blogtalkGVJLarryRidley63009

Born September 3, 1937, Indianapolis, IN, USA.

2005 -- Doctor of Performing Arts - University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
1993 -- Master of Arts, Cultural Policy - State University of New York/Empire State College.
1971 -- Bachelor of Science, Music Education - Indiana University (1955-1959)/New York University (1968-1971).

Professor of Music, Emeritus - Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, beginning 1999
Professor of Music - Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, 1971-1999
Chairman - Music Department, Livingston College of Rutgers University, 1972-1980
Chief Architect, beginning 1971, Rutgers University undergraduate/graduate Jazz performance degree programs.
Adjunct Professor of Jazz Bass - Manhattan School of Music, NYC, 1991 - Present.

National Endowment for the Arts: Jazz Panelist, 1974-1978 (Panel Chairman, 1976-1978); National Coordinator - Jazz Artists in Schools Pilot Program, 1978-1982.

Music Panelist - NY State Council on the Arts, 1987-1990; United States Information Agency, 1992; and numerous other State arts agencies beginning in the 1970s to the present, e.g., NC, PA, MI, NJ, OH, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation; New York Foundation for the Arts;

Executive Director - African American Jazz Caucus (AAJC) (a former affiliate of the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE), beginning in the Fall of the year 2000 to the present.

9/16/2001 - 6/30/2002 Member Board of Directors, Madame C.J. Walker Theatre Center, Indianapolis, IN

2001 - Recipient of the Howard University "Benny Golson Award".

1999 - Inducted into the Down Beat Magazine Jazz Education Hall of Fame.

1998 - Inducted into the International Association of Jazz Educators Hall of Fame, NYC Convention.

1997 - Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation's "Living Legacy Jazz Award", Kennedy Center, Washington DC.

Leader, Bassist and Artistic Director - the JAZZ LEGACY ENSEMBLE® , 1985 to the Present.

1982 - CoFounder & Partner - Jazz Cultural Theatre, NYC, w/Barry Harris, Jim Harrison, Frank Fuentes.

1977 - While performing in Lesotho, Southern Africa - Given the Sesotho name, Tsepo , which means Hope, Trust.

JAZZ ARTIST IN RESIDENCE: Grambling College; Southern University; University of Utah; Drake University; Creighton University; Colorado College; Penn State University; Bowdoin College; Alcorn State; Bennington College; College of the Virgin Islands; University of Natal-Durban (under the auspices of the United States Information Service); Madame Walker Theatre Center, Indianapolis, IN - 7/1/2002 to 9/30/2002; Northern Illinois University; University of Maryland Eastern Shore; University of the Virgin Islands; Schomburg Center/New York Public Library - 1993 to the present.