HISTORIC MOMENTS TO MONUMENTAL MUSIC.
MUSIC. ♪
♪ ♪
♪ >> THE DAWN OF THE 1960s WAS
RIPE FOR REVOLUTION.
THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
SPARKED DEBATE ABOUT CULTURAL
DIVIDE AND IN TOWNS ACROSS
AMERICA, INTEGRATION TOOK HOLD.
FOR INDIANA AVENUE, THE EMMY
EPICENTER, THE END OF FORCED
SEGREGATION LED TO DOWNTOWN
EXPANSION AND THE ONE DYNAMIC
CORRIDOR DISAPPEARED.
CORRIDOR DISAPPEARED. YET 60 MILES SOUTH, SOMETHING
WAS STIRRING AT INDIANA
UNIVERSITY'S SCHOOL OF MUSIC.
IN THE 1950s, STUDENTS AND
MUSICIANS SUCH AS DAVID BAKER,
ALC OUABAIN AND JERRY COKER WERE
PLAYING JAZZ AROUND TOWN AND
AROUND CAMPUS.
AROUND CAMPUS. THE MUSIC THREATENED TO
INFILTRATE THE HALLOWED
CLASSICAL SOUNDS OF THE SCHOOL.
STUDENTS WERE THEN OUT OF
PRACTICE -- THROWN OUT OF
PRACTICE ROOMS FOR DARING TO
PLAY JAZZ.
PLAY JAZZ. THE CHANGING POLITICAL AND
SOCIAL CLIMATE OF THE 1960s,
HOWEVER, PROVIDED AN UNEXPECTED
OPENING TO BRING JAZZ FROM THE
HIDDEN CAMPUS CORNERS TO THE
I.U. MUSIC HALLS.
IT WAS THE SUMMER OF 1963, WHEN
250,000 CIVIL RIGHTS SUPPORTERS
GATHERED AT THE STEPS OF THE
LINCOLN MEMORIAL, LISTENING TO
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.,
DREAM OF A BETTER WORLD.
WITHIN THE DECADE, HE WOULD BE
DEAD.
DEAD. >> I HAVE A DREAM TODAY.
>> BUT HIS LEGACY WOULD SEND A
RIPPLE THAT WOULD STRETCH FROM
D.C. TO BLOOMINGTON AS DAVID
BAKER EXPLAINS, ALL OF A SUDDEN,
THERE WAS THIS INTEREST IN
DIVERSITY AT THE DEGREE LEVEL.
SCHOOL WAS JUST BEGINNING TO BE
INTEGRATED AND SO CONSEQUENTLY,
PEOPLE BECAME VERY INTERESTED IN
HAVING SOME AWARENESS OF WHO
BLACK PEOPLE WERE.
THE JAZZ HISTORY COURSES WERE
BEGINNING TO GAIN SOME
CREDIBILITY.
CREDIBILITY. INCREASED INTEREST MEANT NEW
FOUND SUPPORT, AND BY 1968,
INDIANA UNIVERSITY FORMED ONE OF
THE FIRST JAZZ DEGREE PROGRAMS
IN THE COUNTRY.
ALL THAT THE UNIVERSITY NEEDED
WAS A LEADER, AND FOR THAT THEY
TURNED TO A MAN ROOTED IN
INDIANA JAZZ, DAVID BAKER.
BORN IN INDIANAPOLIS IN 1931,
BAKER GREW UP ALONG INDIANA
AVENUE AT A TIME WHEN THE
COMMUNITY STILL BUZZED TO THE
BEATS OF JAZZ MUSIC.
AT THIS HIGH SCHOOL, BAKER
DISCOVERED HIS LOVE FOR DIZZY
GILLESPIE AND CHARLIE PARKER AND
HIS NATURAL TALENT FOR TROMBONE.
IT WAS OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM
WALLS WHERE BAKER HONED HIS
CRAFT.
CRAFT. AS HE EXPLAINED, EDUCATION TOOK
PLACE IN THE STREET.
WE WOULD GO AROUND TO THE CLUBS
LISTENING AND TRYING TO GET IN.
BECAUSE WE WEREN'T HOLD ENOUGH
WE PUT ON OUR BERE TS AND
HORN-RIMMED GLASSES AND DRAW
MUSTACHES ON OUR UPPER LIP AND
HOPE IT DIDN'T RAIN.
THE DAVE BAKER QUARTET, BAKER
LEFT THE AVENUE FOR THE ACADEMIC
WORLD OF INDIANA UNIVERSITY,
WHERE HE GRADUATED WITH A
MASTER'S DEGREE IN MUSIC IN
1954.
1954. OVER THE NEXT DECADE HE TOURED
WITH SUCH LEGENDS AS GEORGE
RUSSELL AND QUINCY JONES.
A DEVASTATING CAR ACCIDENT,
HOWEVER, DRAMATICALLY ALTERED
BAKER'S CAREER.
BAKER'S CAREER. AFTER LINGERING INJURIES FORCED
HIM TO ABANDON HIS TROMBONE, HE
SOUGHT A NEW MUSICAL OUTLET.
IT CHOICE WAS UNLIKELY, THE
CELLO BUT THE NEW INSTRUMENT
INSPIRED NEW MUSICAL PATHS
SCHIFFING HIS FOCUS FROM
PERFORMANCE TO COMPOSITION AND
EDUCATION.
EDUCATION. BY 1966, BAKER RETURNED TO
INDIANA UNIVERSITY TO COMPLETE
HIS DOCTORAL STUDIES.
THE TIMING WAS SYNCHRONISTIC,
JERRY COKER WHO PLAYED AN
INSTRUMENTAL ROLE IN THE BIRTH
OF JAZZ EDUCATION AT INDIANA
UNIVERSITY, SOUGHT A SUCCESSOR
TO LEAD THE NEWLY FORMED JAZZ
PROGRAM.
PROGRAM. BAKER'S UNIQUE COMBINATION OF
STREET CREDIBILITY AND FORMAL
EDUCATION MADE HIM THE PERFECT
CANDIDATE.
CANDIDATE. FOR THE NEXT TEN YEARS, BAKER
ACTED AS SOLE EDUCATOR,
ESTABLISHING FUNDAMENTAL
ESTABLISHING FUNDAMENTAL COMPONENTS THAT WOULD LEAD TO
THE PROGRAM'S OVERWHELMING
SUCCESS.
SUCCESS. FIRST, HE DEVISED A DIVERSE
COURSE OFFERING THAT EXTENDED
BEYOND CUSTOMARY MUSIC ENSEMBLE.
THE STUDENTS COULD CHOOSE
CLASSES IN SUCH SUBJECTS AS JAZZ
HISTORY, JAZZ ANALYSIS AND THE
EVOLUTION OF MUSIC.
IN ADDITION, THROUGH HIS
COMPOSITIONS, BAKER HELPED TO
BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN JAZZ AND
CLASSICAL TRADITIONS, WRITING
PIECES THAT MERGED BOTH GENRES
IN THIRD STREAM, STRENGTHENING
THE RELATIONSHIP WITH CLASSICAL
MUSIC FACULTY MEMBERS.
FINALLY, HE CREATED A PROGRAM
THAT'S ABLE TO ADAPT QUICKLY.
AS BAKER EXPLAINED, WE HAD TO
KEEP OUR EARS TO THE GROUND
BECAUSE TONIGHT BEEN DICTATED BY
WHAT THE STUDENTS NEED BUT ALSO
LOOKING BACKWARDS AND TELLING
THEM THIS IS YOUR LEGACY, BUT
YOU CAN'T STOP HERE.
♪
♪ THE PROGRAM'S LEGACY HASN'T
STOPPED EITHER.
STOPPED EITHER. TODAY THE I.U. JAZZ STUDIES
PROGRAM REMAINS ONE OF THE MOST
RENOWNED IN THE WORLD, PRODUCING
A NUMBER OF NOTABLE JAZZ
MUSICIANS, AS WELL AS HELPING TO
CREATE AN ENDURING AUDIENCE FOR
THEIR MUSIC AND IT'S A JAZZ
LEGACY THAT IS STILL BEING
WRITTEN.
WRITTEN. FROM THE ECHOES OF INDIANA
AVENUE TO THE BUSTLE OF THE
BLOOMINGTON CAMPUS TODAY, ON THE
SAME WORN PATHS ON THE SAME
WALLS WHERE THE LEGEND SAYS
CARMICHAEL FIRST PENNED "STAR
DUST."
DUST." A NEW YOUNG JAZZ MUSICIAN MAY
STOP, LISTEN AND PERHAPS LIKE
CARMICHAEL BE INSPIRED BY THE
INDIANA TOWN AROUND HIM.
♪