Lighting Up Charlotte with Jazz article @ All About Jazz

The third success is we were able to present international artists like

” data-original-title title>Joshua Redman,

” data-original-title title>Ravi Coltrane and

” data-original-title title>Branford Marsalis. I don’t fangirl too much, because I realize musicians are people and they work hard to get where they are. In their careers, they have ups and downs just like any other local or regional musician.

But, it doesn’t take away the fact that I am still a fan of the music and a fan of artists that I’ve been listening to for a long time. We have been in a position to be able to present some of these artists. And so to me that is also just unreal that I get to bring my heroes to town, recognize them, and give other people a chance to hear them. Sometimes I have to pinch myself because it’s like, wow, this is my job. This is my life.

AAJ: You’ve spearheaded over 500 jazz performances under JazzArts Charlotte, and the organization is in its 15th year. You’ve received continuous support from the jazz community, and the doors seem like they won’t be closing soon. It’s a gem and an important part of Charlotte’s art culture. What are some of the challenges of curating a jazz season of performances?

LD: I would say one of the challenges of curating jazz is that you cannot please everyone (laughs). There’s so much talent in the world and there’s so many directions that this music has gone. Personally, I respect great musicians in all of these different pockets, segments, or styles. I highly respect them because it takes a lot of time for an artist to develop concept, sound, individuality, artistry and virtuosity. And while I would like to be able to put all of that on display, all the time, it’s just impossible.

So I think one of the challenges of curating is trying to strike a balance and cater. One of the things that is important for me and my role at JazzArts is to make sure that the audience is getting access and exposure to a wide variety of high quality jazz music.

There are so many musicians, but every artist is not going to be every person’s cup of tea. Partly, because they have not had exposure to the artist. So another challenge as a curator is to educate your audience on what’s out there. In addition to giving them an opportunity to make the determination whether they like it or not, versus just saying, “Oh I don’t listen to that, I don’t like it,” because you just might after you have been exposed to a new musician, and their journey.

Educating audiences on the particular style of music and/or that particular artist is key. Then once that education is in place, people are a lot more open to buying a ticket to a show they may not have been open to a year before. They trust our work and know it’s going to be a high-quality show. So nine times out of ten, they’re going to leave and say, “Wow, you know, I didn’t expect this, but I really enjoyed it.”

And so that’s fulfilling for me because now we have expanded the audience, and this person now is more open to the music, and often times becomes a new advocate.

So many of our kids have gone to Berklee. You know, one just graduated from Harvard. One just got accepted into Juilliard, and another is going to the University of Miami. Like, I can go on and on. I am so extremely fulfilled and proud of these kids.

And it’s exactly what I wanted when I had the vision to start this organization; that is exactly what the goal was. I wanted to be able to provide exposure to young people, to learn and play this music. Also, this music has been able to enrich their lives. We’re a part of creating amazing musicians that will carry the music forward, and be those names in jazz that you hear about.

I’m just extremely proud that Charlotte is on the map due to the kids and musicians who have come out of Charlotte and are on the national and international jazz scene. Again, I couldn’t be more proud of the students and of their dedication to carrying that torch. And they are grateful for the exposure and don’t forget about the impact we’ve had on their lives.

They’re very grateful for the exposure and they learn when once they leave Charlotte that it’s a rare opportunity that they have to study jazz, with high-level educators and the love and genuine care that we provide to them in this community-based environment. We’ve made it safe for them to make mistakes. We’re going to not only support them musically, but we’re there to mentor them as young adults, and they take all of that with them.

Not only the kids who become professional musicians benefit from the program, but the ones who don’t become professional musicians are just doing amazing things. Some of our students have chosen other professions such as engineers, teachers, attorneys, etc. A lot of them have become music teachers, who will teach the next generation of young musicians, and they point them to our program, so it’s really come full circle—we’ve moved the needle in helping move forward the future of jazz.

AAJ: What sparked your interest in Jazz?

LD: Being from New Orleans, jazz is a music that you hear all the time because it’s a part of the culture. So even when I wasn’t intentionally seeking to listen to jazz as a young person, the music was all over the community.

However, in middle school, my interest in jazz sparked. There was an educator named Jonathan Bloom who had a citywide program that introduced young musicians to New Orleans traditional music. So he went into the schools, and started teaching us this music. We learned traditional songs and then we had an opportunity to perform at the New Orleans Jazz Festival that year. This was a really eye-opening experience. Up until then, I had never seen or thought of myself as a jazz musician because I played the flute. However, this scenario made me realize that although I was a flutist, I could still play jazz.

Later on I auditioned for the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. One of my friends who was also in the school marching band with me, heard me playing by ear one day and knew that I wasn’t reading music. I was just playing things that I heard and tried to figure it out. And he said to me, ” You should play jazz.” And I responded, “You know, I don’t know, I don’t see a lot of flutists playing jazz.” However, he encouraged me to go ahead and audition for this high school arts conservatory called NOCCA. And I got in.

It’s a very competitive program. It’s the program that almost every modern jazz legend from New Orleans went to.

Every member of the Marsalis family went there, including their father, who is

” data-original-title title>Ellis Marsalis. He was an instructor. Other notable NOCCA students include

” data-original-title title>Nicholas Payton, ” data-original-title title>Christian Scott (aka Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah),

” data-original-title title>Jon Batiste, ” data-original-title title>Terrence Blanchard,

” data-original-title title>Donald Harrison, and others. All of them went to NOCCA.

I was really privileged to be accepted into that program which really opened my eyes, and my ears to jazz music. I received a high level of exposure to the music which included learning from legendary artists and having the opportunities to perform. I began to see playing jazz as a real way of life—as a high schooler. A lot of my high school friends had professional gigs, and they were entrepreneurs. For example, they might have missed class because they were in Greece playing at a jazz festival, or playing in other parts of the world. This opened my eyes to the possibilities in the world of jazz, and that this music was special and something that I wanted to be a part of for the rest of my life.

AAJ: After graduating from New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, did you attend college?

LD: I went to the University of New Orleans where I studied jazz performance, and I studied in the program that was led by Ellis Marsalis. But eventually I graduated with a psychology degree and got a minor in music. So I didn’t get a bachelor degree in music. But I continued my studies in college with Mr. Marsalis.

AAJ: That’s amazing that you studied under such a jazz patriarch. I’m curious what instrument did you lean into to develop your sound? For example, if you’re a trumpet player, you’re going to spend time with John Coltrane, Chet Baker, Miles Davis, etc. How did you learn your chops as a flutist?

LD: That’s a great question. In high school. I really took a deep dive into learning jazz improvisation—really trying to get the language under my fingers. And that was my first challenge. It was like, well, who do I listen to? Because it seemed that there were not a lot of jazz flute players out there, as far as I could tell.

However, I learned quickly that there’s a whole lineage of jazz flute players starting from early on in the big band era that included folks like ” data-original-title title>Frank West and

” data-original-title title>James Moody. Then I learned of more modern players like

” data-original-title title>Herbie Mann,

” data-original-title title>Hubert Laws,

” data-original-title title>Bobbi Humphrey,

” data-original-title title>Yusef Lateef and

” data-original-title title>Eric Dolphy. So I found out there were a lot of flute players out there, and they all approached the music and the instrument differently.

The first jazz flutist that I gravitated towards was Yusef Lateef. I just loved his sound, and his approach to the instrument was so organic. My next best favorite player was Hubert Laws, who has now become my favorite jazz flutist. In addition, while in high school I had the privilege of taking private lessons with a living jazz flute legend by the name of

” data-original-title title>Kent Jordan.

He’s a part of the Jordan family, which is a musical family from New Orleans. His father was famous for being an avant-garde jazz musician. His brother is saxophonist

” data-original-title title>Marlon Jordan, and Stephanie Jordan, his sister, is a jazz vocalist. His other sister Rachel Jordan, is a violinist. So they’re all extremely accomplished musicians.

So I studied with Kent, and Kent studied with Hubert Laws. He recorded and also went to NOCCA with Branford and

” data-original-title title>Wynton Marsalis. His main and only instrument is the flute, and I was lucky to be his student in college. So I had a prominent example of a flutist before me, and was really able to embrace the instrument even more.

AAJ: What was the moment that caused that pivot?

LD: As a freshman or sophomore student, I had a conversation with Mr. Marsalis. One day, he reached out to me because I think he was concerned about what my plans were. While in his office, the first and most prominent question he asked me was, “What is it that you want to do?” I thought it was a trick question. In my mind, I was like, “Why is that even a question? I’m here in the program, because I want to play this music.”

But I think Mr. Marsalis was showing concern and wanted me to be aware that being a professional musician and having a life where playing music is the primary way to support yourself is not very easy. There are not very many that get to that high level of success. I don’t think that he was saying that I didn’t have what it takes, but his statement was “you don’t have to play the music to support the music.”

So I heard him, and it didn’t register because my feelings were hurt. This was important because it was coming from the patriarch of the Marsalis family.

I reflected on what he shared with me for a long time, and shortly after having that conversation with Mr. Marsalis the next semester, I changed my major to psychology. However, I’m not going to solely put that decision as a result of my conversation with him. I was one of the only females in that program, and I questioned if I was making the right decision to pursue a jazz instrumentalist career, because at that moment, unlike earlier, I felt like I didn’t have the support and my future wasn’t as clear as when I first started studying the music.

I still loved the music deeply, but I just needed to step back and reassess what I wanted to do. I also was told that I did not need a jazz degree to play the music and that I could still be a professional musician, partly because I was a straight A student and I had lots of interest.

Yes, these things happened before the age of YouTube. Just having exposure to what else the world had to offer in terms of female musicians was important. Surely these other female jazz musicians existed, but this was before the age of YouTube, so we didn’t have the exposure to music performances, interviews, and teachings as we do now. Representation is so important to inspire others. So if I only had access to or was aware of someone like

” data-original-title title>Tia Fuller, or another woman on the list of amazing female jazz musicians that are on the scene today, then that definitely could have been inspiration enough to motivate me to stay with my instrumental studies.

So in college and after graduating, I continued to play the music, and stayed close to the music in my association with other musicians and friends.

And then Hurricane Katrina hit, and everything changed.

The storm kind of yanked me out of the New Orleans environment, and I moved to Charlotte, NC. But the strong musical foundation was in me, and I wanted to share it with others. That’s how the organization of JazzArts was founded in Charlotte.

AAJ: And your work has influenced jazz education nationally. I really want to engage your role as the president of the board of directors for Jazz Education Network. How did that emerge?

LD: So, I actually just completed my tenure as the president, the two-year term. So now I’m currently the immediate past president, So, how did it emerge? Well as you know, I’m the president of a jazz education organization which includes JazzArts Charlotte, or JazzArts Initiative. I attended the JEN conference every year, for the past 15 years. At the conference, I met jazz educators from around the world, and my network expanded. In addition, I got exposure to all the amazing things that were happening in the world of jazz education.

I first volunteered to serve on a committee for the organization. It was an audience development committee. Next, someone asked me to be on the education committee, and then someone suggested that I join the board because they were aware of the work that I was doing here in Charlotte with Jazz Arts. I was nominated and accepted on to the board of directors about 7 years ago.

This is an international board, with many amazing experts in jazz education and other parts of the jazz industry, so it was a huge honor for me to serve on that board.

I eventually became the secretary of the board for a couple of years and served on the executive committee. And from that role, I was nominated to be the president-elect of the Jazz Education Network. Thus, that is kind of the progression. I spent two years as president-elect, two years as the president, and now I’m in my first year as immediate past president.

I will say that this—that organization also changed my life because of the exposure that it offered and provided me to the world of jazz education on a global scale. It really enriched me as an educator. I was able to bring that to Charlotte; the work influenced what we’re doing at JazzArts.

AAJ: So what makes it hard for jazz artists in America to make a full time career? That’s one question. And then how is the work that you’re doing creating a better space for them to flourish and carry on this tradition?

LD: I think what makes it hard to be a thriving jazz musician in America is the fact that jazz music is no longer as popular as it was. Jazz music is not a dominant genre anywhere, and certainly not here in America. Jazz is America’s gift to the world, because it was only here that it could have emerged because of the history of this country. Thus, this music is still very important to us in the culture. Yet, there’s more of a niche audience for jazz.

But if we look at where the music began and fast forward over 100 years later, jazz musicians are not selling platinum albums. Although it’s continuous and we’re always working to build a new generation of jazz audiences—it’s still, at the root, just not moving the needle as it relates to jazz musicians being able to really thrive in a major way across the board. Of course, there are always exceptions. But there are too many amazing artists that are just unrecognized for a number of reasons. It’s almost like there’s only so much space for the mainstream to be able to embrace jazz musicians.

So today’s “‘jazz musicians” often times play across genres meaning they’re not just locked into what we know or use to consider jazz. They are able to play lots of different styles and are recognized for their artistry in different circles other than jazz.

I think that’s wonderful because it shows that the music has grown and evolved. But to just play only modern jazz or only traditional jazz makes their marketability tougher. So musicians have to be very creative on how they make a living. A lot of jazz musicians are now supplementing their income by not only playing gigs, but they have to continuously tour. They have to find creative ways to sell their music. A lot of them are now selling vinyl, which is now in vogue again. Vinyl albums are being collected again, and I think that’s full circle. It’s wonderful.

But, yeah, I’m just not sure if jazz will ever be recognized as a popular music again. Because of that, being a professional musician will be a challenge. Other genres have this struggle as well—as the landscape of music in general has evolved. Music is streamed, thus the way people take in music is different now.

AAJ: Right. And really quickly, what does the jazz arts camp or jazz arts high school education staff look like? Is it five people, seven people?

LD: So we have a year-round academic program which is our JazzArts youth ensembles and workshop program. That consists of five faculty members that are professional musicians that teach at the middle school and high school level. Most of our teachers have put in well over two decades as educators. We also have university professors who teach in music departments. So we’re really privileged to have this high level of expertise and the amount of experience on our faculty. These kids are getting access to really great musicians.

We also have a summer camp that brings in new faces each year. Every year, we have a world-class musician as our guest artist educator to work with the kids during the week. This year it was saxophonist

” data-original-title title>Marcus Strickland. I think it’s important for us to make sure that these students have exposure to these world-renowned artists.

Our students are so inspired by these musicians, and often times they stay in touch and are mentored by them. Some have even received private lessons or virtual lessons. There are several of our former students who have ended up performing with some of the artists who mentored them. So exposure is important.

AAJ: I do want to talk about being a woman in jazz. There are a number of fantastic female jazz musicians and educators who are emerging, and you’ve been in jazz for a while. How has the role of women in jazz evolved or changed since you first got started?

LD: In my opinion, I would say women and jazz instrumentalists. specifically, are a lot more prominent in the jazz space—they are out front as band leaders. Now, throughout history there have been female band leaders and instrumentalists. However, for a long time, they have been unsung and underrepresented.

They were a number of female big bands and composers. I can go down the list of the many female jazz artists who have influenced a lot of men throughout history. There were women who wrote charts for prominent bands but they didn’t always get the recognition. As a woman in jazz and a formally trained student who studied jazz history, I knew that this was the case.

When I got involved in this music in the 1990’s and early 2000’s I didn’t see a lot of female instrumentalists, in person, and in my immediate circle. I did not know many personally. But there were a lot of vocalists. Consequently, when I would share that I was a musician, the first question I would get is “Are you a singer/vocalist?” And when I shared that I was an instrumentalist, it was a shock, because there was an assumption that women in jazz only sing.

I think typically female instrumentalists taper off as they kind of ascend through the education system. In middle school, it’s typically like an even balance between male and female jazz students and then in high school they’re fewer ladies playing jazz. In college, there’s even fewer females, and on the professional level there’s even fewer.

So by the time I got to college, I was the only female instrumentalist at one point in the whole jazz department at the University of New Orleans. It was a little bit lonely but I continued on and was inspired to continue to play. But eventually, I did kind of pivot, and I ended up where I am today, which is on the other side of the music—supporting it through education and creating performance experiences.

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