Our Board Members
The HBCU Jazz Education Iniitative is comprised of a voluntary Board of renowned professors from HBCU Colleges and Universities throughout America. Each member is dedicated to ensuring that the education of Black American Music is established as required learning at HBCU’s throughout the nation.
Fred Irby III
Howard University
Fred Irby III is a native of Mobile, Alabama and a member of the Grambling State University (LA) and Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville “Alumni Hall of Fame”. As Professor of Music at Howard University in Washington, DC he is the Coordinator of Instrumental Music, trumpet instructor and Director of the internationally acclaimed Howard University Jazz Ensemble. He was designated a Lowell Mason Fellow by the National Association for Music Education in 2009. He has been Principal Trumpet of the Kennedy Center Musical Theater Orchestra since 1975 and has performed in the orchestras for the Academy Awards (OSCARS), the Emmy’s and Dancing with the Stars.
Ira T. Wiggins - Founder
North Carolina Central University
The Jazz Studies Program at North Carolina Central University is under the leadership of saxophonist/flutist Ira Wiggins. There are eight ensembles in the program: two big bands, four combos, a guitar ensemble and a vocal jazz ensemble. Dr. Wiggins is assisted by the following: Assistant Director, Baron Tymas - Guitar, Robert Trowers -Trombone, Albert Strong - Trumpet, Arnold George - Piano and Vocals, Lenora Zenzalai Helm - Vocals, Ed Paolantonio - Piano, Thomas Taylor - Drum set, Brian Horton - Saxophone and Damon Brown - Bass. Branford Marsalis and Joey Calderazzo have been artists-in-residence since 2005.
Many internationally known jazz artists have been featured in concert with NCCU’s Jazz Ensembles including: Jimmy Heath, James Moody, Kenny Burrell, The Count Basie Orchestra,Branford Marsalis, Ed Thigpen, Vanessa Rubin, Roy Hargrove, Fred Wesley, Louie Bellson, Alvin Batiste, Clark Terry, Frank Foster, Nnenna Freelon, Nicholas Payton, Steve Wilson, Geri Allen, Slide Hampton, Christian McBride, Dick Oatts and others.
Saïs Kamalidiin
Howard University
Dr. Saïs Kamalidiin is a 1989 graduate of Howard University with a master's degree in music performance [flute]. He received his Ph.D. in music research [ethnomusicology] from the University of Maryland, College Park. He is also a graduate in music education from Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas. Internationally, he has lectured at the Evelyn Hone College of Music in Lusaka, Zambia. In 1995, Dr. Kamalidiin received the J. William Fulbright Scholarship for one year of fully funded scholarly research in Southern Africa. While in Zimbabwe, Dr. Kamalidiin was the principal flutist with the Harare Symphony Orchestra for the 1995-1996 season and he served on the faculty of the Zimbabwe College of Music. Dr. Kamalidiin has studied flute with Dr. Arthur Dawkins, Mr. Campbell Tolbert and Mr. Byron Hester. In addition to Howard, he is also on the faculties of the Suitland Center for the Arts in Forestville, Maryland and the University of Maryland, College Park.
Robert Griffin
Florida A&M University
Robert Griffin is an Associate Professor of Music at Florida A&M University (FAMU) where he serves as Director of Jazz Studies. His duties also include directing the Jazz Ensemble, Trombone Ensemble, Student Jazz Combos and performing with the FAMU Jazz Faculty Ensemble. Mr. Griffin earned the Bachelor of Science Degree in Music Education from Florida A&M University, the Master of Arts Degree in Music Education from the University of South Florida and the Master of Music Degree in Jazz Performance from the University of South Florida. Robert Griffin has an extensive background of performances with jazz, rock and contemporary groups throughout the United States and has performed at jazz festivals in Italy, France, Japan and Cuba. He has performed with jazz artists such as Matt Niess, Brett Stamps, Vince DiMartino, Ben Jaffe, Liesl Whitaker, Pat Harbison, Charlie Davis, and Keith Waters among others. Mr. Griffin has also performed Classical and Sacred works in Ireland.
Sunny Sumter
Sunny Sumter is Executive Director of the DC Jazz Festival, a nonprofit service organization established in 2004 to present jazz-related cultural and educational programs in the nation’s capital. Its’ signature programs are the annual DC JazzFest held each June, the year-round DC Jazz Festival Education program; and the Charles Fishman Embassy Series. DC Jazz Festival is the recipient of the DC Mayor’s Art Award for Excellence in Creative Industries. Sumter has raised over $16 million dollars for the DC Jazz Festival and has participated as a panelist in discussions on jazz funding at the WeDC Fest, Jazz Philadelphia Summit, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Jazz Congress, and the U.S. Department of State. Prior to her tenure at DC Jazz Festival, Sumter held management/director positions with the Aspen Institute, National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. Sumter earned her bachelor’s degree in music business from Howard University where she minored in voice. She is a recipient of a Howard University Benny Golson Award, the Sitar Arts Center Visionary Award, the Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Heroes Award, a DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Fellowship, and a Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation Emerging Artist Award. As a professional vocalist, Sumter has performed at some of the finest festivals, performance venues, and clubs in the U.S. and internationally. Sumter was awarded the Aspen Institute’s Staff Achievement Award for Excellence. She was host of Jazz Central on the BET network. She currently serves on the board for the International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers. She is a member of Americans for the Arts, National Academy for Recording Arts and Sciences; and served as a program director member of the National Collaboration for Youth. In 2019, she was selected to the prestigious DeVos Institute of Arts Management for a three-year fellow at the University of Maryland Business School; and is one of the “exceptional leaders” selected for National Arts Strategies’ celebrated Chief Executive Program.
Weldon Hill
Virginia State University
A musicologist, composer, and pianist, Weldon Hill is active as a performer, composer, and writer. He is most well known as a pianist, having shared the stage with artists such as Jon Faddis, Andrew White, and Jo Marie Payton. In addition to his own trio, Hill also performs regularly with the Virginia Symphony Jazz Orchestra and Symphony Pops and the United States Air Force Rhythm in Blues Jazz Ensemble. As pianist with the Great American Music Ensemble (an often-featured big band at the Kennedy Center and for National Public Radio) and with such artists as Herb Jeffries, Jimmy Heath, Benny Carter, Christian McBride, Ronnie Wells, Milt Hinton, and Ethel Ennis. His discography includes recordings with the Great American Music Ensemble, Plunky and Oneness, Bill McGee, James Gates and the Weldon Hill Trio.
Robert Trowers
Robert Trowers Robert serves as a lecturer of low brass on the faculty of North Carolina Central University, which boasts an award-winning jazz faculty and a jazz band that has consistently had a high percentage of its members in the HBCU all-star band.
He was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1957. His family contained many musicians and lovers of the art form. This fostered a love of and appreciation for music at an early age. After mandatory piano lessons during early childhood, he developed an interest in the trombone from listening to the music of the "swing era." Among the bands that sparked his interest in jazz were those of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, and Artie Shaw.
Lisa Beckley-Roberts
Jackson State University
Dr. Lisa Beckley-Roberts, Chair and Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology, earned her doctorate in Ethnomusicology and Masters Degrees in Ethnomusicology and Harp Performance at Florida State University, after having received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Harp Performance from Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana. Dr. Beckley-Roberts has taught courses including Minority Music in America, American Roots Music, American Popular Music, World Music Cultures, Western Music History, and African Music and Dance. She is also an accomplished performer who has been principal harpist with the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra and the Central Florida Symphony Orchestra. She has performed with orchestras throughout the Southeast, and maintains an active performance career having accompanied singers with the neo-soul and hip-hop performers of Tallahassee Nights Live.
Our Founding Members
We are proud to work with a network of professors, advocates, musicians, and administrators, that are dedicated to seeing deeper education and engagement around Black American Music in America’s HBCU’s, and volunteer their time in order to strengthen the effort.
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Aaron Myers
Alvin Trask
Amy Bormet
Ariel Davis
Arnold E. George
Baron T. Tymas
Bernard Long
Breddix Smalls
Brian Horton
Bruce Williams
Charlie Young
Chad “Sir Wick” Hughes
Connaitre Miller
Cyrus Chestnut
Dalanie Harris
Dr. Lisa Beckley-Roberts
Elizabeth Palmer
Fred Irby III
Greg Walker
Greg Watkins
Herb Scott
Ira T. Wiggins
J. Gates
J. Patterson
James Holden
Jason Marshall
Jerry Bracey
John Henry
Khandeya Sheppard
Larry Wiliams
Lenora Helm Hammonds
Lindsey Sarjeant
Nathea Lee
Raychael Ray
Raycheal Proctor
Reginald Cyntje
Richard Desinord
Robert Griffin
Robert L. Trowers
Ronald Carter
Roxanne Stevenson
Russell Thomas
Stephanie Sanders
Saïs Kamalidiin
Samuel Prather
Sunny Sumter
Weldon Hill
Consulting and Administrative Team
Ariel Davis & Sterlyn Termine