Lisa (Cavanaugh) Linde '92 was recently inducted into the Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association (MICCA) Hall of Fame. Linde has been the instrumental music director at Newton South High School since 1998. Under her direction, their ensembles have consistently received state, regional, and national recognition, including acceptance to the 2018 and 2021 Essentially Ellington HS Jazz Festivals and to the Charles Mingus HS Jazz Festival for the past four years, placing second in 2019.
Lisa’s selection to the MICCA Hall of Fame was based in part on her advocacy for gender equality in jazz, and her work as the founder of the nonprofit, jazzhers, an organization committed to shaping the future of jazz by helping young musicians who identify as female and nonbinary to become connected to and feel empowered within the jazz community.
We caught up with Lisa by Zoom, and she shared these thoughts about her work as an educator and advocate.
Congrats on this great honor—what was your reaction upon hearing the news?
I was shocked! It’s a huge honor—MICCA is such an amazing group of people, volunteers who work so hard to make music education better through programs like their Summer Institute and numerous festivals during the school year. When I look at the list of previous winners, it’s literally all of the mentors I’ve had, people that were so critical to my own development. So being included with them is just incredible.
How did your time at UMass help you to become such a successful professional and advocate?
My professors were all amazing—people like Bill Rowell, Dave Sporny, and Jeff Holmes all had a huge part in my development, helping me to take what I learned in high school and take it to the next level. They’re all such leaders in their field, exemplifying the highest level of musicianship, who also do great work in the music education community.
Regarding the music program that you lead at Newton South, what are you most proud of?
When I finished graduate school at the New England Conservatory, I was looking for an opportunity to build an excellent music program where the ensembles perform at a high level. But I soon realized that what’s much more important than winning awards is building the culture, a sense of community, teaching kids to mentor each other, and I think we’ve accomplished that. We do go to competitions, but our focus is on building connections—to one another, to our audiences, and even composers and musicians past and present through the experience of musical performance.
What led you to become such a strong advocate for gender equality in jazz?
Early on, I saw how instruments get genderized—I was the only trombonist in my band in the late ‘80s, but there was this sense that things were changing. Fast forward to the 2018 Essentially Ellington Jazz Fest at Lincoln Center, where the top 15 high school jazz ensembles in the country are chosen to receive sectional clinics. Our band was invited, and when I looked around, I saw that I was the only female director there, and the first in about 20 years. My own jazz band that year only had two female musicians. That experience made me realize that I couldn't just stay on the sidelines, and that I need to look at what’s holding women back from entering into the field of jazz.
What steps are you taking to help address this lack of participation in jazz by women?
At that same Essentially Ellington Festival, I remember hearing (Lincoln Center Managing and Artistic Director) Wynton Marsalis answer a question about the lack of female representation in jazz, and he said, "If you see a void or a lack somewhere in your world, put yourself into that space and see if you can change it." That idea helped inspire me to form jazzhers in 2018—we're focusing on bringing together young women and people who identify as non-binary and providing them with mentors and resources. At present, we’re doing a lot of identifying the problems and possible solutions. For example, Terri Lyne Carrington has founded the Institute for Jazz and Gender Justice at Berklee, and one of the questions they’re exploring is what would jazz sound like if all voices are represented. Jazz has reflected all male heterosexual voices up to now, so when you open it up to all, how does the sound and tone quality change?
What’s next on the horizon for you?
With my work at Newton South, I’m struggling to in maintain music’s importance in the face of many scheduling changes instituted by our district once in-person learning resumed. Even with an award-winning program, institutions still tend to overlook the arts. In terms of bigger picture advocacy work, I’d like to work on forming ensembles that are focused on women and non-binary students, doing some community-building that way, while also introducing students to important women musicians in jazz history—people like Mary Lou Williams, who was a mentor and teacher to Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, and Miles Davis. It’s important to send the message that women have always been a part of this.
More about the MICCA Hall of Fame: https://miccamusic.org/halloffame.html
More about jazzhers: https://www.jazzhers.com/making-changes