Jazzing-Up the Campus with Ray Gariglio

This blog post was authored by Anne Myers, Library and Information Studies practicum student at the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, December 2015.

Ray Gariglio, 1975

Raymond J. Gariglio came to UNCG in 1966 as a Professor of Music and became the bandmaster for all UNCG performing band ensembles, many of which he founded himself. In 1969, he established the UNCG Jazz Ensemble, the first university-accredited jazz ensemble in North Carolina, and by 1983, his tireless work in the field had laid the groundwork for the development and debut of UNCG's Miles Davis Jazz Program to begin offering undergraduate degrees. In addition to developing funding and support for the program, including beginning a series of benefit concerts in 1974 funding the university's first Jazz Scholarship Fund, Gariglio also personally designed and developed the curriculum for the new program's teaching of Band Literature, Clarinet Performance, Instrumental Methods, Jazz Arrangement, Jazz Ensembles, Jazz Improvisation, and Wind Ensembles, laying the foundation for faculty to come to improve upon.

Gariglio's musical career did not begin with the university, however; he earned three separate Bachelor of Music degrees from the American Conservatory of Music (now, sadly, no longer in operation), one each in the fields of Theory and Clarinet Performance in 1952, and one in Composition in 1955. He earned his Masters of Music from Northwestern University, after which point, he entered the military during the Korean War, serving as the Band Director and clarinetist for the 89th Army Band until his honorable discharge in 1960.

Ray Gariglio, clarinet soloist, with the Page High School Jazz Ensemble, c 1980

A native of Illinois, Gariglio established himself as a premier clarinetist and musician in both the classical and jazz worlds of Chicago in the 1960s, performing as first clarinet and featured soloist for such major ensembles as the Lyric Opera Company of Chicago and the Chicago Little Symphony, the latter company touring all over North America. After touring extensively throughout the U.S. as a soloist, he relocated to North Carolina to begin his work with UNCG, where he founded and performed in various faculty and professional groups, including the East Wind Quintet, the Dixieland Band, the Ray Gariglio Jazz Quartet, and the University Commencement Band, all incorporating members of UNCG faculty and local artists. A great deal of the sheet music collection now held by the Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections & University Archives dates from this time period, and features arrangements and original compositions by Gariglio designed for performance by either student ensembles or his own artistic groups.

Not content with limiting his touring to the United States, Gariglio also took his teaching prowess abroad, serving as an instructor and performer for the Holy Trinity Music School's summer music camp in Leogane, Haiti, where he gave private lessons, tutoring in the clarinet as well as leading ensemble performances. Gariglio visited Haiti to teach at the camp multiple times from 1974 through the mid 1980s, and several of his original compositions and arrangements in the university's collection feature music written specifically for the Haitian Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as many that were based on native Haitian musical themes that he encountered there.

As a member of the Greensboro musical community, Gariglio was also heavily involved in its performance and musical landscape for his entire residency, up until his death in 2003. His various performing ensembles were frequent staples of Greensboro society, performing at country clubs, benefit events, and community concerts, as well as acting as a soloist for many local high school and children's festival band performances.

Ray Gariglio and Hal Reynolds with the Page High School Jazz

Ensemble, c 1980

The Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections & University Archives is proud to house the donated collection of Raymond J. Gariglio, an expansive collection of sheet music, handwritten musical manuscripts, and personal papers from one of the University's most beloved music faculty.
Having left a lasting legacy of students taught, ensembles founded, and UNCG's jazz department itself created and thriving, Gariglio's influence is still heavily felt in the Greensboro music landscape today.

Buddy Gist, the Man Behind the Miles Davis Trumpet

The Miles Davis Trumpet is listed on the
UNCG Bucket List

Passing through the atrium of the Music Building, it is easy to overlook the modest exhibit featuring a trumpet. It is in a small case, dwarfed by its surroundings. Even upon reading the plaque, it is difficult to believe that the trumpet belonging to Miles Davis is housed on the campus of The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Although the name of Miles Davis attracts immediate attention to the instrument, the man responsible for its donation is not as commonly remembered by the visitors making pilgrimages to be close to a noted artifact of music history. The Miles Davis Trumpet was donated to UNCG on September 27^th, 2001 by “Buddy” Gist.  

Arthur Taswell “Buddy” Gist, Jr. was born in Spartanburg, SC in 1925, but was raised in Greensboro, NC. His father and mother, Arthur and Louise Gist, were the proprietors of the Magnolia House Motel on Gorrell Street. The Gist family hosted an impressive array of entertainers in their establishment, including Ray Charles, Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson, and Tina Turner. Magnolia House, which is preserved as a historical landmark, accumulated such a remarkable list of patrons because it served as one of the few motels providing quality accommodations for African American travelers prior to desegregation.

In August of 1942, Gist was enlisted in the military, serving in the Navy for the duration of World War II. Into adulthood, Buddy Gist attended North Carolina State A & T University, where he was a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity. Upon graduating in 1947, Gist continued the entrepreneurial family tradition, but relocated from Greensboro to Harlem, which provided far greater opportunity than the South during the Jim Crow Era.

Upon taking up residence in Upper Manhattan, Buddy Gist submerged himself in the thriving African American cultural community. During one evening in 1949 at the Birdland Jazz Club, billed as the “Jazz Corner of the World,” Gist was introduced to Miles Davis by US heavyweight boxing champion, Ezzard Charles. This began Buddy Gist’s friendship Miles Davis and his family. Gist met many of Davis’ recording friends and even helped look after his children while Davis was on tour.

Miles Davis performed in concert at UNCG in 1973

Unlike many of his New York circle of friends, Buddy Gist was not a musician or sports hero. In keeping with his family tradition, Gist was a successful business owner through the 1960s and 1970s. He owned several car dealerships in the New York area, and he began two African import coffee companies, after which (Mt. Kilimanjaro Coffee Company), Miles Davis named his album, Filles de Kilimanjaro. For several decades, Gist lived a life of glamour and success, but by the 1980s, he fell upon hard times and returned to Greensboro.

A few years after taking up residence in Greensboro, Buddy Gist allowed the Miles Davis Trumpet to be exhibited on loan to UNCG, beginning in 1996. The trumpet was not officially donated to UNCG until September 27^th, 2001. At this time, the value of the trumpet, modestly estimated in the annual report of the School of Music, was $70,000. The jazz program became the Miles Davis Jazz Studies Program, a memorial to Gist’s friendship with the jazz legend. Soon after the donation became public and the instrument was on display, the Missouri Historical Society requested it be loaned for an exhibit on Miles Davis. A more professional appraisal was conducted, and it was discovered that the serial number on the UNCG trumpet matched that of the trumpet featured on the cover of Davis’ Kind of Blue album. This meant the instrument Gist donated was not just any trumpet, but that is was the trumpet used during the recording of a masterwork of 20^th century Jazz. This cultural treasure was revalued by appraisers at $1.6 million. In honor of Buddy Gist’s donation, Steve Haines, director of the UNCG Jazz Program, funded the construction of a custom display case in which the trumpet is featured today.

Tragically, Buddy Gist’s life took a turn for the worse. After returning from sabbatical in 2008, Steve Haines followed up on rumors that Buddy Gist, 83 years old, was homeless, living in Center City Park. By August of 2008, Haines organized assistance for Gist, moving him into Partnership Village, a program operated by Greensboro Urban Ministries. Essentially, Buddy Gist was adopted into the family of the UNCG music faculty. Chad Eby, jazz professor, invited him to Thanksgiving dinner with his family, and Gist continued to receive a steady stream of visitors who were recipients of the amazing stories Gist would tell about his life. In July 2009, Buddy Gist suffered an incapacitating stroke. John Salmon of the School of Music became Gist’s legal guardian, and he was moved into the Golden Living Nursing Center in Greensboro.         

Not a historically accurate photo, but we like to think Dr.
McIver would approve.

On April 18^th, 2010, Arthur “Buddy” Gist, Jr. died, requesting that all memorial donations be made to UNCG’s Miles Davis Jazz Festival. The UNCG School of Music held a memorial service in the Organ Hall on April 25^th, 2010. Gist’s name will be forever connected to Miles Davis through the generosity of his two greatest treasures, the trumpet and his relationship with the faculty of UNCG.    

Sources:

"Arthur Taswell "Buddy" Gist [obituary]," News and Record, April 22, 2010

"Memorial Service for 'Buddy' Gist set for Sunday at UNCG," by Dioni L. Wise, News and Record, April 21, 2010

"Miles Davis' historic trumpet at UNCG," by Kevin Harvey, The Carolinian. April 19, 2002, pp.1,3

"Miles Davis' longtime friend Buddy Gist dies," by Dioni L. Wise, News and Record, April 19, 2010

"Notes from a Friend," by Jerry Rowe in UNCG Magazine, Spring 2010

"Preservation in Greensboro: 2011 at its Best" February 9, 2012

"Taking care of Buddy," by Jeri Rowe, News and Record, October 18, 2009.

"WTF is that?," by Sam Fornecker, The Carolinian, September 12, 2006, p.11

Additional Spartan Stories about music:
Music on Demand, Part 1: Marketing Music Education to the State Normal and Industrial School Curriculum, 1892-1912

Music on Demand, Part 2: Music and the Early Curriculum, 1892-1910

Elizabeth Cowling: Cellist, Musicologist, Teacher