Wendell Logan, Conservatory professor of African American music was recently honored by a scholarship for outstanding jazz studies set up in his name by two of Logan’s former students, Leon Doresy, ’81 and James McBride, ’79. The Oberlin Jazz Ensemble’s tribute concert for Wendell Logan, held Friday, Nov. 10, was a smash hit, as OJE concerts unfailingly attract audiences from the Oberlin community and beyond. The concert featured such distinguished alumni musicians as saxophonist (and best-selling author) McBride, trumpet player Michael Mossman, bassist Dorsey, pianist George Caldwell and many others. Arts editor Julie Johnson stopped by the office of professor Logan to ask a few questions about the concert and his phenomenal career at Oberlin.

Julie Johnson: Just out of curiosity, your tribute concert was booked as a surprise concert, so what exactly was the surprise?

Wendell Logan: First of all, there were students who came back here to participate in that concert. The reason they came back here was they were setting up a scholarship in my name at the conservatory. The surprise was that I thought there were four or five students coming back but there were many more than four or five, so that part of it was a surprise. About 40 to 50 alumni came back to perform.

JJ: That’s great. How was it to be on stage with students past and present; was it a success?

WL: All of our concerts are successes. If they are not we don’t play… The concert started at 8 p.m. and we played for about an hour and it went until about midnight, so people wouldn’t have stayed if it wasn’t a success.

JJ: How long have you been teaching?

WL: I’ve been teaching at Oberlin since 1973.

JJ: Was the African American music department an established department when you came?

WL: It was not an established department. There was nothing here.

JJ: You were instrumental in creating the department?

WL: I was very much a part of creating it.

JJ: Was that a difficult struggle to get the department going or was it easy?

WL: Very difficult.

JJ: How long has it taken for people to support the program?

WL: I’m not so sure that everybody supports it now, but we do have a department.

JJ: And is there a lot of student involvement in the department?

WL: We’ve got about 40-something majors. A lot of kids take our courses. They are oversubscribed, so I would say there’s a lot of interest.

JJ: How do you think the Conservatory has changed since you first came here?

WL: There are a lot of new people here. That much is for sure. There are programs here that were not here before, jazz studies being one. In terms of its primary focus, the primary focus is still European classical music. That is what the Conservatory was initially set up for and that is what it continues to do. The courses that were offered in terms of jazz studies that were on-the-book jazz courses were started in 1973.

JJ: What has been the most meaningful part of developing the program and teaching at Oberlin?

WL: I talked about developing the department, and the meaningful part of that is seeing students come here and graduate and go out and make a living [in music].

JJ: Was the scholarship a surprise, too?

WL: I was informed by the administration that there were some students coming who were interested in setting up a scholarship in my name. I was informed in September that that was in the works.

JJ: That’s quite an honor. Thanks for your time.