ARTS

Trumpet pro to chair Jazz Dept.

Hugh Ragin finds Oberlin haven for productivity

by Emily Manzo

Hugh Ragin - inspiring teacher, creative musician and trumpet virtuoso - has been named "a trumpeter with very few peers in terms of imagination or technical command" by jazz biographer Francis Drake. Ragin has collaborated with musicians including David Murray, Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony Braxton, Spencer Barefield, Fred Wesley, Leo Smith, Maynard Ferguson, D.D. Jackson, and Andrew Cyrille, on recorded and live jazz performances that range from bebop and freebop, to the most 'out' of avant-garde improvising.

RaginÊhas once again returned to the Oberlin Conservatory Jazz Studies department this semester as acting chair while Professor of Jazz Studies Wendell Logan takes a second semester sabbatical.

His first residency was in the spring of 1980. As he got to know the isolated town of Oberlin, he diagnosed its uniqueness. "The beauty in the seclusion is that you get your work done," he said. When asked if things have changed at the Oberlin Conservatory since his previous residency, Ragin said, "No, and in this case, no change is a good one. I still see a superior level of musicianship and an intensity with the students. There's a certain liveness, a certain energy that just feels good and is inspiring to work with."

Students are equally inspired by Ragin's enthusiasm for education. Senior jazz major Burney Pelsmajer observered, "As a professor, [Ragin's] greatest asset to the conservatory is his attentiveness and devotion. He's right there, all the time - and it increases his contribution ten-fold."

Along with fulfilling the duties of jazz chairperson, Ragin teaches private trumpet lessons and one lecture/seminar. In his avant-garde jazz composition class, Ragin discusses concepts that originated as classical compositional procedures, such as aleatoric and chance music. He said, "We are in a period where everything [classical and jazz] is coming together. We're taking all this information and we're just processing it with our '2000'-millenium eyes."

Despite his success as a performer, Ragin insists on being an educator first. His life has formed as a compassionate gesture "to share the knowledge, and bring more people into music."

For all areas of his teaching, Ragin puts a strong emphasis on the fundamentals. "I like to give enough material so that students can absorb what's useful, discard what is unnecessary, and add what is uniquely their own. It's like Charlie Parker said, 'First you learn the scales, then you forget them.'"

Drawing from personal experience, Ragin said, "technique includes the knowledge of the instrument as well as knowledge of the language." Ragin attributes his own astounding control of the trumpet to studying the basics, namely the H.L. Clarke Technical Studies for Coronet and the Charlie Parker Omnibook.

Ragin received rave reviews for his performance last Thursday as the Oberlin Jazz Ensemble assisted Amiri Baraka. He will perform again with the Oberlin Jazz Ensemble Saturday at 8 p.m. in Finney Chapel.

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Copyright © 1999, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 127, Number 16, March 5, 1999

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