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Thomas Carroll

Northwestern student studying magazine journalism and music.

About Me

I love reading, writing and listening to music and I’m trying my best to synthesize these things in a way that helps me experience even more fulfillment in life. I try to keep my ears open to all kinds of music and try to find the high points in the stuff I don’t like because all musicians have a message, but everyone can’t appreciate the way each individual message is conveyed.

I have been involved in journalism in some capacity or another for as long as my academic career has counted for anything (since high school) and I have been a percussionist for just a bit longer. I played in rock bands in high school until some of my friends introduced me to jazz my junior year and since then I have been working to expand my musical involvement with reckless abandon. This earnest expansion has included big bands, combos, funk groups, free-improv duets, concert music, and more. In college I am doing my best to improve my writing while still setting aside time to play music and work out.

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My Jazz Story

I was first exposed to jazz by some fellow musicians in my junior year high school gym class while running. I fell in love with jazz for its frequent musical complexity, but its lack of borders in terms of the multitude of musical genres it can bring together kept me hooked. Jazz provides me with two unique experiences: the experience of being a jazz musician and the experience of being a careful jazz listener. As a player I have the opportunity to interact with other people on a level that non musicians will sadly never be able to experience. As a listener I get to analyze highly expressive music and interpret it in my own personal way. Jazz really is an ongoing conversation and both the musician and audience are integral parts of this exchange.