Janelle Gill is confident that she has a future in jazz. The eighteen-year-old freshman pianist began jazz performance studies last semester at Howard University. Since then, she has played in the school's big band and the small-group jazz ensembles.
Gill is a graduate of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C. She cites jazz pianists Theolonius Monk, Bud Powell, Art Tatum, and Mary Lou Williams as some of her chief influences. As a music education major at Howard, Gill expects to develop her piano skills to the point where she can comfortably earn a living in professional jazz -- by performing, recording in the studio, and teaching.
"I've always wanted to have a career in music," Gill says. "Howard has a decent program. They have a lot of talent in their faculty."
Hundreds of young musicians such as Gill enroll in colleges, universities, and music conservatories each year in the hope of obtaining the jazz training necessary to become full-time professionals. For decades, these institutions have been providing fertile ground for the support and survival of jazz.
Although jazz education typically begins years before a student gets to these institutions, more and more collegiate programs are becoming vital links between professional hopefuls and the music community they aspire to join.
"A student who comes to us is already a highly accomplished musician," says Dr. Arthur Dawkins, director of jazz Studies at Howard University. "The majority of the students at Howard aim to be performing full-time as musicians."
Jazz represents one of the truly great world musical traditions to develop in the United States. Its roots draw from both African and European influences. Although early on in its development the music was often used for dancing, eventually jazz became the medium for small ensembles that performed in both nightclubs and concert halls.
A Beat That Moves
It was perhaps inevitable that a music so widely popular and accepted would eventually find a home on American college and university campuses.
