Lawmaker Wants to Keep His Music Going

SACRAMENTO —  Assemblyman Willard H. Murray, a lifelong jazz fan, sees himself as a candidate for an endangered species list.

The 61-year-old Paramount Democrat complains that young people don’t seem to be attracted to jazz, maintaining that the indigenous American art form “doesn’t have as large an audience as it did years ago.”

So Murray is turning to his colleagues in the Legislature to do something about it.

Murray is seeking legislation that would establish an Institute for the Preservation of Jazz. The institute--which could be located at Cal Poly Pomona or Cal State Long Beach--would support teaching and research in jazz and catalogue the contributions the American art form has made to society.

Murray’s proposal grew out of his own concerns as a jazz aficionado as well as appeals for help issued last fall at a hearing on the preservation of jazz conducted by the legislative Black Caucus.

Murray took piano and drum lessons as a teen-ager growing up in Los Angeles. But he laments that even his own grown children--raised on a strong measure of Duke Ellington, Count Basie and other jazz greats--have failed to acquire a taste for his favorite music.

“Jazz is the only art form America can call its own,” Murray says. “It represents America’s contribution to the arts in the eyes of the world. Yet as a nation or state we devote fewer resources to jazz than we do classical music.”

Murray and other supporters of his legislation say that it is important for the state to stimulate an interest in jazz, especially in young people. “We need programs to inspire them (children) to let them know it’s important music,” said Los Angeles jazz musician Buddy Collette, who sits on the board of KLON, a Long Beach-based jazz radio station.

Murray says the goal of the proposed institute is twofold: to have a central repository for jazz artifacts and create ways to produce well-qualified musicians and teachers specializing in jazz. An advisory board would be established to recommend goals and priorities.

The legislation does not include provisions for funding. Initially, donations would be raised from a variety of private sources, with taxpayer funds perhaps being sought after the institute is established, Murray said.

“I didn’t want to make (money) an issue” during debate on the bill, Murray said.

Without any funds in the bill, the proposal is expected to sail through the Legislature, says one Assembly staff member familiar with the measure. In March, the bill was approved by the Assembly Higher Education Committee and is now pending in the Ways and Means Committee.

However, concerns about precisely how the institute would be paid for have been raised. And there is some uncertainty over where it would be located.

Initially, the bill called for the institute to be located at Cal State Fullerton, but later Murray switched the location to Cal Poly Pomona. And now he says he may make another switch to Cal State Long Beach, where radio station KLON is based.

Murray acknowledges he first picked the Fullerton campus on what was virtually a whim, because he enjoyed recordings by Cal State Fullerton’s jazz band. He never even discussed the idea with Benton Minor, Fullerton’s music department chairman.

But as he refined his proposal, Murray says he talked about his ideas with William Carter, the music chairman at Cal Poly Pomona. Murray says Carter voiced some interest in the measure, prompting him to switch the site of the proposed institute to Cal Poly.

Fullerton’s Minor found the move--indeed, the whole bill--bewildering. For one thing, he has heard about it only from reporters. But he says that Cal State Fullerton has a larger and more well-established music program than Pomona.

Cal Poly’s Carter declined to discuss the legislation.

Bill Schneider, Cal Poly’s news director, says Murray had an informal discussion with Carter but that the legislation is “in its infancy” and needs further refinement.

Murray agrees, saying the bill still is being shaped. But he sees a potentially valuable liaison between KLON and the institute, saying “they could work closely together.” Murray says he has sounded out Cal State Long Beach officials about the idea and “they seemed to show a little more enthusiasm” than other campuses.

Cal State Long Beach officials could not be reached for comment.

Schneider says the major question--wherever the institute is located--is “what’s the price tag.” Until the cost issue is resolved, Schneider says, it’s unclear whether the institute will ever get off the ground.