2022 Jazz 75th Anniversary Reunion Program

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jazz in the United States, proved first enlightening,
then daunting. Given the presence in the community
of such amazing musicians as saxophonists Billy
Harper, James Clay, and David “Fathead” Newman,
Bowie found the atmosphere at the school itself
incongruous, to say the least. “I’m trying to figure out,
how can these motherfuckers be up here studying
black art, and got the audacity to be racist? I went
there one year, then dropped out.” [Quoted in George
Lewis’, A power stronger than itself: the AACM and
American experimental music (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 2008), pp. 137-138]
A well-known saxophonist of color who attended UNT in the
late 1980s told me that he transferred away from UNT due to
racist incidents experienced off-campus.
The jazz program, like any undertaking of imperfect human
beings, has at times fallen short of being optimally welcoming
and inclusive. This has been addressed in several ways in
recent years. In 2018, in the context of the #MeToo movement,
when fresh reports were made of instances in which faculty
and students had treated each other with less than the respect
they deserve, we acted. I collaborated with the university’s
Division of Institutional Equity and Diversity to offer training
sessions for faculty and students. Those who didn’t already
know what a microaggression was found out. A committee of
faculty and students designed a survey, which, after review
by Equity and Diversity, was administered and studied as a
basis for more training sessions for faculty. A student group,
supported by Tanya Darby and me, formed the Women in Jazz
Initiative, later renamed the Jazz & Gender Equity Initiative,
both of which included all genders in their memberships. More
of an effort was made to invite women as guest artists and
to make sure they had opportunities to perform and to act
as musical mentors, not only as speakers on women in jazz.
Recent examples are residencies by Maria Schneider and the
Terri Lyne Carrington group.
In 2020 the honorific naming of Kenton Hall was removed,
and the name reverted to Lab Band West, due to concern from
faculty and students about a 2010 book by Kenton’s daughter
in which she claimed the two had a sexual relationship.
The jazz studies faculty is more diverse than ever. Of the
fifteen full-time faculty whose primary division is Jazz Studies,
four are people of color and three are women; a sixteenth line,
in popular music, remains unfilled at the time of writing.
We’re moving in the right direction. If the program is
to deal effectively with the legacy of its founding, it must
continually reflect on how well it is meeting goals of diversity
and inclusion. Our 75-year-old house needs continual
maintenance.
THE NORTH TEXAS
JAZZ PROGRAM AS
MODEL & TARGET
Once a program has become prominent as a model of
excellence, it’s not surprising that it then can become a target
of criticism. When higher education in jazz is critiqued by
journalists and scholars, our program and a few others are
frequently cited as examples of the downsides of the shift
in the way young musicians learn the tradition: from the
bandstand to the classroom. Such critiques underestimate the
degree to which professors’ traditional knowledge acquired on
the bandstand and on the road is passed on to their students,
many of whom will shortly have road experiences of their own.
During my time as chair, I tended to give more consideration
to critiques by journalists and scholars in proportion to the time
they have spent here in person, observing classes, listening
to rehearsals and performances, and talking with students,
faculty, and staff. In some cases the time spent in Denton has
been zero, yet their opinions were published anyway.
The most meaningful critiques of our program are the
ongoing ones provided by students, faculty, and staff. There is
a strong sentiment that, while we are still a prominent program,
and still attract highly capable students, we can always do
better. In formal evaluations and informal exchanges, the
students let us know when the program could be preparing
them better. The faculty and staff actively seek ways to
improve their teaching and the curriculum. Another source
of constructive criticism has been the guest artists who visit
regularly, especially those who are here long enough to coach
and rehearse with our students.
A PROGRAM BASED
IN DENTON
The history of the jazz studies degree included in this
program identified the actions and motivations of the
people responsible for founding a world-class jazz studies
program in Denton, Texas, which had a population in 1950
of around 20,000. This place has had a significant effect on
the experience of the program’s students. For those from
even smaller Texas cities and towns, it represented a new
kind of sophistication. Composer and trombonist Morgan
Powell recalls:
I came from Archer City, TX of Larry McMurtry’s
movie The Last Picture Show fame. Larry and I
grew up in this dismal town of 1,400 people. We
went on to be house mates in Denton—Larry as
a sophomore and I a freshman. I was used to
wearing cowboy clothes—Levi’s, pearl snap shirts
and boots. After the first rehearsal day of the lab
band in ‘56, several older members took me aside
and said, “look boy, if you’re going to play in this
band, you’ve got to get rid of that cowboy outfit.”
And I did.
For students from larger cities and the coasts, Denton
could feel like a town that was very small. The fact
that there was little to do was a plus for their musical
development. Bill Collins III recalls:
Denton was a small, boring town when I arrived
from the big city of Ft. Worth. There was very little to
do, and no distractions. Instead of being tempted to
go see a great movie, or concert, I would find myself
so bored that I would go practice. I didn’t have to
make time to practice, there was nothing else to
do in town. The school had a lousy football and
basketball program compared to others, so I had
hours to practice. The small-town environment is
perfect to promote practice with few distractions. It
University of North Texas College of Music