Jazz scholar’s jams reflect donor’s gifts 

As the only child of East Carolina University music professors, Cal Richardson ’26 grew up in a life steeped in classical music theory and composition. He began violin lessons at age 3 and started playing the electric guitar at age 12. His mother, Dr. Amy Carr-Richardson, taught him a few basic chords, and she and his father, Dr. Mark Richardson, promised that if he consistently practiced, they would buy Richardson an amplifier. He did and quickly fell in love with the instrument.

His parents encouraged Richardson’s passion and helped him forge his own professional career as a jazz guitarist, teacher, and composer. His first tutor was ECU jazz music graduate Devin Frazier, who sparked Richardson’s devotion to the American-born genre.

Today, this senior in UNCG’s highly ranked School of Music’s Miles Davis Jazz Studies program is building his musical career with support from the Robinson Family Scholarship Endowment in Jazz Studies. Founded in 2018 by UNCG alumnus and retired physician Dr. Ward Robinson ’10 MPH, ’19 PBC the endowment is awarded to students with extraordinary academic, artistic, and professional promise.

Richardson was recruited by North Carolina’s most prestigious music schools and was accepted and offered full scholarships to each school he applied to. He chose UNCG for its unique and innovative undergraduate jazz program, which emulates the traditional jazz learning process through mentorship, real-world playing experience, and a tight-knit, collaborative approach in an intensive, highly personalized learning environment.

“I am immensely grateful to have received the Robinson scholarship, which has been life-changing to every musician who has benefited from Dr. Robinson’s generosity,” Richardson says. “It is a wonderful initiative that helps students afford school and focus on their music careers, and his gifts have a great impact, especially his sponsorship of guest artists who are world-class musicians brought in to work with us. These opportunities are so valuable, and being able to learn and perform with these artists is amazingly helpful and wonderful.”

By Jo Carol Torrez
Richardson photos courtesy of Cal Richardson. Robinson photo by Martin W. Kane (magazine archives).