After over 40 years of service to the University music department, John D’earth, Director of Jazz Performance, is set to retire in January 2025. Known for his striking trumpet skills, creative musical compositions and unwavering dedication to the arts, D’earth has become a cornerstone in both the University and local Charlottesville music scene, fostering a legacy that will resonate long after his departure.
D’earth said that he got his start in music early in life, as his father was an avid listener of jazz. As a result, he grew up surrounded by staples of the genre such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald. D’earth said he had a childhood dream of becoming an actor, but this was quickly surpassed when he saw Armstrong play his trumpet in a movie, sparking a lifelong curiosity of the instrument and music as a whole.
“It blew my mind to see him play and to hear the music he was playing, which I loved when I was a little kid,” D’earth said.
D’earth first picked up the trumpet at eight years old, and his love for the instrument only intensified as he got older. The passion for playing that D’earth possessed as a young adult led him to leave college in the 1970s to join the vibrant jazz scene in New York City, surrounding himself with some of the best quality musicians on the planet.
In the city, D’earth co-founded his band Cosmology with drummer Robert Jospé and vocalist Dawn Thompson, D’earth’s late wife. The band lived and played in New York for over twelve years.
“I was very lucky through those twelve years that I lived in New York,” D’earth said. “I was able to play with some really substantial people and learn a lot.”
Despite being an invaluable experience, D’earth said it was hard to be heard in New York, as the city mostly catered to musicians who were at the top of the industry’s food chain. This competitive environment sparked a departure from the city for the band that brought them to Charlottesville in 1981.
“We were getting out of the city for the summer … but we stayed because things had started to go well with us here,” D’earth said. “In Charlottesville, there is a really vibrant jazz community that actually finds a way to be heard.”
One of the most impactful ways D’earth integrated himself into the Charlottesville sound was through his involvement at Miller’s, the iconic restaurant and music venue which is famously where the Dave Matthews Band got their start, located on the Downtown Mall.
During his tenure performing at Miller’s in the 1980s, D’earth started the venue’s Thursday Jazz series as a way to incorporate a steady place for both musicians and listeners to relish in their love for the genre, which according to D’earth has remained one of the longest running jazz gigs in the country.
The ingenuity and talent that D’earth displayed at Miller’s was what led him to the University in 1982. The University’s Jazz Ensemble — which was a struggling student-run organization at the time — requested his help specifically.
“[The students] heard I had come, moved to town, and they knew that I had played with these big bands,” D’earth said. “So they asked me to come and help them, and they liked what we were doing, so they hired me themselves.”
D’earth’s involvement with the ensemble eventually turned into his full time position as the University’s Director of Jazz Performance. In his time at the University and in the Charlottesville area, D’earth has been in demand as a teacher for his extensive musical knowledge and ability to foster a young players' talent.
D’earth has also composed for local groups such as the Charlottesville Symphony, developing a rich musical community in the area. Given by the Jazz Journalists Association, D’earth was a recipient of the Jazz Hero award in April for contributions to the expansive jazz community in central Virginia.
D’earth’s over 40 year long career at the University will culminate in his last concert with the University Jazz Ensemble. The program, entitled “New Beginnings,” is set to feature a variety of guest artists alongside the student band. D’earth said that all of these musicians reached out to him at various points during the semester asking to perform with him before his retirement, prompting him to invite them all to join on stage for the concert.
One of these artists is alto saxophonist Pureum Jin, a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music and rising international jazz star. Additionally, four University alumni that have made a career in jazz will present on stage alongside D’earth — bassist Lisa Mezzacappa, baritone saxophonist Kathy Olson, pianist Kait Dunton and tenor saxophonist John Petrucelli.
Beyond this professional lineup, the concert will also feature student musicians from the University Jazz Ensemble, completing the strong band full of more extraordinary soloists that will perform. D’earth said that while most of the students in the ensemble do not plan to be professional musicians post-grad, they are sure to hold their own next to the professional guests.
D’earth explained that one of the main purposes of the ensemble is to help musically gifted students explore jazz and keep it in their lives in balance with their academics.
“By and large, [the people] in the Jazz Ensemble are not going to be professional musicians later in life,” D’earth said. “They're going to be doctors, lawyers, English professors, historians, computer scientists … and they have this wonderful talent in music.”
Although he is retiring from the University, D’earth said he does not plan on retiring his music career in the slightest. With his new abundance of time, D’earth said he will focus on performing with his quintet — made of J.C. Kuhl on tenor saxophone, Daniel Clarke on piano, Peter Spaar on bass, Devonne Harris on drums, and D'earth on trumpet — as well as his compositional work. Reflecting his diverse love of music, D’earth said he will also expand his drumming and singing skills hoping to perform and record those abilities sometime in the near future.
“'I've actually got a bucket list,” D’earth said. “I'm taking drum lessons to really get better on the drums … and I want to sing in front of people.”
As a pillar of the University jazz program, D’earth leaves big shoes to fill for whomever takes his place. He occupies a unique place at the University, seamlessly balancing the roles of teacher, mentor, and director. Though he is leaving quite a legacy, he believes that the music department is more than capable of finding individuals to inherit his position.
“I feel like I'm leaving the jazz program in really good shape,” D’earth said. “We have incredible people now on the academic faculty that do real creative music, and those people are Nicole Mitchell on the flute and JoVia Armstrong [on] percussion.”
In his last semester, D’earth said he hopes to leave his students with one final reminder — the importance of keeping music alive in their lives, no matter where their paths lead.
“Our goal is to never lose the music,” D’earth said. “Because it leavens everything in a person's life and makes it better.”
For D’earth, jazz has been more than a profession — it has been a way to understand himself and connect with others. He said he hopes his students and the community at large will find in music the same grounding and joy that it has given him, carrying it forward as a quiet but constant presence in whatever they do.
See John D’earth and the University Jazz Ensemble perform “New Beginnings” at 8 p.m., Nov. 9 in Old Cabell Hall. Tickets are $5 for students and can be purchased online at the U.Va. Arts Box Office.
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