Steve Alford brings a breath of fresh air to jazz education and performance
“For me, music is a communication tool,” explains Steve Alford. “I didn’t come from a musical family, but I watched my dad talk to everyone. He wanted to know everything about them. That translated to music for me... It’s an interactive process with the audience.”
Now in his second year as chair of the jazz and contemporary department in the School of Music, Alford is applying this communicative approach to music within the conservatory and the broader community, with improvisation at the core of his work.
Chair of the jazz and contemporary department in the School of Music Steve Alford. / Photo: Wayne Reich
He has collaborated to bring online the school’s minor in improvised music and jazz, created a jazz workshop for local musicians and orchestrated a daylong festival of music for students, local talent and guest artists. And he’s just getting started.
In pursuit of music
Alford grew up outside of Dallas, Texas, and benefited from music programs in his public school system. “There was a lot of singing and a lot of xylophone and piano playing,” he recalls. And though he didn’t realize it at the time, his elementary school music instructor was teaching him to improvise. He joined the band in seventh grade and played the saxophone, a passion that carried him through college, where he earned a Bachelor of Music in saxophone from the University of Miami. Alford then spent the first half of his career as a working musician, traveling throughout the United States and Europe before settling in Chicago.
He later moved to Asheville, North Carolina, where his career path took an unexpected turn: Alford was recruited by a former band director to revive the jazz program at Mars Hill University. “I wasn’t looking to teach,” he remembers, “but as musicians you are always teaching, in a way… you’re passing on the art form. We owe it to the zeitgeist to give back what we have learned and to allow it to morph over time.” Alford quickly discovered a love for teaching. “I gained energy from being in the classroom, whereas when you’re performing you get energy from good gigs and lose energy from gigs you don’t enjoy as much,” he says. “Every day with teaching I wake up and am excited to be in the classroom, and I’m excited to return again the next day.”
Complementing his newfound love of teaching, Alford enrolled at the University of Tennessee and earned a Master of Music in Jazz. He broadened his teaching to include UNC Asheville and the University of Minnesota, Morris.
Through his connections in the UNC System, Alford heard that UNCSA was planning to develop a jazz program and jazz minor — but the idea of doing something traditional did not interest him. “I was interested in a wider, holistic concept of improvised music,” he explains, “and that was where we aligned.” The School of Music wasn’t looking for someone to create a traditional jazz minor, but instead to create a space in the conservatory curriculum that welcomed all students, regardless of their instrument. “It’s a special opportunity at UNCSA,” Alford adds, “because the breadth of what I’m able to expose students to matches my breadth of interest.”
At the heart lies improvisation, which Alford describes as both challenging and rewarding for performers and listeners alike. By discarding rigid ideas of correct notes and techniques, improvisation turns classic style on its head. “The purpose of improvising as a musician is to envision something and then attempt to grab it. They may or may not reach it,” he explains. It is best experienced live with a musician who is willing to take risks and an audience who is open to the journey. “The audience might hear something that doesn’t speak to them immediately,” Alford cautions, “but they must take a leap of faith and digest the music to achieve a new understanding.” Simply put, it’s a risky yet rewarding style of communication.
Improvisation for all
In 2023, Alford set to work developing the curriculum for the 16-credit minor, and students began enrolling in 2024. Any music major is welcome, whether or not they are interested in jazz. The improvisation techniques Alford teaches apply to any style of music — and multiple styles are actually encouraged.
Alford uses his own education as a measure of success. “My midlife crisis was not to go out and buy a sports car… it was to buy a double bass,” he says, “And all of a sudden my saxophone playing exploded.” His direct exposure to another instrument and another style of musicianship strengthened his own performance and amplified his mind’s ear.
Alford addressing the audience at a UNCSA Jazz Ensemble performance. / Photo: Wayne Reich
One required course in the new minor, Multilateral Listening Perspectives, is unique to the program — a pedagogical creation of Alford’s inspired by his takeaways from the double bass. He explains that the class is an active approach to teaching students within a jazz idiom how to listen to other instruments. He offers a simple example: “It’s so much easier for a bass player to learn to listen to what the violist is playing by just having them sit and play the viola! It’s fascinating to see how fast it changes their musical intelligence.”
Alford has also embraced building new ensembles within the School of Music. While chamber ensembles have been a mainstay of the school for years,his approach is more expansive. So far, he’s initiated six small group combos that focus on different kinds of music. The Morphine Ensemble, for example, is named for the 90s band and focuses on alternative rock. The Early Chicago Ensemble covers music from the band Chicago’s first two albums and features a vocalist from the School of Drama.
A community affair
But Alford’s work isn’t limited to campus. As a new member of the Winston-Salem community, he quickly recognized a gap. “Jam sessions are a key component to learning the art of jazz,” he says. “You don’t learn jazz in a practice room.” A community jam session offers the opportunity to practice improvisation and spontaneity while breaking down a misconstrued barrier of entry.
To fill this gap, he founded the Winston-Salem Jazz Workshop, held weekly at East of Texas restaurant for more than a year. On any given Sunday afternoon, you’ll find UNCSA students and faculty performing alongside local musicians with varied backgrounds and interests. And the restaurant’s family-friendly atmosphere means that even young middle school musicians have access to participate.
Jam sessions are a key component to learning the art of jazz. You don’t learn jazz in a practice room.
Steve Alford
A larger fete will soon invite even more of the community to experience music in a new way. Spontaneous Sound: A Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music will be held in downtown Winston-Salem at the Millennium Event Center at the end of March. After a successful smaller event in 2024, Alford hopes to establish the festival as an annual tradition.
The key element, he says, is location. “I want every single one to be held off-campus,” he explains, “not because I don’t like our campus venues, but because this music is not concert hall music. People weren’t going to see Duke Ellington in a concert hall; they were drinking martinis and dancing. I like furthering that.” Choosing local venues also gives students the opportunity to perform in spaces that are more akin to what they may experience in a professional setting.
The event spans a whopping 10 hours, and attendees may choose to attend the full day or only specific segments. It’s part pedagogical festival and part performance — taking place across four stages, the event offers clinics, master classes and performances from guest artists, high school bands and UNCSA ensembles. The day culminates in a large ensemble performance.
Renowed trumpet player Adam Rapa performing with the UNCSA Jazz Ensemble led by Alford. / Photo: Wayne Reich
And with a small amount of luck and a large amount of determination, Spontaneous Sound will only grow. “I’d love to include other universities in the Triad,” says Alford, “and grow it into a three-day event that utilizes other venues, too — a true festival.”
He’s equally excited about the growth of the program at UNCSA. “It’s our responsibility as an institution to provide environments that will help to generate the collaborative communication concept that society has moved away from in recent years,” he says. At a macro level, that means more exposure for students to prepare them for amazing careers. But at a micro level, Alford sees his work as a lynchpin that positions UNCSA to be a true ambassador of the arts, creating musicians who are mavericks — skilled at improvisation — and cultivating audiences who dare to journey alongside them.
March 25, 2025