“I am excited to be named Chair of the Jazz Studies Program at The Peabody Conservatory.
It is one of the most difficult decisions I’ve had to make in my life. It ultimately boiled down to a paraphrase of a quote from Donald Byrd that my good friend, Jerome Jennings shared with me... “Do not go where the work is being done. Go where the work needs to be done.” The Berklee College of music is the greatest institution that I’ve worked at to date and it is an incredibly difficult decision to leave an amazing faculty, staff, and student body. However, something inside my soul is telling me to go to Baltimore.
Go to the oldest and most prestigious Conservatories in the country and ensure that Jazz, America’s indigenous art form, is not only represented, but celebrated! It is my desire that Peabody realizes it’s potential to be one of the greatest curators of America’s music and that it is a beacon of light, not just in the already bright areas in Baltimore, but in those areas that need it to be a light. In my life, I have always been spirit led.
This is not a religious thing... it is a spirit thing, knowing my place on this earth and what I’m called to do. Once again, I’m answering that call and look forward to the work ahead!
My work at Peabody will be dedicated to Prof William Fielder, the first African American trumpeter in the Chicago Civic Orchestra who always reminded me to “Never be satisfied, but always gratified! Move onward and upward!”
#doyojob"
