Michael Tracy, Saxophonist/Jazz Educator
Michael Tracy is Director of the Jamey Aebersold Jazz Studies Program at the University of Louisville School of Music in Louisville, KY. He has been responsible for organizing and coordinating all educational programs and activities at Jamey Aebersold’s Summer Jazz Workshops since the mid-1970’s.
He has taught and performed around the world, establishing faculty and student exchanges and workshops with institutions in Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Japan, Poland, Republic of Georgia, and Russia.
Tracy’s association with Jamey Aebersold is, in the words of baseball legend Yogi Berra, a case of déjà vu all over again.
I started lessons with Jamey when I was 18 and transferred from the University of Kentucky to the University of Louisville. They (UK) didn’t really have many options for me as a saxophone player. And U of L said they would hire Jamey. I didn’t know who he was. All I knew was I was getting a saxophone teacher and not studying with a clarinetist.
While I said I only knew Jamey from 1970, I had his materials as early as 1967 when he put out his first Play-A-Long.
I was taking lessons at a store in town (Louisville) and one of the guys who was behind the service desk was a pretty good saxophone player named Keith Spring. And he said, ‘You know, you play pretty well. You ought to get a hold of this; this is something different than what you’re studying.’ (Spring also hand-copied the musical manuscript for the original Volume 1 of the Aebersold Play-A-Longs.)
And so I got home, and I was all excited about it. I put it on my record player, and I didn’t know what to do. His explanation in the book wasn’t as nearly as comprehensive as it is now. It was pretty sketchy. And everything was in concert key. So, I figured that out. ‘Oh, this is not in my key.’ And I didn’t have the wherewithal at that time to transpose it (by sight), so I sat down and meticulously transposed everything (by hand). By the time I got to the end of it, I had enough. It got put on the shelf, and I didn’t get back to it until, well, 1970.
I wouldn’t be here today if I hadn’t had the fortune of transferring from Kentucky to Louisville and Jamey was there and I got on the ride at the beginning.
In the four decades you have been involved with the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Camps, do you recall any budding musicians who came there who later became well-known jazz artists?
I was in my office at the U of L, it was before it was my office, so it was quite awhile back. I was at the piano and this little kid comes in. He was 10, 11 or 12. And he sounds great. I asked him his name and I write it down.
‘What would you like to play next?’ ‘Giant Steps.’ I say, ‘OK, count it off.’ So I’m playing piano and keeping up and looking over, and it was Chris Potter from South Carolina.
How have changes in technology affected jazz education and, specifically, the Aebersold Play-A-Longs?
In many ways, music education has changed significantly; in other ways it hasn’t really changed at all. I have a thousand albums and probably a thousand CDs. They just sit there on the shelf.
I teach online lessons. I teach online classes. I don’t need CDs. I don’t use records. I can go to YouTube and type in what I want. There it is. I bookmark it. I click it. If the student wants to study it, I copy the link, and I send it to him. They got it.
When I went to Jamey’s in 1970 for lessons, I’d walk out of his house with maybe 20 records. One of my favorites was Lee Morgan’s “The Gigolo.” I’d go home, I’d tape it, which is not that different than an MP3, and I’d have a copy of it.
As far as teaching (now) with Jamey’s materials, my students have access to his online site and I give them an assignment to work on “Killer Joe” or work on whatever. They do it, they record it, they send it to me and I send it back to them. I have a student in Tokyo, and one in Perth, Australia, and another one in Brazil. They couldn’t be here; we couldn’t interact. So the good comes with the bad.
For non-musicians, what is important to understand about Jamey’s vision, determination, and dedication?
Jamey would be a successful businessman no matter what he did. He has that instinct, that vision. And on top of that, he is a very gifted musician.
He’s almost like this prophet, and sometimes that kind of gets in the way. But he’s really out there selling everything—he’s selling jazz—not in a negative way. He wants everyone to play it; he wants everyone to appreciate it, and everybody to enjoy it. And he will do whatever it takes to help you do that.