exposed to and listened to many types of music. Our living room had a wall covered, floor to ceiling, with mirrored tiles that reflected what was happening outside on Racine Avenue. My mom’s console stereo (encased speakers, turntable AND an AM/FM radio) sat in the corner of the room. A stack of LP’s was always ready to go. I was in my own kinda heaven. I spent hours listening to and singing along with Josh White, Nina Simone, James Brown, James Taylor, Aretha Franklin, Trini Lopez, Mariam Makeba, Eric Carmen, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and (yes) Barry Manilow.
Your early career was not in the business of music. You worked at a public foundation as a community liaison. What prompted the switch to music?
For almost eight years, I was the Associate Director at the Crossroads Fund, a public foundation that raises money to provide financial and technical support to community organizations that work on economic and social justice issues in the Chicago area. The bulk of my work involved making and maintaining connections with organizations applying for grants and with actual grantees. I’d travel to Chicago’s many neighborhoods and meet with representatives from grassroots groups. It was my job to communicate their needs and strategies to the decision makers at the foundation. I truly enjoyed my work. It was challenging, intellectually stimulating and most importantly, I was actively working to create positive social change.
Then my mom died.
Looking back on it now, I think I traveled through the stages of grief, perhaps spending an extended amount of time on “anger”. My family, especially my spouse, was wonderfully supportive. A little over a year after my mother’s death, I quit my job at Crossroads and enrolled in the music program at Columbia College. I earned a second BA in music and subsequently got my masters in jazz from Roosevelt University. I had to know what I was doing if I wanted to be a bandleader. Education was crucial. My mom’s death propelled me to music full-time.
When you decided to make music your career focus, how did you pursue that?
As with any career, making connections is one key to getting work, yet sometimes it’s just the luck of the draw. During my time at Columbia College and Roosevelt, I established friend and
music relationships that are solidly maintained to date. I was fortunate to work with professional musicians while I was a student. I sang with the Stop-Time Ensemble which was a music education project of Columbia College’s Center for Black Music Research.
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