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by Seth Rogovoy
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Aug. 29, 1996 -- Imagine a non-profit foundation dedicated to perpetuating the legacy of American music.
Imagine this organization perpetuates this legacy through programming that reaches out to budding musicians and pairs them with such top names in music as Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny and Grover Washington Jr.
Imagine this organization successfully reaches out to thousands of schoolchildren across the country who would not ordinarily receive any music education at all, and through a series of innovative programs, including assemblies, master classes, workshops and interactive satellite simulcasts, introduces them to the rich legacy of America's musical tradition.
Imagine this organization sponsors an annual competition that is one of the most anticipated musical events of the year worldwide, on a par with what the quadrennial Olympics are to amateur sports.
Imagine this organization becomes so successful that it becomes a household name in the music industry, attracts media scrutiny from all the top national newspapers and magazines, and most importantly, has corporate sponsors -- including record companies, musical instrument makers, auto manufacturers, airlines, hotels and utilities -- beating down its doors in order to be associated with this thriving, classy project.
Imagine that all this is accomplished in just 10 years by a small group of volunteers with no highly-paid professionals and virtually no government funding.
A dream for the National Music Foundation in Lenox?
No, the reality of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz.
Since 1986, the Monk Institute has accomplished all of the above and more. Its focus is primarily on jazz -- that most American and least commercial of American musics. Founded 10 years ago by the family of the late jazz pianist and composer whose name the organization bears, its stated mission is "to offer the world's most promising young musicians college level training by America's jazz masters and to present public school-based jazz education programs for young people around the globe." The Institute also provides scholarships, performance opportunities and worldwide recognition to winners of its annual competition, who have included saxophonist Joshua Redman, pianists Marcus Roberts and Jacky Terrason and trumpeter Ryan Kisor.
The Institute even has a program for musicians in need, working in collaboration with the Jazz Institute of America -- which was founded by doctors at Englewood Hospital in New Jersey who treated Thelonious Monk and Dizzy Gillespie -- assisting them with medical help and housing.
The Institute has accomplished all of this on a relative shoestring. As late as two years ago, its annual budget was a reported half- million dollars. (A representative of the National Music Foundation was unable to provide an annual budget figure for that organization, but stated that total expenses for fiscal year 1995 were $926,000.)
This year's budget at the Institute is up to $3.5 million, according to its chairman, Thelonious S. Monk Jr., who said that less than five percent of that amount comes from governmental sources.
Monk's strategy has been to build his program from the bottom up. "You've got to involve artists first," said Monk, in a recent phone interview from his home in New Jersey. "You go to Bruce Springsteen, Whitney Houston, Wynton Marsalis, and get them involved. They tell their fans about it, that this is something they support, and then the corporate sponsorship follows."
Every bit of money raised in the early years went directly into programming. "You don't ask for money and then put it into salaries," said Monk. "You put it into programs first. Then you build on those programs to raise real money. Then you pay salaries."
For the first seven years, most staffers at the Monk Institute were unpaid or poorly paid. "People worked for nothing for years," said Monk. "I remember buying many a plane ticket with my own money." It is only in the last three years that the dozen or so staffers have begun collecting salaries to speak of. The top salary at the Institute, now headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices in Boston and Los Angeles, is currently in the $70,000 range, with the next highest about half of that. "And these are for people who work 12 hours days, 365 days a year," said Monk.
(Gloria Pennington, the president and CEO of the National Music Foundation, has reportedly earned as much as $166,781 a year, although she claims that in recent months she has stopped drawing a salary in light of her organization's financial crisis. In a brief phone interview from her Lenox office, Pennington said that she had heard of the Monk Institute but was not familiar with its programming.)
Once musicians became involved with the educational programs, media interest in the project wasn't far behind. You can't beat a photo opportunity like Wynton Marsalis giving a master class to inner-city public school students. And you don't have to be J.^Walter Thompson to figure out that Coca-Cola will pay big bucks to hang a banner in the back to be identified with such a project. Major corporate sponsors of the Monk Institute include BMI, the Hard Rock Cafe, Hyatt Hotels, Pioneer Electronics, USAir and Washington Gas. This past spring, Nissan Motors Corp.^U.S.A. entered into a multi-million dollar alliance with the Institute, representing the largest financial commitment in history from a corporation to jazz music education, according to Institute claims.
It undoubtedly helps to have a dynamic, articulate frontman named Monk at the helm. And Monk's enthusiasm for jazz is only exceeded by his enthusiasm for the work of the Institute. He is especially excited about the new "Jazz Sports L.A." program, chaired by former basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, which will bring musical training and performance opportunities to students attending high schools in South Central and West Central Los Angeles. Renowned jazz musicians will present lectures and concerts to the entire student bodies of the schools, and selected students will participate in jazz workshops with the likes of Wynton and Branford Marsalis, and go on to perform at half a dozen home games of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team.
Last year, the Institute began its formal association with the New England Conservatory, now home to the Institute's accredited, college- level, jazz performance program. Marsalis has shown up there, too, in one of the only programs of its kind to match up serious students of jazz with instructors drawn from its top ranks, including Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Wayne Shorter, Slide Hampton, Marian McPartland and Clark Terry -- a program that echoes the ground-breaking School of Jazz, located just down the road from the National Music Center at the Music Inn in the late 1950s.
While the NMF has Dick Clark at its helm as chairman of the board, the Monk Institute boasts well-known jazz fan Bill Cosby and actor Billy Dee Williams at the top of its corporate board. Interestingly enough, there is some overlap between members of the two organization's boards of advisors and directors, including Herb Alpert and Herbie Hancock.
In spite of these connections, Monk said that he had never heard of or been approached by the NMF. "If I haven't heard about it, they're doing something wrong," he said. "I don't understand why they've never spoken to me. There isn't a musician in jazz who hasn't in some way been involved with us. Everyone in the business knows about us. I would support something like this -- it's what we're all about. Jazz is American music. I've even been up there. I was at Tanglewood two years ago, and no one approached me when I was there."
Now that he has been briefed about their organization, perhaps officials of the foundation might speak with Monk this weekend. In addition to his work with the institute, Monk is a jazz drummer, and he will be performing with his ensemble in the Tanglewood Jazz Festival at Seiji Ozawa Hall on Sunday at 1:30. One would imagine that Monk and Pennington might have a lot to talk about.
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