Washington D.C. Jazz Hero
As I write these words, I am listening to Dave Robinson’s weekly “Jazz Gumbo” radio show – just one of the many and varied ways my brother serves the traditional jazz music he loves, the music that has been his guiding passion since childhood. This passion has led him to found the Traditional Jazz Educators Network and the JEN Traditional Jazz Society. He’s served as president of the Potomac River Jazz Club and the American Federation of Jazz Societies, and professor of jazz ensembles/courses at George Mason University and Washington College. Dave has produced jazz concerts for the Smithsonian Institution and the PRJC, while performing on cornet, bass trumpet, and other instruments with bands such as the Storyville Seven and the Conservatory Classic Jazz Band. Yeah, he’s also jazz radio host on XM Satellite Radio (“The French Quarter”) and WKHS- FM (the aforementioned “Jazz Gumbo”).
Whew, I’m exhausted just typing all that. Oh, and did I mention that he held down a day job all the while, and raised a family? But we haven’t even gotten to what I think are his most significant accomplishments, the ones closest to his heart. Long ago Dave complained that most jazz education seemed to begin (and sometimes end) with Charlie Parker. Now, Dave is no prude when it comes to this music; he has great respect for the masters across all the decades of this art form. But he believes that respect ought to begin with the music of Jelly Roll Morton, Earl Hines, Louis Armstrong, and early Ellington. So he created a youth band to draw talented young players from around the DC area and immerse them in the experience of learning, and performing traditional jazz music. He’s provided instruments for them, paid them to rehearse and record, and taken them around the world to perform. And he’s been quietly doing this for nearly 40 years. Today I find myself on NYC bandstands next to alumni of his Capital Focus Jazz Band, marveling at their playing, and what Dave has accomplished.
But only reaching DC-area kids wasn’t enough for Dave, so around 10 years ago he drummed up funding and released his Traditional Jazz Curriculum Kit – a long-held goal to provide others with an entry point for learning about this music – and distributed it to 10,000 music educators across the country, for free! Dave has never been one to call attention to himself – he will gladly labor in obscurity – but he will call attention, whenever and wherever possible, to the Music he serves so well and loves so dearly. Seeing this music gain greater attention and respect is his reward. I am thrilled beyond measure to see him finally granted a smidgeon of recognition for the work that he has performed so selflessly for all these many decades. Jazz Hero? You bet.
—Scott Robinson, multi-instrumentalist, frequent JJA Jazz Awards winner
