Mitchell Gaddis’ passion is jazz, “hands down.”

He began playing trumpet his junior year of high school and hasn’t stopped since. He started a jazz program at NIU that informs students about the history of jazz and how it relates to American history.

Gaddis, a junior jazz studies major, hails from the South Side of Chicago. He often plays shows in Chicagoland.

He describes himself as a respectable young man, serious about his craft and constantly working and teaching people about music. He is trying to break the stereotype of jazz musicians being lazy, drug-addicted and dishonest. It’s his goal to show jazz musicians in a different light. Gaddis said he believes that being a musician is just as respectable as being the CEO of a company. He thinks it’s difficult to gain respect as a musician because many people assume playing music is a hobby and not a career.

Gaddis’ musical influences include P. Diddy, Miles Davis, Wynton Marsalis and Ronald Carter. He currently listens to a lot of Kenny Dorham.

The musician impressed other NIU band members when he showed up in a suit for his first band rehearsal. Fellow classmates thought he was a member of Lincoln Center, which is the band Marsalis plays with. Consequently, the nickname “Lincoln Center” has stuck with him.

When Gaddis isn’t honing his trumpet skills – which he does for three to five hours per day – he enjoys reading comic books and autobiographies and watching the news. He also enjoys playing the piano and being involved in the NAACP. When the weather is nice, he enjoys walking around the lagoon with his significant other.

In the future, Gaddis hopes to be working out of New York with Lincoln Center and teaching jazz studies. He would also love to be an ambassador of jazz for the United States or an agent for a major record label, like Bad Boy or Columbia Records. Jazz will continue to be Gaddis’ main focus for the rest of his life.

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