About this Artist

Not your traditional origin story, Dr. Jasmine “Jazzie” Pigott genuinely wanted to play the tuba from a young age because of a show called Veggie Tales. Only, in the fourth grade, she made the mistake of confusing it with the trombone and choosing that instead. Not impressed, she dealt with that for a year before jumping on the opportunity to bug her band director until he finally handed her an authentic tuba. This was true love at first sight, becoming her strongest life-long commitment at only the age of 10.  

With finding nothing more promising than a career as a musician, Dr. Jazzie decided to follow that as her career path. Torn between majoring in voice or tuba, she made the tough decision to put voice to the side to follow her true calling as a professional tuba player and educator. However, since then, she has found a way to showcase her voice with the tuba. She attended Ithaca College for music education, until realizing after her sophomore elective recital that she enjoyed solo performance so much that she added a performance degree. During that year, she also began to once again participate in choirs, becoming one of the student leaders of the Dorothy Cotton Jubilee Singers under the direction of Dr. Baruch Whitehead. Through these various avenues of performance, Dr. Jazzie learned how to find and use her voice in more than music.  

Following the 2016 election, Dr. Jazzie formed the IC Musicians of Color, her first exploration into making spaces for musicians of color and allies in predominantly white environments. At this time, however, the tensions of the world seeped into her personal life. Her best friend and roommate ended up a secret neo-nazi, who left the school suddenly and harassed her for months on end, calling her the N-word and threatening to join the KKK. While heart breaking, this experience empowered her to dive headfirst into using her career as a platform for social change–to do what she could to prevent the same situations from happening to other people of color by sharing her story and promoting the value of representation in the field. 

In 2018, Dr. Jazzie’s first tour as a soloist to Costa Rica, along with vocalist Fred Peterbark and pianist Oliver Scott, allowed her to witness the power of representation firsthand as a performer. Performing spirituals for a predominately Black audience in Limon and witnessing the joy as they sang along and applauded changed her forever. Since, she has completed several research and performance projects with the goal of increasing representation of Black musicians, music styles, and composers.