Ron Modell, Professor Emeritus, NIU School of Music
Ron Modell, the founder of NIU’s world renowned jazz program passed away, Tuesday, June 10 at his DeKalb home. An accomplished musician, Modell joined NIU’s School of Music faculty in 1969 and quickly created the jazz program and established the NIU Jazz Ensemble as one of the finest collegiate jazz bands in the world.
A talented trumpeter, Modell played with legends like Louis Armstrong, Maynard Ferguson, Dizzy Gillespie, Louie Bellson and many more.
Modell brought many top tier performers to NIU. Duke Ellington’s final performance of his career was in the ballroom at the Holmes Student Center that now bears his name.
In 1983 Downbeat magazine ranked the NIU Jazz Ensemble as the top college band in the country.
In 1984, WTTW in Chicago produced a documentary on the jazz ensemble, appropriately titled A Year in the Life of the Greatest College Jazz Band in America.
Quincy Jones asked for the NIU Jazz Ensemble to serve as the band for a tribute performance at the Montreaux Jazz Festival in Switzerland to honor Jones’ 50 years in music.
Quincy Jones with Ron Modell at the 1996 Montreux Jazz Festival
The four-hour concert was a triumph. So much that the festival asked the NIU Jazz Ensemble to perform another show on an outdoor stage the next day for people who hadn’t been able to buy tickets for the tribute. That performance lasted two hours and featured three encores.
One of the musicians in attendance was pop star Phil Collins, who was so impressed that he approached Modell with the opportunity to have the jazz ensemble perform with him on his upcoming summer long international big band tour. Modell assembled a roster of NIU Jazz Ensemble alumni to form a band for Collins and they joined him.
Modell’s legacy lives on at NIU as the jazz program continues to be one of the best in the nation. Ron Carter succeeded Modell in running the program, then Reggie Thomas, and now it is helmed by Roosevelt Griffin III who is an alum of the program. Just two years ago, the NIU Jazz Orchestra competed at Lincoln Center in New York City at the 2023 Jack Rudin Jazz Championships and brought back five awards.
In 2014, Modell published his memoir, Loved Bein’ Here With You, with the forward written by Quincy Jones. The book’s title comes from the 1961 Peggy Lee song “I Love Being Here With You” which served as the signature song of the NIU Jazz Ensemble during Modell’s tenure as the band finished every concert with it.
Ron Modell with Duke Ellington, 1974
Last year, Tantara Productions unearthed a high quality recording of a January 1990 NIU Jazz Ensemble performance at Joliet’s Rialto Square Theatre. Under the direction of Modell, the set featured three well known guest soloists Carl Fontana, Conte Candoli and Louie Bellson. The concert recording and liner notes can be downloaded with proceeds going to NIU music scholarships endowed by Modell and by Lynn Lichtenauer (the wife of Tantara’s owner Bill Lichtenauer.)
In 2015, Modell did an interview with WNIJ’s Dan Klefstad to discuss his book. The wide-ranging interview can be listened to in its entirety at Northern Public Radio’s website and is an informative and entertaining look back at the incredible career Modell enjoyed as a performer and educator.
Top photo: Modell directing the NIU Jazz Ensemble at the 1996 Montreaux Jazz Festival.
