On Wednesday, just a week removed from revelations of deep misconduct within the University of Miami’s storied football program, news of collegiate corruption worsened as sources revealed that NCAA investigators are launching a probe into the extension of improper benefits to key members of the University of Chicago’s famed Jazz Band.
In circumstances similar to those facing the Hurricanes, allegations against the UoC Band – known as the Fighting Gillespies – have been levied by a disgruntled former booster, local art collector and music aficionado Herman “Skip” Chapman.
The Gillespies, now facing severe sanctions
Chapman, who became estranged from the program after a creative dispute with legendary band leader Marty Finebaum, revealed that, over the course of a decade, he has provided more than two dozen horn players with NCAA prohibited items and services.
“For years, I’ve sat quietly and let [Finebaum] run the program his way,” Chapman explained in a private interview at Intelligentsia coffee shop in Lakeview. “But, frankly, the amount of scat singing in last year’s Parent’s Weekend show was too much, and it was time for me to say something. After all I’ve done for him, to toss me away like a Kenny G cassette tape because I spoke my mind…well I think it’s time I air some of his dirty laundry.”
Nearly a thousand pages of cash and credit card receipts and extensive photo documentation brought forward by Chapman support the former booster’s claim that he used his deep pockets and ties to the Chicago jazz community to help sway key high school recruits away from rival ensembles at Oberlin College, St. Olaf’s, and Washington University in St. Louis. The records also affirm Chapman’s claim that his beneficiary relationship with those collegiate musicians continued throughout their amateur careers.
Notable among Chapman’s litany of improprieties was his relationship with Gillespie saxophonists Jordan Silverberg and Da Ninc, and especially with star trumpeter Fred “Brassy” Jackson.
Specifically, Chapman claims that as high school recruits, he provided Silverberg, a former fixture on the Midwest Under 18 Youth Jazz Circuit, and Ninc, a product of the famed South Burlington High School (VT) “jazz factory”, with VIP passes to nearly a dozen live shows, including the Orbert Davis Quintet in Hyde Park and the Marsalis Brothers Live at the Chicago Theater.
Financial receipts reveal the extent of Chapman's claims
These improper benefits continued as both became students. In particular, evidence shows that Silverberg accompanied Chapman backstage at the Chicago Jazz Festival, where photos indicate that the booster bought him at least two glasses of wine and introduced him to a handful of women.
Similarly, Chapman’s receipts corroborate his assertion that he outfitted Ninc, a dual threat math-saxophone recruit, with more than $2,000 in Texas Instruments graphing calculators, Office Max notebooks and supplies, and a consistently replenished set of Sudoku puzzles. Chapman also claims that he fueled both Silverberg and Ninc’s supplies of Red Bull energy drinks and Slim Jim beef jerky, which both abused excessively during study sessions.
Chapman purchased Jackson this signed copy of Strayhorn's seminal record, valued at more than $150
No band member, however, benefited more than Brassy Jackson, widely considered America’s top high school trumpeter when he graduated from New York’s School of Performing Arts in 2009. Chapman says that while it was long believed that Jackson favored hometown NYU for college, he won the young prodigy’s commitment to the Gillespies by supplying him with a covert expense account at Dusty Groove America, one of the top vinyl record shops in Illinois. Receipts from the store reveal that Jackson spent nearly $6,500 on more than a hundred rare funk, soul, jazz and hip-hop albums, including a signed copy of Billy Strayhorn’s The Peaceful Side. Additionally, among other Tier 1 violations, emails verify that, through a paid intermediary, Chapman arranged to have Jackson’s “Economics 302: Public Markets” midterm delayed 24 hours so that the star sophomore could stay out late for the second set of the Mojo Mamas live at Blue Chicago.
Speculation regarding penalties for the Gillespies is running rampant among jazz experts, though it remains unclear how severe sanctions will be.
“I don’t think the NCAA ever pulls out another ‘Death Penalty’ after what they did to the Columbia program in the early 90s,” said Lewis Figueroa, a college jazz blogger. “That said, I can’t see how Marty [Finebaum] survives this scandal as band leader, and I imagine they’ll be prohibited from performing any Modern Jazz for at least two, possibly three semesters. That’s going to kill recruiting. They’re in for a real blow.”
When reached for comment, University officials initially denied any wrongdoing within their Jazz Band.
“While we are treating these allegations seriously, this appears to be the case of a bitter former jazz booster spinning tales,” said spokesman Craig O’Brien. “Nonetheless, if any of our fine amateur student musicians were involved in anything improper, we will act swiftly to move them out of our art dorms.”
* Dan Incavo, The Chicago Dope’s Jazz Correspondent, contributed to the writing of this story
Growing up outside of Cleveland, Ohio, Chandler formed a youthful and lasting love for sports, politics, comedy and melted cheese (full disclosure). The Chicago Dope is where his four loves often converge. He hopes you think this site is as dope as he does. 
