Mayor Dan Drew stands with Jay Hoggard after presenting Hoggard with a framed proclamation that names him Music Ambassador of the City of Middletown and proclaims Aug. 31 “Jay Hoggard Day.” Photo: Dortha Cool Willets.
The Music Man of Middletown
MIDDLETOWN - If you call the tax department, the mayor’s office, assessor’s office or any other City of Middletown office, you may be put on hold. If so, you will soon be tapping your foot and smiling because the hold music you would be listening to would be Jay Hoggard’s â€"Swing ‘Em Gates.”

       Hoggard wrote this composition as a tribute to the late vibraphone grand master Lionel Hampton, with whom he has collaborated on compositions for special concerts. For his numerous accomplishments as a vibraphonist and composer, he was named Music Ambassador for the City of Middletown Aug. 31, and that day was proclaimed â€"Jay Hoggard Day” by Mayor Dan Drew.

       Hoggard began playing the vibraphone at the age of 15. He majored in Wesleyan University’s renown World Music program, touring Europe and playing at Carnegie Hall during his freshman year. As a junior, he studied East African marimba music in Tanzania, graduated from Wesleyan in 1976 and returned in acclaim to New York City. Today, he is an Adjunct Professor of Music at Wesleyan University and has been the director of the Wesleyan Jazz Orchestra for 20 years.

       In 2009, the dance troupe Sankofa Kuumba and the Hartford Symphony Orchestra commissioned Hoggard to compose â€"The Other Side of the Ocean” and â€"Let Me Make It Clear.” The Lincoln Center Out of Doors commissioned him to compose â€"The Wisdom of the Baobab Tree.” He composed â€"La Tierra Hermosa” for The Hartford Festival of Jazz and â€"Joyful Swamp” and â€"Crossing Point” for Wesleyan.

       Hoggard has performed to rave reviews in many of the finest venues throughout the globe: Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Schomberg Center, jazz festivals in the Caribbean, Asia and the United States. He led a quintet on an extensive tour sponsored by the United States government to North Africa, the Middle East and India. He has been a guest artist with the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band. An accompanist for singers, instrumentalists, and poets, he has also performed with gospel, theater, dance, percussion and orchestral ensembles.

       Hoggard’s music draws on traditional and contemporary musical vocabulary to Develop new directions for the vibraphone; he seamlessly blends jazz and gospel roots with African marimba rhythms. His performance repertoire represents the three B’s of the jazz tradition--blues, bob, and ballads, and he has recorded 22 CD’s as a leader and over 50 as a collaborator.

       Journalist Owen McNally wrote, â€"Jay Hoggard’s artistry has a universal quality, an intellectual and emotional resilience...He is one of the top-seeded instrumentalists and composers of the jazz world today.”

       Stephan Allison, Coordinator of The Commission on the Arts (MCA), explained the idea of the Music Ambassador award â€"originated when we learned that our phone ‘hold’ music for city offices was not well-liked and not very appropriate. We decided that we had plenty of great musicians in our city, so let’s highlight them.

       â€"We started last year with our two first Music Ambassadors for the City, David Downs and Rani Arbo. The city rotates their music for phone ‘holds’ and they in turn go out and publicize the fact that they are Music Ambassadors for our city, which helps them get performances in places outside of Middletown,” said Allison. â€"It works not only for our local musicians, but also it promotes the city of Middletown.”

       Because the inaugural ambassadorship was held in the mayor’s office last year, the city will continue to have it there with, however with only one ambassador recognized each year.

       â€"I have known Jay’s music for many, many years. My husband and I are huge fans. I couldn’t be happier that it’s him,” said Jenny Hawkins Lecce, chair of the MCA. â€"I have to say that he, as an artist, is always generous; he is always so joyous in his music. It is something really special to attend a concert with Jay, and that’s been true over the years. It’s a perfect, perfect choice and I am so glad that he accepted. Well done!”

       Mayor Dan Drew said to Hoggard, â€"Well, let me just say, professor, that we are so proud to have you as a Middletown resident and to have your music known around the world, and to have you representing this community and the music and art scene in this community.

       â€"It’s tremendously important that we continue to perpetuate Middletown as the center of the arts and the center of creativity,” said Drew. â€"I think we’re known for that and rightly so. To have you as an ambassador to carry on this new tradition, to make your art and your expression of the way you see the world available to people in and outside of Middletown is something of which we are tremendously proud and appreciative.

       â€"I am so proud that you accepted this honor and are going to be representing Middletown as you travel throughout the nation and the world, and as you continue to bless others with your music and your compositions., Mayor Drew continued. â€"So with that, I am very proud to claim Monday, Aug. 31, 2015, as Jay Hoggard Day in the City of Middletown and, on behalf of the community, I congratulate you on your tremendous musical accomplishments and thank you for serving as our Music Ambassador.”

       Hoggard received the award with applause from those attending.

       â€"A copy of the proclamation will be put on the Arts2Go website so visitors can read it and understand all that Jay has done,” said Allison.

       â€"Well, thank you so much,” Hoggard, said, modestly. â€"I didn’t expect all this.”

       â€"This is a really exciting program; it’s the second year we’ve done this. When we got our new phone system, the stock music that came with it sounded like the, and this not hyperbole, soundtrack from the 1990’s Tales of the Crypt on an HBO television show,” said Drew. â€"Stephan came up with this idea--why not use this to showcase the incredible musicians we have in our community? As people call in to City Hall, mostly from here, but also from all over the country, what better way to showcase some of the musicians we have in our community?”

       Drew said that in last year, while Rani and Dave have been the â€"hold” music, when he picks up the phone people will say, ‘That was amazing! What was it?’ Some have evendownloaded the music as a result.

       Hoggard said that both of his children came through the Middletown Public School system and â€"that this is one of the few systems that still has a very active music program. Many school systems’ music programs have been eliminated over the years.

       â€"This town has a music program that cuts across all demographics and all political perspectives and all the different things that can be perceived as separate but as a tremendous capacity for bonding in the community,” Hoggard said. â€"It’s something that I feel passionate about and have always felt passionate about. In this capacity [as music ambassador], if I have any opportunity to tout the outstanding nature of arts in general and music specific in this town, I am honored.”

       Hoggard will be playing in two events at Wesleyan during the coming semester.
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