DICK GRIFFIN

James Richard Griffin is a proud son of Jackson, Mississippi. He said, “Every day, a man named Mr. Jessie, who lived on our street, came home from work and pulled out his guitar to make a song about his day. I was six years old. All the kids loved to hear Mr. Jessie play.”

“I began my music journey as a choir singer. My mother was a caregiver and domestic worker. She married my stepfather, when I was a year old. He died in a car accident, when I was seven. I am the oldest child with three younger sisters,” Dick recounted.

His mother was a single parent. “My sisters gave me unbiased love. On Sundays, I got dressed, first, so I could attend the sanctified church with holy rollers, until my family was ready to go to our church. I loved that experience. It translated to the rest of my experience with music. Sometimes, I had transcendental experiences, playing trombone,” Dick shared.

by Radha Botofasina

Raised on great southern cooking at Big Sunday dinners, Dick felt loved by his family members. “My mother was a giver and, every Sunday, my friend Paul was seated at the dinner table with us,” Dick remembered. At fourteen, the school’s band teacher told Dick to choose an instrument. “I chose trumpet, but the teacher said there were too many trumpet players, already,” Dick said.

The band teacher said if he played trombone, he could take it home that day. From then on, high school was filled with music. Dick earned money with his singing group that won the grand prize of opening for Sam Cooke, who offered them a job, opening for the Sam Cooke Revue. However, their our parents said they had to finish high school.

Dick attended Utica Junior College for two years. His band director, Mr. Lee, got him a job in a nightclub four nights a week, for ten dollars a night. Dick held that job for six

years, playing piano and singing. He supported himself and helped his family. Dick graduated from Jackson State University with a BA in Music Education. His goal was to be a band director.

“When I finished college, I headed to Chicago and joined Sun Ra’s Galactic Arkestra. But the draft brought me back to Mississippi to teach grades six through 12, for two years, to get a deferment,” Dick reported.

Griffin went on to join the Charlie Mingus Big Band, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and Sun Ra. He is a composer, and his most well-known song is Love Always Blues. Eventually, he moved to New York and was the sideman in many musical settings, including plays on Broadway line Me and Bessie and the original Wiz. His advice to younger musicians is “Practice slow to fast. The more you give the more you get from the instrument.”