Inside Furman February, 2003

Jazzing It Up

Matt Olson doesn't like to toot his own horn. So you have to coax him for information about his pre-Furman music career.

Olson, a saxophone player, has shared the stage with some of music's biggest stars, among them Doc Severinsen, Lou Rawls, the Temptations and the Four Tops. Before joining the faculty last August, Olson was an accomplished saxophonist in Chicago, a hotbed for jazz music.

Although only 30 years old, the Wisconsin native has already run the musical gauntlet of jobs and experienced the highs and lows of a struggling artist. He's rubbed elbows with the stars, but worried about paying the rent; performed for tens of thousands at the world-famous Montreal Jazz Festival, and for a handful of revelers at wedding receptions; and he has swapped music stories with jazz legend James Moody and with a fifth-grader picking up the saxophone for the first time. Olson has performed with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, jammed until the early morning in smoky Chicago jazz clubs, and played background music for Dial Soap television commercials.

"It's a lifestyle that was very difficult. I did OK but grew tired of it," he says. "There was no income stability. You lived gig to gig and private lesson to private lesson. My first paycheck here was deposited directly into my bank account and I thought, 'Wow! In a month from now I'll get another check for exactly this same amount! Cool!'"

Olson began taking saxophone lessons in the fifth grade. But it wasn't until his freshman year in high school, when he was selected as first chair for the Wisconsin All-State Band, that he realized he had a gift. Olson also spent a summer at the National High School Music Institute (NHSMI) hosted by Northwestern University, the school where he would eventually earn bachelor's and master's degrees. He continues to teach jazz each summer at NHSMI.

Currently a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate at the University of Illinois, Olson learned about the job opening at Furman from his friend John Parks, a 1993 Furman alum who now teaches at the University of Kansas. Olson is adjusting well to Furman's relatively small student body, quiet campus, friendly faculty and welcoming climate. And the transition has been easier because his sister, Laura Olson, is a political science professor at Clemson.

Olson wants to jazz up the Furman Jazz Ensemble by teaching students to play in the emotional, spontaneous, toe-tapping styles of big-band leaders Count Basie and Duke Ellington. He also wants to raise the visibility of jazz, both on campus and in the Greenville community.

"For a music department in a small liberal arts school, having a diverse offering of music is both impressive and important," he says. "I want to attract student musicians to Furman that want to be jazz musicians."

Cracking Greenville, he says, might be a little tougher.

"The nicest thing going for jazz in Greenville is the Main Street Jazz Festival [held at Regency Hyatt Plaza on Friday evenings during the summer]," he says. "There is a nice downtown here. Hopefully we can get our foot in the door and do some gigs in town. That would be cool."