13th Annual Fall Guest Artist Series, Night 3: Tia Fuller Concert
Join NCCU Jazz Studies for night three of the 13th annual Fall Guest Artist series with multi-GRAMMY nominee saxophonist Tia Fuller!
This night will feature Tia Fuller in collaboration with the first-place Jack Rudin Jazz Champions, the NCCU Jazz Ensemble and the award-winning NCCU Vocal Jazz Ensemble on Wednesday, Nov. 15, at 7 p.m. at the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham, NC. This event will follow Tia Fuller's master class in the B.N. Duke Annex, New Jazz Band Room.
Tia Fuller
When GRAMMY-nominated Mack Avenue recording artist, composer and bandleader Tia Fuller picks up her saxophone, something amazing happens. Blending technical brilliance, melodic creativity, and the performing precision drawn from both her academic and stage experience, Fuller is a force to be reckoned with in the worlds of jazz, pop, R&B and more. Currently, Fuller balances the worlds of performance and education, fulfilling a demanding schedule as both a busy touring and recording artist and a full-time professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Fuller’s resume makes her uniquely qualified for these roles. The Denver, Colorado native graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from Spelman College in Atlanta, GA, and summa cum laude with a master’s degree in Jazz Pedagogy and Performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Already established as a leading jazz musician, Fuller was selected to be a member of the all-female band touring with Grammy-winning pop star Beyoncé. Performing as part of the I AM … Sasha Fierce and Beyoncé Experience World Tour on stages across the globe, Fuller also became a featured soloist on the Beyoncé Experience DVD (Me, Myself and I) and the I AM Yours I DVD (Wynn Theatre). She also appeared on a number of major television shows, including Today Show, Good Morning America, The Oprah Winfrey Show, BET Awards, American Music Awards, and Grammy Awards, and as a featured soloist with Beyoncé for President Obama at the White House.
In addition, she has received numerous awards and marks of distinction including, winning the JazzTimes Jazz Critics Poll for best alto saxophonist (2018), and Downbeat Critic’s Poll-Rising Star two years in a row in the categories of Soprano Sax in 2014 and Alto Sax and Flute in 2013. In 2018, Fuller was honored with the Benny Golson Award from Howard University; received the Distinguished Alumnae Award as the commencement speaker at the University of Colorado at Boulder; and was appointed as the 2018 Artist-in-Residence at the Monterey Jazz Festival in Monterey, CA.
As a professor at Berklee College of Music, Fuller shares her expertise with more than 70 students per week. She leads the college’s Rainbow Big Band and All-Stars, the Esperanza Ensemble, repertoire class, jazz improvisation, two jazz combos, and the Christian McBride Ensemble. In addition, she produces and directs groundbreaking large production ensembles focusing on the works of major pop innovators Beyoncé, Bruno Mars, Ariana Grande and Micki Miller. Innovated by Fuller to provide more contemporary, real-world experiences for students, these ensembles are cross-collaborations with other college departments and duplicate an “A-list” tour production, incorporating musicians, choreography, strings, dancers, video and lighting.
As an artist, performer and teacher, Fuller feels that she is fulfilling her purpose here on this earth, which is to “serve as a light for others.”
North Carolina Central University Jazz Studies
NCCU was the first university in the state to offer a Bachelor of Music degree in jazz studies. The program now includes a comprehensive vocal jazz component and offers a Master of Music in both jazz composition and jazz performance. NCCU artists-in-residence and GRAMMY Award winners Branford Marsalis and Joey Calderazzo are involved in workshops and other instructional opportunities. Alumni from the jazz studies program include professors at the college and university levels, teachers of primary and secondary music education, and production and performance artists.
NCCU Jazz Ensemble won first place at the prestigious Jack Rudin Jazz Championship held in New York City, Jan. 14–15.
NCCU competed against eight of the country’s most well-regarded university jazz programs, including Temple University, which placed second, and Michigan State University, which placed third. NCCU was the only HBCU in the competition.
For its efforts, NCCU’s Jazz Ensemble received $10,000 in prize money to be used in its music program. Winners at the Jack Rudin Jazz Championships were selected by a panel of judges comprised of distinguished jazz musicians and educators, including trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, a multiple Grammy-winning artist whose “Blood on the Fields” was the first jazz composition to win the Pulitzer Prize for music. Marsalis is a composer, teacher and artistic director of jazz at Lincoln Center, which hosts the annual, invitation-only competition.
In 2020, NCCU’s first year competing in the Jack Rudin Jazz Championship, the Eagles captured individual student awards but did not place. The event was not held in 2021 because of COVID-19. When it resumed last year, NCCU placed third overall and won some individual awards. This year, in addition to winning first place, NCCU won in five individual categories: honorable mention in the saxophone and trombone sections; honorable mention alto saxophone (Dexter Moses); outstanding tenor saxophone (Shaquim Muldrow); and outstanding trombone (Brandon Seaforth).
Besides Temple and Michigan State universities, NCCU also competed against the big bands from Florida State University, Ithaca College, Northern Illinois University, the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, the University of Wyoming and Vanderbilt University.
NCCU’s Jazz Ensemble has 21 members, and the NCCU’s Jazz Studies’ Jazz Combo 1, with the addition of the NCCU Vocal Jazz Ensemble, also performed at the Jack Rudin Jazz Championship events. Lenora Helm Hammonds, D.M.A., interim department chair and director of graduate programs for jazz studies, said the student musicians worked on their performance skills, the repertoire and other aspects of the competition for a full semester before competing in New York.
“The band met three times a week for at least 90 minutes per session, and the students also sacrificed part of their holiday vacation to come to school to rehearse and prepare,” said Helm Hammonds, a former U.S. jazz ambassador and twice-appointed Fulbright senior music specialist. “They worked very hard, and the diligence of Professor Robert Trowers, our trombone professor who directed the band and Combo 1, was stellar!”
NCCU traveled by bus to New York to compete, stopping along the way in Washington, D.C., Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware to perform at area high schools and recruit students. NCCU’s Jazz Ensemble performed three songs, for a total of 12–15 minutes, in the initial round of competition and repeated one of those songs in the finals.
“We played as an ensemble and focused on cohesiveness as a unit,” Helm Hammonds said. “We are committed to depicting the true origins of the art form, using swing and the blues as our foundational concepts. The students performed well, listening and using the skill sets they learn from our renowned faculty in jazz studies, including our artists-in-residence, Branford Marsalis and Joey Calderazzo. Our soloists were also standouts, evidenced by the student awards.”
Launched in 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the Jack Rudin Jazz Championship honors the legacy of Jack Rudin, a longtime supporter of Jazz at Lincoln Center, and his founding support for "Essentially Ellington," the organization’s signature transformative education program. According to organizers, the competition provides participating ensembles with quality literature and a forum for celebrating excellence and achievement while introducing higher education to Jazz at Lincoln Center’s education methodology and philosophy — extending its education mission into the sphere of professional development for the next generation of leading jazz artists.
The significance of NCCU winning first place in the Jack Rudin Jazz Championship cannot be overstated.
“A lot has been discussed about our legacy, but we have new dimensions to tackle and new ground to cover,” Helm Hammonds said. “It’s a new time for us, and I plan to lead us to a new level. The faculty is amazing. Professor Trowers has decades of experience and leadership, as well as membership in the best bands in jazz history. Our faculty is among the best in jazz education, and this win puts us at the vanguard of jazz education programs in the country.”
Helm Hammonds said she is grateful for the unwavering support the jazz ensemble receives from NCCU Chancellor Johnson O. Akinleye, Ph.D., Provost David H. Jackson Jr., Ph.D., and Carlton Wilson, Ph.D., dean of the College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities.
North Carolina Central University Department of Music
The Department of Music at North Carolina Central University is dedicated to preparing students — through innovative teaching methods, individual attention and excellent facilities — to excel as leaders in the music professions. Welcome!
Our greatest desire is to serve you on your journey as a musician with an experience that is both memorable and impactful. In this 21st-century new music business, our programming, degree structure and department culture are designed for you to become well-equipped and sufficiently tooled for success.
We accomplish this by offering you the opportunity to learn from an award-winning faculty. Our faculty comprises practitioners, scholars and researchers who have thriving careers, enhanced by GRAMMY-awarded artists-in-residence. Our Visiting Guest Artist Series puts internationally renowned music professionals in one-on-one settings with you as the recipient of a vast pool of knowledge.
Finally, our touring and performing ensembles — in which you will have membership — facilitate your experience on national and international festival stages and arts conferences. When you join our Eagle family to earn a degree from the NCCU Department of Music, you will garner tools for success to soar. How high you fly is up to you!
—Dr. Lenora Helm Hammonds