“It was a rich experience.” So says jazz violinist Regina Carter when asked about the years she spent as an undergraduate at OU.
“I was placed in the saxophone section of the big band, and the director, Doc Marvin Holladay told me to transpose and play the horn parts. He told me to listen to and copy their phrasing, breathe when they breathe and to stop listening to violin players. His thinking was that listening to “the language" played on instruments other than violin would help me learn the language and develop my own voice. It was a real learning experience and fun.
“In those days, trumpeter Marcus Belgrave would visit OU often, sitting in with the jazz band as well as giving master classes. In the summer, several of us students would go over to his house almost daily. We would try out new pieces we were developing, learn about playing in and leading an ensemble, soloing, etc. We were lucky to have an international musician of Marcus’ stature willing to nurture us. Also, several graduates of the OU Jazz band would come back and rehearse, lead sectionals and perform concerts with us.
“OU wasn’t just a place to go to college; it was a rich environment for me to grow musically and personally.” Regina is now an artist-in-residence with the university and plays an active part in enriching the college experience for today’s students.
She was in Michigan on Memorial Day weekend and participated in MTD’s Jazz Workshop along with the OU Jazz Quartet, Miles Brown, Sean Dobbins, Mark Stone, and Tad Weed; the students of the OU Jazz Band; and a diverse group of community musicians of all ages.
Perhaps most excitingly, Regina is scheduled to play at the Detroit Jazz Festival this Labor Day weekend and she has invited some MTD students to participate in her set. This extraordinarily generous offer has the young musicians not only eager for the amazing experience, but thrilled to receive so public a vote of confidence in their talent from such a highly-regarded professional musician. A rich experience indeed!
Read more about more about the Detroit Jazz Festival.
Regina Carter grew up in Detroit. “I trained in the Suzuki method from age 4 to age 9. As a high school student, I applied those classical skills playing in the Detroit Civic Orchestra. It was at Cass Tech where I was introduced to America’s classical music, Jazz. I met Carla Cook [Grammy nominated Jazz vocalist] and she gave me a recording of Jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli and not long after I discovered Jean Luc Ponty.
“For my sixteenth birthday, Carla and I went to see Grappelli live in Detroit, and that was a turning point for me. I formed friendships with students whose families were from other parts of the world. When we’d get together to play music in each other’s homes, we’d check out some of the classical and traditional recordings of their culture as well as our latest Jazz album purchases.
“Detroit was such an ethnically diverse city. I was exposed to other cultures and their music at an early age without having to travel. Some of the sounds I heard were very “foreign” to my ear but were extremely beautiful and captivating. I bought albums from different parts of the planet with strings and started imitating the sounds I heard.”
And during the course of her music career she has traveled widely and maintained her interest in world music. “There was a period earlier in my career that I wanted to make a world music record but the label wasn’t receptive,” she said. But in 2006 she received the MacArthur Fellows Grant which gave her the freedom to develop projects like
Reverse Thread, her most recent album. The band for
Reverse Thread includes Yacouba Sissoko playing the kora, Will Holshouser playing the accordion, Chris Lightcap on bass, and Alvester Garnett on drums and percussion. The kora is a traditional West African harp. To hear music from
Reverse Thread and see a kora being played follow this link to
NPR’s tiny desk concert series.
Today’s MTD has both a thriving jazz and a dynamic world music program, and the sounds of African instruments can frequently be heard in the halls, as can symphonic, choral, and operatic performances. Together these disciplines provide a musical environment every bit as rich as the one Regina Carter enjoyed when she was a student here.
We confidently look forward to the day when some of our current students can look back from the professional world and say, as Regina does, “My years at OU helped lay a foundation and prepare me for my journey.”
More about Regina Carter.
MacArthur Fellows Profile of Regina Carter, 2006
“Regina Carter is a master of improvisational jazz violin. Though her work draws upon a wide range of musical influences—including Motown, Afro-Cuban, swing, bebop, folk and world music—she has crafted a signature voice and style. In jazz, bowed string instruments such as the violin are not traditionally featured in the solo role; Carter’s performances highlight the often overlooked potential of the jazz violin for its lyric, melodic, and percussive potential.
Read more.
The Paginini Violin: National Public Radio, May 14, 2003
“For Regina Carter, it was a chance of a lifetime. Carter, a classically trained jazz violinist, is one of the few people in the world who have been allowed to play a closely guarded violin handcrafted in Italy more than 260 years ago. "The Cannon"—so called because of its huge, sonorous sound—was the beloved instrument of violinist and composer Niccolo Paganini.”
Read more.
Reference:
Folland, Sheman. (2011). Interview: Regina Carter.
Oakland Journal 20, Winter 2011, 47-52.
Photo: Regina Carter
