An excerpt from Jazz Institute of Chicago ‘Outstanding Jazz Educator’ award recipient Mwata Bowden discussing the origins of the University X-tet, forming the X-tet Reunion Band, ‘comfort in unpredictability,’ and other life lessons learned through music.

Whatever you do, you pass it on and you hope it does some good because you do it with integrity. Now with this reunion ensemble, it’s coming back and students are talking about the wonderful experience that they had, how this exchange has had a real profound influence on the choices they’ve made in life. And they’ve been good choices. And Julia, it’s like wow, I guess you keep doing this.

Two things: they bring it back with praise, and you know, ‘Man, I thank you for all of this,’ and I’m sure somewhere on the way, Julia, I had to have messed somebody up. [laughs] So my nightmare is that some kid is gonna come back and say “Man, you messed me up! I’m mad!” It hasn’t happened yet, but on the other hand, it could. But the realization that I’ve been doing this long enough and with the idea of the exchange … it comes back. It’s really exciting because I never took an assessment of what kind of impact it would have, because I don’t need to. We’re just constantly in the grind of doing what we do. You know, we seldom take a chance to look back and retrospect.

And I don’t know if the university would say they appreciate it, but several of my students instead of going to graduate school in whatever else field decided, ‘What the heck, I’m gonna take my chances with this music.’ Continue reading →