In the history of jazz the term legendary is automatically associated with the complex melodies of Jelly Roll Morton, the swing music of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the sassy and divine vocals of Sarah Vaughan, or the spirited scat of Louis Armstrong, to name a few. Their timeless styles have influenced generations the world over. When Irvin Mayfield, Jr. grasps his trumpet and blows, you can hear the immortal spirits of jazz legends, passing the torch to a modern day jazz icon. At age 32, Mayfield, a New Orleans native, has accomplished impressive feats that lend him the titles of maestro, composer, arranger, trumpeter, professor, cultural ambassador, and global citizen. Now Minnesota can lay claim to him in his position as Minnesota Orchestra Hall’s first Artistic Director of Jazz. Mayfield ascribes to jazz as a part of his livelihood. “I am passionate about jazz, I love jazz, it inspires me, and enhances every day of my life and my job is to try to create an environment and provide leadership that can further that mission. That is what I try to do when I am playing the trumpet, that’s what I try to do with my jazz club, that’s what I try to do if I am giving an interview about it. It’s all one in the same,” he said.
His passion has built an empire. Mayfield is founder and leader of the 2010 Grammy Award Winning New Orleans Jazz Orchestra; co-founder of Los Hombres Calientes, a Grammy-nominated Afro-Cuban jazz group; founder of The Irvin Mayfield Quintet; and has performed and recorded with Ellis, Wynton and Jason Marsalis. In fact, Mayfield received a full-ride scholarship to The Juilliard School of Music, but decided to study at the University of New Orleans Jazz Studies program under the mentorship of Ellis Marsalis and Clyde Kerr Jr. In 2003, Mayfield was appointed cultural ambassador for the State of Louisiana and the City of New Orleans.
In 2007 he commissioned the building of the Elysian Trumpet, a hand-crafted instrument created in honor of the victims of Hurricane Katrina—including his father and first trumpet teacher, Irvin Mayfield, Sr. Mayfield, the educator, founded Dillard University’s Institute of Jazz Culture and is professor and artistic director of New Orleans jazz at the University of New Orleans. He is artistic director of the New Orleans Jazz Institute. In March 2009, Mayfield partnered with the Royal Sonesta Hotels and opened Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse at the Royal Sonesta Hotel, on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. Mayfield is considered a national jazz treasure. He has been appointed by Presidents Bush and Obama to serve on the National Council on the Arts, a body which advises the National Endowment for the Arts on grant applications and funding categories.
Empire, stardom, and celebrity do not impress Mayfield. He is humble and reverences the work of jazz legends known and unknown that paved the way for him, and people in general who work in their passion. “You know my momma has a saying, she says, ‘blessed is he who gets paid for what he would do for free.’ I hate to pick up a piece of writing that someone has written, and I can tell they only do it because they are getting paid. There is nothing more painful. I hate to listen to somebody who is performing that is not passionate about what they do. You know if you are going to do something and not be passionate about it there are a lot of great jobs for that, that don’t require any passion. So my vision is to try and create some level of quality in what I am doing. Art is the distilment of all things that are great about the human experience. So I do things that I am passionate about.”
Lilly Schwartz, Director of Pops and Special Projects at Minnesota Orchestra Hall, has witnessed Mayfield’s dedication for more than a decade, as his friend and colleague. Schwartz began working with Mayfield when she hired Los Hombres Calientes, in her tenure at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia, PA. “I think he is an incredible showman, a great musician, that’s his first love you know, and he has been incredible in that he can get the audience in the palm of his hand in about five seconds. He has got an incredible spirit. And as a person I mean I have a lot of fun with him I have to say. He is a good guy. He is very determined, extremely bright and driven. He is someone who has a vision and wants to make it happen and will make it happen.”
About two and a half years ago Schwartz approached Mayfield with the idea of making jazz a permanent part of programming at Minnesota Orchestra Hall. After sharing the scope of her vision, Mayfield was interested and offered a wealth of ideas. The partnership was presented and formalized by appropriate staff, and has proven to be a successful match. Schwartz, colleagues, and community are fascinated by Mayfield’s ability to garner excitement for jazz. “He knows how to foster excitement and he knows how to bring focus to things. I think he has done a lot to help promote jazz here and get general excitement, and make Minnesota Orchestra Hall more of a focal point than it ever has been for jazz. He has also done some great work with education.”
Minneapolis South High School, one of the local schools that partner with Minnesota Orchestra Hall, has recently benefitted from Mayfield’s teachings and work. Mayfield invited the jazz band students to perform at the Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse at the Royal Sonesta Hotel. Scott Carter, Band and Jazz Director and Music Department Chair for South High School is amazed by the collaboration with Mayfield. “I'm very impressed with his comfortable and great interaction with the students. Some people who are at that musical level have a hard time talking to younger, less experienced musicians. His work with them was very productive and really energized them,” he said.
Mayfield was once a less experienced musician. When he received his first trumpet in fourth grade, history was being made. Then an amateur, now a global phenomenon that honors his predecessors, plays with passion, and leads by example.
Visit www.minnesotaorchestra.org for upcoming performances.
