my journey with jazz
how 8th grade me predicted my future through jazz music & listening to my heart
To graduate 8th grade at my middle school, everyone had to do a special project: a report on the college that they would consider going to at the end of high school … because you're never too young to think about what you want to do for the rest of your life!
Lucky for me I'm one of those freaky people that have always known what I wanted to do: perform, and be on stage to make music uniting & uplifting people. So, naturally, I did my report on the Berklee College of Music… 13 year old me couldn’t wait to go there.
But through a series of events, when it came time at the end of high school to actually audition for Berklee, I was more focused on music theater and decided to try instead for other schools with more reputable theatre programs. I got wait listed at a few places, but ultimately, didn't get in anywhere. I was devastated.
One of the theatre schools that I had auditioned for reached out to me and told me they wanted me to try for their jazz voice program instead, which is how I got in to the Hartt School of Music. I’d always loved jazz and soul, so it felt like a great place to hone in on those skills while preparing to re-audition for theatre programs the following year.
Once classes began in the fall of 2016, I’d learned of an (all-male) big band within the program that I really wanted to be a part of. So I asked the professor that taught the class if I could sit in one day and do a song with them.
“No, this is not open to any vocalists”, he said. Suffice to say, that experience always left me with a sour taste in my mouth. That, with my jazz voice professor telling me time and time again during our lessons that I didn’t have “what it takes to be a professional jazz singer”. Okay, that’s fine, I’m just going to try for music theatre again anyways!
I left the Hartt School after that year. I accomplished my dream of getting into a reputable music theater program, and that’s how I went to the University of Miami the following school year. Even after all that rejection, blood, sweat, tears … I was still not satisfied. I felt like I wasn't being challenged enough. And I realized that the thing that had always drawn me to music theater was the music part of it.
I think 8th grade me was onto something: I decided that 3rd time was the charm, and I would finally audition for Berklee. The tears of joy and relief that I cried when I got in are still as potent to me today as they were then.
That next school year in Boston, I was like a kid in a candy store. I felt like for the first time in my adult life, that I was with my people.
My roommate had a friend that I ended up talking to the day after I’d moved in. He told me that he was a part of a big band and that they were looking for a vocalist. It felt like all the stars were aligning … and a few months later, I ended up auditioning for the band. I got in and I know that it was the right thing for me; some of my best friends in the whole world are those I met from doing that big band at the Berklee College of Music.
If I hadn’t gotten rejected from all of those schools my 1st year, I wouldn’t have studied jazz at Hartt. If I hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have had the experience of being shut out of a band I so badly wanted to be a part of. If I hadn’t kept going and following my heart at the University of Miami, I wouldn’t have auditioned for Berklee. If I hadn’t had that fated conversation with my roommates friend the 1st night at Berklee, I wouldn’t have known about this big band, gotten to be in it and accomplish that small dream, and I wouldn't have met the very people who I can’t imagine my life without to this day.
In a roundabout way, jazz has always had an influence in my life; not just musically, but spiritually and emotionally. The way it's connected me with people is something that I don't know if I have the right words for, but I'm just really, really lucky and inspired by the experience.
I am also grateful for all of the pioneers of the genre, the African American musicians who built this style of music to express joy and hardship and to communicate honestly with each other. This genre wouldn't exist without them … and I don't think that I would be here, doing what I’m doing now, without them and this genre either.
Would I still be doing music? Probably. But would it be the same as how it is now with everything that's led up to this point? Probably not.
I just released a (cover of a) love song, but it's also my love letter to jazz music. Jazz means a lot to me, and I'm just really excited for you guys to hear this song. Thank you so much for listening to my story and my journey of how I've gotten here. Stream Someday My Prince Will Come, by me and the amazing Carl Taylor II, AKA Any Other Sunday productions.
Love always,
Kelsey <3