Terell Stafford, Educator and Trumpet Player Extraordinaire Answers Six Questions

While pursuing a music education degree at the University of Maryland, trumpeter Terell Stafford played with the school’s jazz band. It was during this time that he began to immerse himself in jazz, listening to everything that he could get his hands on. From an inspirational 1988 meeting with Wynton Marsalis, he went on to major acclaim in the jazz world, performing eith the likes of Benny Golson, Diana Krall, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Heath and the GRAMMY nominated Clayton Brothers Quintet, as well as becoming a renowned educator. Stafford is now the Director of Jazz Studies and Laura H. Carnell Professor of Jazz, the Temple University Jazz Band (TUJB), which performs on Temple’s main campus and throughout the greater Philadelphia region and hosts the annual Essentially Ellington Eastern Regional High School Jazz Band Festival. He is also the Musical Director of the Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia, a non-profit orchestra dedicated to preserving the jazz legacy of Philadelphia and continues to play as a member of The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra.

The award-winning Temple University Jazz Band (TUJB) will return to Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall in a one-night only concert on Sunday, April 16 at 8:00 PM. Hailed as one of today’s leading jazz student ensembles, TUJB is joined on stage by its sister groups—TU’s Symphony Orchestra and Studio Orchestra—as well as its Faculty Sextet: Terell Stafford, Dick Oatts, Bruce Barth, Tim Warfield, Mike Boone and Justin Faulkner.

NiteLifeExchange (NLE) asks Terell Stafford (TS) Six Questions:

NLE: As a trumpet player, you might have had a healthy career as a gigging musician. What informed your decision to become an educator? How do you balance teaching with maintaining your own performance life?

TS: Two people in my life set me on a path toward becoming an educator. As an educator herself, my mom would talk about adapting to different learning styles and I found that to be a fascinating form of improvisation. Teaching was a form of improvising on the spot to help people out. Additionally, I met Shirley Scott while playing for the Cosby Show and she influenced me to start teaching at her college, Cheyney University. Even though I majored in education in college, I didn’t feel ready for that, but she really encouraged me.

I balance teaching with my performance life by never sleeping! I don’t sleep. In trying to maintain both, you must have priorities. I love my family, I love my students, I love what I do, and I love to play. I designate times in the day for everything. Time management is the key. I have not mastered it at all. It’s a work in progress.

NLE: When you joined the faculty of Temple University of Boyer College of Music and Dance as a professor of jazz studies, what were your initial goals? Did the College already have a successful jazz studies department, or was there work to be done?

TS: My goal was survival. I called people like Jimmy Heath and David Baker, who are two education heroes of mine. Jimmy gave me the best advice. He said, “Every time you teach, teach who you are. Teach who you are, with clarity and honesty, and then continue to add to your palette so that you can address different needs and different problems.” I thought that was great. It didn’t put any pressure on me to come in and be a genius as a first-year teacher.

The program at Temple was small when I started, and when I approached the program director about expanding, he encouraged me to appeal to the Dean. He ended up committing $10,000, which was a lot of money at that time, and allowed us to bring in faculty and present master classes. Now we have six jazz bands, 25 combos, and a full master class and concert series. It’s turned into something great, and I’m really proud of it. It is a true community. The same community that I perform in is created at the school. It’s the same community that I teach in. The same beautiful people, same beautiful students, same beautiful colleagues. It’s great.

NLE:  The Temple University Jazz Band has quite a legacy as an award-winning music organization. How does one build and maintain that? What’s the ingredient that keeps the unit maintaining its excellence year after year?

TS: I would say great faculty, great clinicians, and having a great music scene, not only in Philadelphia, but also in New York. The beautiful thing about Temple is that several of the faculty are in the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. Many of the students come to the Vanguard on Monday nights and hear what a professional big band sounds like, talk to the members at the break, and hang out. It’s a great way to maintain excellence by having a group of excellent professional players share their story.

Another important aspect is helping the students feel they are invested in the program. I want to make sure they feel invested in everything that they do, and that their voice is heard. I think that is really important.

Growing the program has allowed for internal competition. Students can strive to be in a better band or challenge each other for positions in the band, which keeps them humble. It’s the same model as playing in the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. If I get lazy, there is someone in New York who can replace me that quick. Humility, grace, and respect for one another. I think that is what builds a program, and then, having great faculty and role models to support that.

NLE: This upcoming concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center features the 18-member jazz band playing with the 85-member symphony orchestra. How do you integrate the sound of these two entities, especially making sure the jazz component isn’t overwhelmed?

TS: Blending the sounds is all about listening at the highest level. If you are listening to someone other than yourself, then you can blend. If you only listen to yourself, then you will never blend. You will always stick out. This is a great way for these two groups who play different genres, same 12 notes, to come together and truly listen.

From the rehearsals that we have had as a group, it is a really beautiful sound, having such strong jazz brass integrated with such gifted and talented strings that are based in classical music, and they come together, and we have this fusion. A fusion is the most beautiful thing we can have, and that’s what I feel. That is what this represents.

NLE: You are a facilitator of the well-established Essentially Ellington High School Band Competition, initiated by Wynton Marsalis at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Marsalis has said that JALC is built on the Ellington ethic. Is that an ethic you also bring to your teaching? If so, why? What’s the importance of Duke Ellington in modern jazz? 

TS: Duke Ellington is modern jazz. His music teaches sound, concept, feel and texture. It teaches creativity in section playing, creativity in improvisation, and styles, vibrato, plunger, and more. It is important for every band to learn that whether you want to play Buddy Rich or Woody Herman or more contemporary jazz, Duke Ellington is fundamental.

Clark Terry told me that anybody who joined Duke Ellington had to be able to play a Louis Armstrong solo or imitate Louis Armstrong. That is powerful in itself. If you want to play in my band, play like my favorite musician. That is what I push at Temple. I push Ellington, I push Basie. I push the basics, and then we can do more modern. Billy Childs is super modern, but the students have a foundation with Ellington and Basie and Woody Herman, so that they are ready to attack something that is totally different than what we normally do.

NLE: What’s the future of jazz? How do you see yourself furthering jazz studies in the years ahead?

TS: Improvisers find ways to improvise, and that doesn’t just mean jazz musicians. Classical musicians are great improvisers. Even though their music may be in front of them, interpretation is a form of improvisation. Improvisation is key. People are graduating from colleges and creating scenarios, scenes and pathways for themselves. Some choose teaching, others producing, others studio playing, and some choose bands in New York, military bands, bands in LA. The future of jazz is beautiful.

For me personally, my goal is to continue to grow as a musician and as an educator. I tell my students that every time I walk into the Vanguard on a Monday night and play with the band, I get butterflies. It is because I care, and because I want to take what I learn and share it. As long as I keep my playing at the highest level I can, that keeps my teaching at the highest level, which hopefully nurtures and provides mentorship to my students. I want to continue to share what I have learned and insist on work ethic. It doesn’t matter how much talent you have, if you don’t work at it and you don’t maintain it, then the opportunities may not come your way. The wisdom that I gained from Jimmy Heath, McCoy Tyner, and Benny Golson, and experience that I’ve gained from my travel and performances, allows me the opportunity to share, and encourage my students to take their talents to the highest level.