About the Drake Jazz Program

As a component of the Drake University Music Department, the goals of the Drake Jazz Program are concurrent with the department's mission statement; namely, to engage, enlighten and develop the intellect, aesthetic awareness and performance skills of students to prepare them for successful professional careers as jazz performers and educators. The program also aims to provide a center of cultural learning for the university and the community that broadens the understanding and appreciation of jazz.

Drake's jazz program sustains two full big bands and several jazz combos, which give interested students the chance to gain experience interacting with fellow musicians while working with excellent instructors; the students also develop their performance skills at concerts that are well-attended by fellow members of the Drake community, as well as local music enthusiasts.

Internationally distinguished jazz artists and composers including Maria Schneider, Dick Oatts, Chris Potter, Wayne Bergeron, Paul McKee and Roger Ingram have performed concerts and conducted master classes at Drake; the University’s jazz program has also benefitted from the involvement of regional and local jazz professionals, as well as partnerships with community music education organizations.

Drake President, David Maxwell, son of the legendary trumpet player Jimmy Maxwell, is one of the Drake jazz program's strongest advocates. President Maxwell has performed blues guitar with Drake Jazz Ensemble One numerous times and, at the University's spring 2010 commencement ceremony, he performed a ballad with acclaimed jazz saxophonist Dick Oatts, who received an honorary degree from Drake that morning.

In 2006, the Maxwell family endowed $25,000 to fund a scholarship for jazz musicians to attend Drake.

Another of the program's supporters is Drake alumnus Fred Turner, retired senior chairman of McDonald's Corp. His generous gifts, totaling more than $3 million, have provided the jazz program with an endowed professorship and a superb rehearsing, recording and performing space -- the Patty and Fred Turner Jazz Center. Read more about the state-of-the-art Turner Center, which was completed in fall 2010, online.

Drake presents an annual concert to honor Fred and his late wife, Patty, who was a talented musician and a Drake alumna. Each performance celebrates the Turner family's continued generosity and commitment to jazz studies at Drake.