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.
