VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Virginia Beach musician Justin Kauflin is an award-winning jazz musician and composer who has worked with Grammy winners such as Quincy Jones and Herbie Hancock. We caught up with the artist recently, and his amazing career has come full circle.
Kauflin started playing music at an early age, but a degenerative eye disease was slowly dimming his world.
He said, “The piano immediately became my haven. It brought music into focus.”
He auditioned for the Virginia Governor’s School for the Arts and was accepted.
“I really found myself. I found a community I could belong to with the students because jazz is more of an oral tradition. You learn by ear. You learn by listening to the people you admire,” he said.
He met legendary jazz trumpeter Clark Terry while in college in New Jersey. Kauflin is featured in a documentary about Terry, and through that connection he met Quincy Jones.
“What’s meaningful to me is that through Quincy's connection to Clark, and their love for one another, I was able to meet Jones,” he said.
Jones invited Kauflin to tour with him. “It’s still surreal. I was there at his 91st birthday shortly before he passed away. We were in Quincy's living room and we were playing for him. Herbie Hancock was at the party — someone I’ve been fortunate enough to be around,” Kauflin said.
While Kauflin has traveled the world with some of the best jazz musicians, home was calling. The enriching, nurturing experience at the Governor’s School stayed with him, and he accepted a teaching position at the school he credits with his success.
He said he realized he had an opportunity to share what he’d learned from people such as Clark Terry, Quincy Jones and Mulgrew Miller.
Kauflin still tours and plays gigs, including this one at Roads Bistro in Virginia Beach, but his current role lets him pass the jazz tradition to the next generation.
Justin Kauflin is a local treasure and a positive presence in Hampton Roads.
https://www.justinkauflin.com/
