The School Of Jazz

“The School of Jazz was a groundbreaking experiment, and although it lasted only a short time, its impact was felt far beyond the confines of Music Inn…The opportunity to form the Jazz Workshop and the School of Jazz was an incredible present from God and I didn’t ask any questions…”
—John Lewis, Modern Jazz Quartet

In 1956 twenty-four musicians joined in a jam session recorded by the Voice of America as the “Historic Jazz Concert at Music Inn”; the Modern Jazz Quartet was named “Quartet in Residence at Music Inn”; and the August “Jazz Roundtable” planted the seed for the School of Jazz. The following year the Barbers appointed John Lewis as Artistic Director and J. Foster as Administrative Dean of the school.

The School of Jazz explored the music's history and contemplated its future, but its distinctive feature was that promising young musicians were taught by a faculty of the world's greatest jazz masters. Lewis explained (in a Newsweek article of 1958) that "the kids of today can't join informally with the pros as they did years ago. The pros are too busy earning a living and the music has become too complex. You pick it up by osmosis. [But] it must be studied."

Through four annual three-week sessions on the Inn grounds, the School of Jazz put jazz music on par with classical in the Berkshires. The School of Jazz faculty included Dizzy Gillespie, Jimmy Giuffre and Max Roach, and alumni of the School include Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry (See Appendix for complete list of Faculty and Roundtable Attendees). Lecture topics ranged from "Primitive Beginnings of Jazz" to "The Relationship of Jazz to Classical Music.”

The School of Jazz introduced jazz studies to major universities and conservatories and hastened the collapse of the artistic and social barriers between the major classical organizations and the jazz artist. The integration of related disciplines (improvisation, composition, theory, and history) formed a model worthy of emulation by all jazz education programs. Unfortunately, the remarkable achievements and opportunities of the School of Jazz are now only a historical footnote.