A legendary legacy of jazz at KU

The Nicholas L. Gerren Sr. Hall of Achievement honors Jayhawks who paved the way for generations of musicians.

by Jennifer Jackson Sanner

The School of Music established the Nicholas L. Gerren Sr. Hall of Achievement in 2020 to honor alumni, faculty and staff who overcame barriers to become renowned musicians and educators who influenced music nationally and internationally.

Located in Murphy Hall, the hall commemorates Nicholas Gerren Sr., f’34, g’34, g’48, PhD’53, who earned his KU degrees in violin and music education. He traded his performance career to become a distinguished teacher and leader in music education for more than 40 years at universities in North Carolina, Missouri, Texas and Ohio, where he retired from Central State University in 1977 as dean of the school of music and art. His numerous honors included the Alumni Association’s Fred Ellsworth Medallion for his service to KU and the Distinguished Service Citation from KU and the Association for his contributions to humanity. He also served on the Association’s national board of directors. The KU Black Alumni Network also posthumously named Gerren, who died in 2002, among its Mike and Joyce Shinn Leaders and Innovators.

The most recent addition to the Gerren Hall of Achievement is Reginald Buckner, d’61, g’66, the great-uncle of Creston Herron, f’08, KU’s new director of orchestral activities. In April 2024, Herron conducted a special performance for Buckner’s extended family members to celebrate his induction, and every day Herron walks by his great-uncle’s photo in Murphy Hall, along with photos of the other Gerren Hall inductees.

After leaving KU, Buckner earned his doctorate at the University of Minnesota, where he founded one of the nation’s early jazz education programs and taught African American studies. An acclaimed pianist and organist, he performed often in Minneapolis and his hometown, Kansas City, and became nationally known for his innovative 1981 TV series, “Jazz: An American Classic,” and his lectures throughout the nation. He died in 1989.

Buckner joins several other Jayhawks in the Gerren Hall who helped advance and elevate jazz as a foundation of U.S. music, says Margaret Marco, professor of oboe and associate dean for performance activities in the School of Music. “We now take jazz studies for granted. Every school of music has a jazz department, but that was not the case in the 1970s, even though jazz was big and influential on the music scene,” Marco says. “Dr. Buckner’s TV show and lectures inspired a movement to study jazz, which is our nation’s music.”

Members of the Gerren Hall also have received recognition from the University and the KU Black Alumni Network, and Kansas Alumni magazine has published stories about them through the years. For more details on their lives and careers, visit the School of Music’s Nicholas L. Gerren Sr. Hall of Achievement page.

Gerren Hall members include:

Walter Page

Walter Page, d1921, founded Walter Page and his Blue Devils in 1925. He played bass with Bennie Moten’s Kansas City Orchestra and later became a key member of Count Basie’s “All-American Rhythm Section.” Many credit Page for making the bass a melodic instrument and creating the “walking bass” style that was integral to the growth of swing jazz. Page died in 1957.

Etta Moten Barnett

Etta Moten Barnett, f’31, starred on Broadway in “Porgy and Bess” and was the first Black woman to perform at the White House, singing for President Franklin D. Roosevelt. She also appeared in two movies and later hosted a radio program, “I Remember When,” in her longtime home of Chicago, where she became a civic leader. In addition, she served as an American cultural representative to African nations. Barnett died in 2004 at age 102.

William P. Foster

William P. Foster, d’41, founded the Florida A&M University Marching 100, famous for a unique 360-steps-per-minute marching cadence as well as intricate dances and marching formations. The Marching 100 won the Sudler Trophy as the nation’s top marching band and performed in Super Bowl III, two presidential inaugural parades and the Bastille Day parade in France, along with films and TV commercials. Foster also conducted the McDonald’s All-American High School Band. He died in 2010.

Nathan Davis

Nathan Davis, d’60, established the jazz studies program at the University of Pittsburgh and became known internationally for his mastery of the tenor and soprano saxophone, flute and clarinet. He performed with Art Blakey, Donald Byrd, Ray Charles and Kenny Clarke. He also led jazz programs at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Jazz Aspen Snowmass and other festivals. He earned his doctorate from Wesleyan University in Connecticut and wrote more than 200 compositions. His music is featured in the 2014 film “Jayhawkers” about his friend Wilt Chamberlin, ’59, which was directed by Kevin Willmott, KU professor emeritus of film & media studies. Davis died in 2018.

Carmell Jones Jr.

Carmell Jones Jr., ’62, became a sought-after trumpeter as a West Coast studio musician in the 1960s. He moved to Berlin in 1968 and played with the Radio Free Europe Big Band Orchestra. His many albums included “Jay Hawk Talk” by the Carmell Jones Quartet. He died in 1996.

Ron McCurdy

Ron McCurdy, g’78, PhD’73, is currently a professor and former chair of jazz studies at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music. He was KU’s first director of jazz studies and went on to lead the jazz program at the University of Minnesota (founded by fellow Jayhawk Reginald Buckner) and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. A trumpeter and composer, he returned to KU in 2017 with the Ron McCurdy Quartet to perform “The Langston Hughes Project,” a multimedia presentation based on Hughes’ epic poem “Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz.”

Jennifer Jackson Sanner, j’81, is editor of Kansas Alumni magazine.

Photos courtesy of the School of Music