademie was founded in Frankfurt am Main on September 22, 1878. Through the generosity of Frankfurter Joseph Hoch, who bequeathed the Conservatory one million German gold marks in his testament, a school for music and the arts was established for all age groups. ...
(1895-1900), became Dean of Music at New York University, and underscored his reputation as an experimenter by putting jazz on the syllabus and inviting Duke Ellington as a guest lecturer. - 1939: Glenn Earl Brown (1914 – 1965; 1936 graduate of Ithaca College School of MusicIthaca College School of MusicThe School of Music at Ithaca College is the music school at Ithaca College, in Ithaca, New York. It is one of the five schools of the college. Ithaca College was originally founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music...
) introduced stage bands to Long Beach, New York, public schools. Glenn Brown had been, for more than 14 years, a marimbaMarimbaThe marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...
soloist with the Xavier CugatXavier CugatXavier Cugat was a Spanish-American bandleader who spent his formative years in Havana, Cuba. A trained violinist and arranger, he was a key personality in the spread of Latin music in United States popular music. He was also a cartoonist and a successful businessman...
Orchestra. He is the father if Raymond Harry BrownRaymond Harry BrownRaymond Harry Brown is an American composer, arranger, trumpet player, and jazz educator. He has performed as trumpet player and arranged music for Stan Kenton , Bill Watrous, Bill Berry, Frank Capp – Nat Pierce , and the Full Faith and Credit Big Band.Brown joined Kenton in September...
(jazz trumpeter and educator) and Stephen Charles Brown (jazz guitarist and educator). - 1941: New School of Social Research in New York was the first school in the U.S. to offer jazz history courses.
- 1945: Lawrence Berk founded the Schillinger House of Music in Boston. Berk changed the name to Berklee School of Music in 1954. The school granted its first bachelor's degrees in 1966. In 1973 Berklee's name was changed to Berklee College of MusicBerklee College of MusicBerklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
. - 1945: Westlake College of Music, Los Angeles
- 1947: The University of North TexasUniversity of North Texas College of MusicThe University of North Texas College of Music, based in Denton, is a comprehensive music school with the largest enrollment of any music institution accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music, and the oldest in the world offering a degree in jazz studies...
was the first university in the U.S. to offer a degree in Jazz Studies: Major in "Dance Band" or dance music degree. - 1950s: Over 30 colleges and universities add jazz courses to their curriculum.
- 1952: The Institute of Jazz StudiesInstitute of Jazz StudiesThe Institute of Jazz Studies is the largest and most comprehensive library and archive of jazz and jazz-related materials in the world, located at the Newark campus of Rutgers University.-History:...
was founded by Marshall StearnsMarshall StearnsMarshall Winslow Stearns was an American jazz critic and musicologist. He was the founder of the Institute of Jazz Studies....
. It is the largest and most comprehensive library and archive of jazz and jazz-related materials in the world. - 1957: Lenox School of Jazz: Summer jazz school in Massachusetts founded.
- 1967: Stan Kenton participation at Tanglewood Education Symposium for the first time addresses validity and perpetuation of American jazz education programs in school band programs.
- 1965: Leeds College of MusicLeeds College of MusicLeeds College of Music, located in Leeds’ Quarry Hill cultural quarter, is the largest music college in the United Kingdom, with over 1,000 full-time and 1,000 part-time students. The college is best known for its leading role in jazz education and started one of the first jazz degrees in Europe...
offered one of the first jazz courses in Europe. - 1972: Only 15 U.S. institutions of higher learning offer a degree in jazz studies; by 1982 this number had increased to 72.
- 1974: Banff School of Fine Arts: Oscar PetersonOscar PetersonOscar Emmanuel Peterson was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his friends. He released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, and received other numerous awards and honours over the course of his career...
and Phil NimmonsPhil NimmonsPhillip Rista Nimmons, is a Canadian jazz clarinetist, composer, bandleader, and academic.Born in Kamloops, British Columbia, the son of George Rista and Hilda Louise , he attended Lord Byng Secondary School, graduating in 1940. He then received a B.A. from the University of British Columbia in...
set up the Jazz Workshop. - 1975: University of North Texas One O' Clock Lab Band, under direction of Leon Breeden, becomes first collegiate ensemble to receive Grammy nomination status.
- 1981: McGill UniversityMcGill UniversityMohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
(Schulich School of MusicSchulich School of MusicThe Schulich School of Music is one of the constituent faculties of McGill University in Montréal, Canada. The faculty was named after benefactor Seymour Schulich.-History:Music at McGill – The Beginning...
) becomes the first university in Canada to offer a BMus degree in jazz performance. - 1982: American School of Modern Music of Paris: Jazz courses started by Stephen Carbonara.
- 1984: North-Netherlands Conservatoire Prins Claus ConservatoriumPrins Claus ConservatoriumThe Prins Claus Conservatorium is one of the nine conservatoires in the Netherlands. It is one of the schools of the Hanze University Groningen located in the city of Groningen....
, Groningen, The Netherlands launched a jazz department - 1986: The New School for Jazz and Contemporary MusicThe New School for Jazz and Contemporary MusicThe New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music is the second conservatory of The New School university. It is located on 13th Street in New York City's Greenwich Village neighborhood.-History:...
is founded by David Levy and Arnie Lawerence. - 1986: Darius Brubeck establishes first jazz program in Africa at University KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa.
- 1993: Leeds College of MusicLeeds College of MusicLeeds College of Music, located in Leeds’ Quarry Hill cultural quarter, is the largest music college in the United Kingdom, with over 1,000 full-time and 1,000 part-time students. The college is best known for its leading role in jazz education and started one of the first jazz degrees in Europe...
started BA (Hons) in Jazz Studies. - 2005: First Eastern European school of jazz established at Tibiscus University, Timisoara, Romania, by John Bota and US Fulbright Professor Tom SmithTom Smith- Sports :* R. Thomas "Tom" Smith , American thoroughbred racehorse trainer of Seabiscuit* Tom Smith , Major League player* Tom Smith , Major League player...
- 2009: University of North Texas One O' Clock Lab Band, under direction of Steve Wiest, receives sixth Grammy nomination.
- 2011: Tom Smith establishes first university jazz program in Mainland China at Ningbo University