Chad Taylor, a lifelong drummer, composer, and educator, looks to share his musical passion with as many others as possible in his new role as the fourth artistic director of Pitt’s Jazz Studies Program. Drummer turned Director is succeeding Nicole Mitchell, who left Pitt for a position at the University of Virginia in 2022, Taylor will be the second person to serve as the William S. Dietrich II Endowed Chair in Jazz Studies.
The Drummer turned Director is hopeful of igniting a love for jazz through his various initiatives for the program. Taylor’s responsibilities are the management of public programming for the jazz program as well as its community outreach initiative which includes the Jazz Seminar and Concert Week held every November, course instruction in jazz performance and scholarship, and collaborating with other departments to embedding jazz studies broadly within departments at the undergraduate and graduate levels particularly.
Taylor said it is with expectations that such a joining opportunity is likely to enable him to develop in what he views as a dynamic and well-revered academic program at Pitt. The fact that he still has learners enrolling in the course on the history of jazz history for me at least attests to the fact that this form of music and expression is not dead but rather very much still alive.
“Especially for jazz, there’s a huge interest in it among the students who study different subjects than music, which is a pretty cool thing,” he said. “I see that as a very big strength. Also, the graduate program is extremely known in the world. I mean it would probably be the best program. It’s very small, but that’s what makes it great because you have this small program of all these incredible resources with the different schools.”
Johnson has been marking his calendar the most for the Jazz Seminar and Concert Week which will encompass a tribute to almost 80-year-old Pittsburgh drummer Roger Humphries.
“We’re going to have a mix of older musicians as well as some of the most celebrated and cutting-edge jazz musicians, such as Immanuel Wilkins. I’m so thrilled that he’s going to be part of the seminar this year as well because for me jazz is about a community of elders — as well as for everybody — and such great jazz musicians all belong to the community.”
That covers one also if guitarists are included, Jeff Parker who will be also a DJ in another event and will do his seminar too has not been excluded. Regarding this year’s seminar Taylor expressed that it is a work in progress “but that is something that I’m hoping is going to bring a lot of people.”
One point that Taylor hopes to put across with such performances and in the present is that such demonstration does not only perform and compose jazz but also provides studies and spreads the benefits that come with a multifarious skill set beyond the boundaries of music and show business.
“Part of it, I think, is just the improvisational aspect of it, because being able to improvise is a skill. And being creative, that’s a skill that is in not just music, but in any sort of successful business, like Apple or Google, or any of these big innovative companies,” he said.
“Being able to be creative and innovate is the secret to that success. And when you look at a great jazz concert, you see that happening, in real time, that this is an amazing art form.”