Jazz Studies Fall Guest Artist Series: Night One | North Carolina Central University

Date

Nov 13, 2023

Time

7 p.m.

Location

B.N. Duke Annex, New Band Room

Admission

Add to Calendar 2023-11-13 19:00:00 2024-12-27 21:00:30 Jazz Studies Fall Guest Artist Series: Night One Join the NCCU Department of Music and Director of Jazz Studies Robert Trowers for night one of the 13th annual Fall Guest Artist series featuring the award-winning NCCU Jazz Studies program. This night will feature the NCCU Jazz Studies Combo in concert on Monday, Nov. 13, at 7 p.m. in the B.N. Duke Annex: New Band Room. This event will kick off a series of events throughout the week that highlight the artistic innovation, improvisation and different forms of expression within the NCCU Jazz Studies program. North Carolina Central University Jazz Studies NCCU was the first university in the state to offer a Bachelor of Music degree in jazz studies. The program now includes a comprehensive vocal jazz component and offers a Master of Music in both jazz composition and jazz performance. NCCU artists-in-residence and GRAMMY Award winners Branford Marsalis and Joey Calderazzo are involved in workshops and other instructional opportunities. Alumni from the jazz studies program include professors at the college and university levels, teachers of primary and secondary music education, and production and performance artists. NCCU Jazz Ensemble won first place at the prestigious Jack Rudin Jazz Championship held in New York City, Jan. 14–15. NCCU competed against eight of the country’s most well-regarded university jazz programs, including Temple University, which placed second, and Michigan State University, which placed third. NCCU was the only HBCU in the competition. For its efforts, NCCU’s Jazz Ensemble received $10,000 in prize money to be used in its music program. Winners at the Jack Rudin Jazz Championships were selected by a panel of judges comprised of distinguished jazz musicians and educators, including trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, a multiple Grammy-winning artist whose “Blood on the Fields” was the first jazz composition to win the Pulitzer Prize for music. Marsalis is a composer, teacher and artistic director of jazz at Lincoln Center, which hosts the annual, invitation-only competition. In 2020, NCCU’s first year competing in the Jack Rudin Jazz Championship, the Eagles captured individual student awards but did not place. The event was not held in 2021 because of COVID-19. When it resumed last year, NCCU placed third overall and won some individual awards. This year, in addition to winning first place, NCCU won in five individual categories: honorable mention in the saxophone and trombone sections; honorable mention alto saxophone (Dexter Moses); outstanding tenor saxophone (Shaquim Muldrow); and outstanding trombone (Brandon Seaforth). Besides Temple and Michigan State universities, NCCU also competed against the big bands from Florida State University, Ithaca College, Northern Illinois University, the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, the University of Wyoming and Vanderbilt University. NCCU’s Jazz Ensemble has 21 members, and the NCCU’s Jazz Studies’ Jazz Combo 1, with the addition of the NCCU Vocal Jazz Ensemble, also performed at the Jack Rudin Jazz Championship events. Lenora Helm Hammonds, D.M.A., interim department chair and director of graduate programs for jazz studies, said the student musicians worked on their performance skills, the repertoire and other aspects of the competition for a full semester before competing in New York. “The band met three times a week for at least 90 minutes per session, and the students also sacrificed part of their holiday vacation to come to school to rehearse and prepare,” said Helm Hammonds, a former U.S. jazz ambassador and twice-appointed Fulbright senior music specialist. “They worked very hard, and the diligence of Professor Robert Trowers, our trombone professor who directed the band and Combo 1, was stellar!” NCCU traveled by bus to New York to compete, stopping along the way in Washington, D.C., Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware to perform at area high schools and recruit students. NCCU’s Jazz Ensemble performed three songs, for a total of 12–15 minutes, in the initial round of competition and repeated one of those songs in the finals. “We played as an ensemble and focused on cohesiveness as a unit,” Helm Hammonds said. “We are committed to depicting the true origins of the art form, using swing and the blues as our foundational concepts. The students performed well, listening and using the skill sets they learn from our renowned faculty in jazz studies, including our artists-in-residence, Branford Marsalis and Joey Calderazzo. Our soloists were also standouts, evidenced by the student awards.” Launched in 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the Jack Rudin Jazz Championship honors the legacy of Jack Rudin, a longtime supporter of Jazz at Lincoln Center, and his founding support for "Essentially Ellington," the organization’s signature transformative education program. According to organizers, the competition provides participating ensembles with quality literature and a forum for celebrating excellence and achievement while introducing higher education to Jazz at Lincoln Center’s education methodology and philosophy — extending its education mission into the sphere of professional development for the next generation of leading jazz artists. The significance of NCCU winning first place in the Jack Rudin Jazz Championship cannot be overstated. “A lot has been discussed about our legacy, but we have new dimensions to tackle and new ground to cover,” Helm Hammonds said. “It’s a new time for us, and I plan to lead us to a new level. The faculty is amazing. Professor Trowers has decades of experience and leadership, as well as membership in the best bands in jazz history. Our faculty is among the best in jazz education, and this win puts us at the vanguard of jazz education programs in the country.” Helm Hammonds said she is grateful for the unwavering support the jazz ensemble receives from NCCU Chancellor Johnson O. Akinleye, Ph.D., Provost David H. Jackson Jr., Ph.D., and Carlton Wilson, Ph.D., dean of the College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities. Prof. Robert Trowers, Director of Jazz Studies Professor Robert Trowers leads the award-winning music program, which includes the NCCU Jazz Ensemble, and continues teaching graduate and undergraduate courses, such as Jazz Improvisation, Jazz Combo 1, Applied Trombone Instruction, Jazz History, and Jazz Styles and Analysis. Trowers joined NCCU in 2004 as a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Music and previously served as interim jazz ensemble director. With his guidance, the NCCU Jazz Ensemble won first place at the 2023 Jack Rudin Collegiate Jazz Championship in New York City. NCCU was the only historically Black college or university in the competition. “We are fortunate to have Robert Trowers in leadership of our jazz studies program,” said Department Chair of Music, Dr. Helm Hammonds. “His membership as a trombonist in the top jazz bands and experience as a jazz pedagogue affords NCCU the opportunity to continue our trajectory of excellence and service. Our students love him and the faculty have deep respect for him. We are thrilled about his new role.” With more than 40 years of experience in the international jazz circuit, Trowers’ performance credits include the Lionel Hampton Band; Illinois Jacquet Big Band; Count Basie Orchestra; Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra under Wynton Marsalis; Carnegie Hall Jazz Band under Jon Faddis; the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra; and Chico O’Farrill’s Afro Cuban Orchestra. He was also the last regular trombonist with Randy Weston's African Rhythms and recorded two CDs under his own name for Concord Records, “Synopsis” (1993) and “Point of View” (1995). Additionally, Trowers was awarded the Scholarly Creative Productivity grant by the office of the NCCU Provost in 2011. Trowers holds a bachelor’s degree in Black studies from City College of New York and a master’s degree in education (learning technology) from Mercy College. For additional information contact: Professor Robert L. Trowers Lecturer Low Brass, Director of Jazz Studies, Music [email protected] 919-530-7217 North Carolina Central University [email protected] America/New_York public

Join the NCCU Department of Music and Director of Jazz Studies Robert Trowers for night one of the 13th annual Fall Guest Artist series featuring the award-winning NCCU Jazz Studies program.

This night will feature the NCCU Jazz Studies Combo in concert on Monday, Nov. 13, at 7 p.m. in the B.N. Duke Annex: New Band Room. This event will kick off a series of events throughout the week that highlight the artistic innovation, improvisation and different forms of expression within the NCCU Jazz Studies program.

North Carolina Central University Jazz Studies

NCCU was the first university in the state to offer a Bachelor of Music degree in jazz studies. The program now includes a comprehensive vocal jazz component and offers a Master of Music in both jazz composition and jazz performance. NCCU artists-in-residence and GRAMMY Award winners Branford Marsalis and Joey Calderazzo are involved in workshops and other instructional opportunities. Alumni from the jazz studies program include professors at the college and university levels, teachers of primary and secondary music education, and production and performance artists.

NCCU Jazz Ensemble won first place at the prestigious Jack Rudin Jazz Championship held in New York City, Jan. 14–15.

NCCU competed against eight of the country’s most well-regarded university jazz programs, including Temple University, which placed second, and Michigan State University, which placed third. NCCU was the only HBCU in the competition.

For its efforts, NCCU’s Jazz Ensemble received $10,000 in prize money to be used in its music program. Winners at the Jack Rudin Jazz Championships were selected by a panel of judges comprised of distinguished jazz musicians and educators, including trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, a multiple Grammy-winning artist whose “Blood on the Fields” was the first jazz composition to win the Pulitzer Prize for music. Marsalis is a composer, teacher and artistic director of jazz at Lincoln Center, which hosts the annual, invitation-only competition.

In 2020, NCCU’s first year competing in the Jack Rudin Jazz Championship, the Eagles captured individual student awards but did not place. The event was not held in 2021 because of COVID-19. When it resumed last year, NCCU placed third overall and won some individual awards. This year, in addition to winning first place, NCCU won in five individual categories: honorable mention in the saxophone and trombone sections; honorable mention alto saxophone (Dexter Moses); outstanding tenor saxophone (Shaquim Muldrow); and outstanding trombone (Brandon Seaforth).

Besides Temple and Michigan State universities, NCCU also competed against the big bands from Florida State University, Ithaca College, Northern Illinois University, the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, the University of Wyoming and Vanderbilt University.

NCCU’s Jazz Ensemble has 21 members, and the NCCU’s Jazz Studies’ Jazz Combo 1, with the addition of the NCCU Vocal Jazz Ensemble, also performed at the Jack Rudin Jazz Championship events. Lenora Helm Hammonds, D.M.A., interim department chair and director of graduate programs for jazz studies, said the student musicians worked on their performance skills, the repertoire and other aspects of the competition for a full semester before competing in New York.

“The band met three times a week for at least 90 minutes per session, and the students also sacrificed part of their holiday vacation to come to school to rehearse and prepare,” said Helm Hammonds, a former U.S. jazz ambassador and twice-appointed Fulbright senior music specialist. “They worked very hard, and the diligence of Professor Robert Trowers, our trombone professor who directed the band and Combo 1, was stellar!”

NCCU traveled by bus to New York to compete, stopping along the way in Washington, D.C., Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware to perform at area high schools and recruit students. NCCU’s Jazz Ensemble performed three songs, for a total of 12–15 minutes, in the initial round of competition and repeated one of those songs in the finals.

“We played as an ensemble and focused on cohesiveness as a unit,” Helm Hammonds said. “We are committed to depicting the true origins of the art form, using swing and the blues as our foundational concepts. The students performed well, listening and using the skill sets they learn from our renowned faculty in jazz studies, including our artists-in-residence, Branford Marsalis and Joey Calderazzo. Our soloists were also standouts, evidenced by the student awards.”

Launched in 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the Jack Rudin Jazz Championship honors the legacy of Jack Rudin, a longtime supporter of Jazz at Lincoln Center, and his founding support for "Essentially Ellington," the organization’s signature transformative education program. According to organizers, the competition provides participating ensembles with quality literature and a forum for celebrating excellence and achievement while introducing higher education to Jazz at Lincoln Center’s education methodology and philosophy — extending its education mission into the sphere of professional development for the next generation of leading jazz artists.

The significance of NCCU winning first place in the Jack Rudin Jazz Championship cannot be overstated.

“A lot has been discussed about our legacy, but we have new dimensions to tackle and new ground to cover,” Helm Hammonds said. “It’s a new time for us, and I plan to lead us to a new level. The faculty is amazing. Professor Trowers has decades of experience and leadership, as well as membership in the best bands in jazz history. Our faculty is among the best in jazz education, and this win puts us at the vanguard of jazz education programs in the country.”

Helm Hammonds said she is grateful for the unwavering support the jazz ensemble receives from NCCU Chancellor Johnson O. Akinleye, Ph.D., Provost David H. Jackson Jr., Ph.D., and Carlton Wilson, Ph.D., dean of the College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities.

Prof. Robert Trowers, Director of Jazz Studies

Professor Robert Trowers leads the award-winning music program, which includes the NCCU Jazz Ensemble, and continues teaching graduate and undergraduate courses, such as Jazz Improvisation, Jazz Combo 1, Applied Trombone Instruction, Jazz History, and Jazz Styles and Analysis.

Trowers joined NCCU in 2004 as a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Music and previously served as interim jazz ensemble director. With his guidance, the NCCU Jazz Ensemble won first place at the 2023 Jack Rudin Collegiate Jazz Championship in New York City. NCCU was the only historically Black college or university in the competition.

“We are fortunate to have Robert Trowers in leadership of our jazz studies program,” said Department Chair of Music, Dr. Helm Hammonds. “His membership as a trombonist in the top jazz bands and experience as a jazz pedagogue affords NCCU the opportunity to continue our trajectory of excellence and service. Our students love him and the faculty have deep respect for him. We are thrilled about his new role.”

With more than 40 years of experience in the international jazz circuit, Trowers’ performance credits include the Lionel Hampton Band; Illinois Jacquet Big Band; Count Basie Orchestra; Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra under Wynton Marsalis; Carnegie Hall Jazz Band under Jon Faddis; the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra; and Chico O’Farrill’s Afro Cuban Orchestra. He was also the last regular trombonist with Randy Weston's African Rhythms and recorded two CDs under his own name for Concord Records, “Synopsis” (1993) and “Point of View” (1995). Additionally, Trowers was awarded the Scholarly Creative Productivity grant by the office of the NCCU Provost in 2011.

Trowers holds a bachelor’s degree in Black studies from City College of New York and a master’s degree in education (learning technology) from Mercy College.

For additional information contact:

Professor Robert L. Trowers
Lecturer Low Brass, Director of Jazz Studies, Music
[email protected]
919-530-7217

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