The California Jazz Conservatory’s Degree Program Comes to an End | KQED

Pham loves the school so much that he enrolled in as many classes as he could, from theory to bebop to jazz history. He’s learned from musicians he admires at the school, including Jeff Denson, Gerald Cleaver, and Mimi Fox, one of his favorite guitarists.

Students and alumni say the CJC gave them the chance to build a foundation in jazz, play alongside talented faculty, and grow into the musicians they are today.

The opportunity to earn a degree at a place like the CJC is rare. The institution is the only private music conservatory in the country solely devoted to the study and performance of jazz. The school, which gained accreditation in 2013, is the vision of Susan Muscarella, an educator and pianist who has sought to establish “the Juilliard of jazz on the West Coast.”

But the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns caused a major dip in enrollment, said Nick Phillips, who became president of the California Jazz Conservatory in October of 2023. The high cost of living in the Bay Area also makes it difficult to recruit students to a smaller California school offering only jazz.

Phillips said in 2014, about 70 students were enrolled in CJC’s degree program. By the fall of 2023, that number had dropped to 20 students.

“For a degree program to be sustainable, you need to have students enrolled in it. That’s just the bottom line,” said Phillips.

About one university or college per week on average this year has announced that it will close or merge, according to an April report from the Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.

The CJC announced the end of the degree programs in July, but made the decision to offer it one final semester to give students and faculty enough notice. The school is also helping students transfer credits.

The organization is also turning its attention to the Jazzschool, the CJC’s community education program, where enrollment numbers are rebounding.

“A place where people can explore and learn jazz — that’s what we want to continue,” Phillips said.

The legacy of the jazz program

As the CJC transitions into its next chapter, students and alumni are reflecting on how the degree program shaped their lives as musicians. Ruthie Dineen, a pianist, composer, and the executive director of the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts, was part of the school’s first graduating class.

“I think about the Bay Area music scene as one large band. I feel like I’m still finding my voice, but that was really how I became part of it,” Dineen said.

The CJC made jazz education accessible for students like Dineen. She remembered being awestruck as a kid seeing Berkeley High’s jazz band perform.

“The group was so diverse. I vividly remember that, because as a young girl coming from a family from El Salvador, none of this seemed very accessible,” Dineen said. “My mom was a nurse, my dad was a firefighter. So it’s just a whole other world.”

Around 2009, Susan Muscarella asked Dineen if she would attend the new jazz degree program she was starting up in Berkeley.

The school offered Dineen a scholarship. She enrolled, taking private piano lessons with Susan, who pushed her hard.

“I cared so much about Susan, and I was so grateful to her in particular for providing that education to me,” Dineen said.

Out with a bang

Now the remaining students at the CJC are preparing for their final concerts and next chapters. Phạm, the international student from Vietnam, plans to continue studying in the United States, and wants to be a teacher one day.

His classmate, pianist Abner Robles, is determined to go out with a bang. He’s also an apprentice at Callahan Piano Service, a shop offering piano care, tuning, and rebuilding. He’s living the life of a tradesman, a musician and — for now — a student.

Robles grew up singing in church choir, and discovered jazz during the pandemic after hanging around musicians in Sacramento who loved to improvise.

“Improvising doesn’t have to mean that it’s this crazy advanced thing that only the chosen ones can do. You can boil it down to the simplest thing ever,” Robles said.

He has no regrets about taking the leap to study at the CJC.

“I knew I wanted to be in a Hogwarts of music,” Robles said. “I enjoy this semester more than the other ones because with the professors, all their focus is on us, and they want to build us up. Now is as intense as it gets and as cool as it gets.”

He knows attracting students is a challenge, especially when so many aspiring jazz musicians want to move to New York. But he’s proud he got the chance to study in Berkeley.

“What I have learned up to this point, and people that I’ve met, I wouldn’t trade that for anything,” he said. “I have a lot of love for that school.”

He’s looking at other schools now, like the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. His friends at CJC are doing the same.

Like any good jazz musician, these students know how to improvise.