Instrument played and signed by jazz legend Wynton Marsalis donated to MSU Billings
MSU BILLINGS NEWS – A standard piano has 88 keys and solid legs. The Young Chang G185 piano that was donated to Montana State University Billings on Friday also has a legacy.
It just happens to be of world-renowned trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis. It’s right there on the soundboard.
The ebony grand piano had its inaugural use in an educational setting in the late 1980s, and Billings resident Casey Page thought it fitting that it play out its final years at the fingers of music lovers in an educational setting right here in Billings.
“I know that MSUB has a jazz program and the jazz festival, so donating it here had a good feel to it,” Page said. “Plus, I think public education deserves the support.”
The journey of this piano started in 1989, Page said, as part of a fundraiser that supported The Festival at Sandpoint in northern Idaho. The music event – started in 1983 – also featured an educational program for young musicians, the Schweitzer Institute of Music. Hosted at Schweitzer Mountain Resort outside of Sandpoint, the institute was run by the Spokane Symphony Orchestra’s principal conductor and artistic advisor Guenther Schuller.
Schuller played a key role in the early years of The Festival at Sandpoint as well as the Institute, inviting world-renowned musicians like Wynton Marsalis and Dan Morgenstern to teach workshops for young musicians. Volunteers were key to the Institute, Page said, and many hosted these musicians in their homes.
“My grandparents hosted Marsalis in their home in the summer of 1989,” Page said. “They then bought one of the pianos used at the institute as a fundraiser, and had Marsalis and Schuller sign it.”
Marsalis is a world-renowned trumpeter, bandleader, composer, and a leading advocate of American culture. He presently serves as Managing and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Director of Jazz Studies at The Juilliard School, and President of the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation. He has been called the “Pied Piper” of jazz and the “Doctor of Swing.” Since his recording debut in 1982, he has released 127 jazz, classical and alternative recordings and won many awards.
His signature is on the edge of the soundboard inside piano and is addressed to “Mom and Dad,” terms of endearment that Page said Marsalis gave her grandparents during his stay with them in Idaho.
“He would just call them mom and dad all the time,” she said.
Page inherited the piano and as someone with a love of art and music, she enjoyed playing it for years. Her artistic endeavors have turned elsewhere in recent years, however, so she knew it was time for the piano with an educational beginning to find a home with an educational past and future.
Amid curious onlookers and eager university staff, the piano was moved on Friday morning from Page’s central Billings home to the second floor of MSU Billings’ Liberal Arts Building.
Tami Haaland, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences and is home to the music program, said she envisions time in the future where students and faculty will sneak down to the area just west of the library and play music in the afternoons and evenings. Nestled in a corner near a window that gathers morning sunlight, the area has chairs for others to gather and chat or enjoy the talent.
“This is simply a beautiful addition to the LA Building, and I look forward to hearing music from students and staff,” Haaland said. “The enjoyment will be felt by everyone.”
Kelly Schrock, Director of Principal Giving at the MSU Billings Foundation, accepted the donation on behalf of the university along with Haaland.
“We are so grateful to Casey Page for this extraordinary gift,” Schrock said. “Signed by jazz legend Wynton Marsalis and composer Gunther Schuller, this piano is not only a beautiful instrument, but also a piece of musical history — ready to inspire students and fill the halls of MSUB with music for years to come.”
Shortly after the donation was made and the piano was in place, little time was wasted for someone to try it out. Patrick Wiliams, an MSU Billings staff member, sat down to play a few notes as others paused to enjoy.
The piano will be tuned and cleaned up in the coming weeks and should be ready for students who would like to sit down and share their talents.
# # #
Dan Carter, MSU Billings Communications, 406-657-2243 | 406-413-8924 (cell)