Movement & Music Profiles: TSU Aristocrat of Bands

While Nashville is known as Music City, it is a variety of performing and visual arts that truly bring character to Nashville. This year we profiled just some of the incredible organizations dedicated to music and movement that elevate the city.

Since their inception, these organizations have helped Nashville’s light shine brighter and to bring arts to a greater section of the community. Step inside as we talk history, legacy and the future with some of Nashville’s institutions of music and movement.

Less than a mile down Jefferson Street from Fisk, Tennessee State University also has a legacy of graduating students that have flourished and become well-trained musicians. 

TSU Aristocrat of Bands’ groundbreaking music and style has a tradition of attracting the attention of presidents. In 1961, the band was invited to perform at President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural parade — a first for a historically black college band. The TSU Aristocrat of Bands returned to D.C. in 2016 when President Obama asked them to perform on the White House’s South Lawn in celebration of the opening of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

TSU Aristocrat of Bands’ Assistant Director Larry Jenkins recalls that famed music producer Quincy Jones exclaimed, “The band is incredible!” Larry remembers auditioning for the band as a high school student from Virginia. It was his time in the famous band that Larry said, “prepared me for what I would experience for the rest of my life.”

2023 has been the greatest year in the history of the band. Their album, Urban Hymnal, won the GRAMMY Award for Best Roots Gospel Album and was recorded by the band on campus in the band and percussion rooms. Aristocrat of Bands beat category nominees Willie Nelson and the Gaither Vocal Band. 

Larry’s cellphone was constantly buzzing after the TSU band’s historic win. Word quickly spread on campus, and pandemonium broke out in the dorms and classrooms. Larry says, “Students were running out of classrooms during class, celebrating in the halls.” The moment the band made history was very emotional, exciting and humbling for the assistant director, who had once been a trumpet section leader and drum major in the band. Larry felt most excited for his students as they were honored with the recognition that only the best performers receive. This spring, President Biden invited the band back to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. for a South Lawn performance in the inaugural Juneteenth concert. The group’s 100-member performance at the White House was another once-in-a-lifetime experience for this class of students.

Like the North Nashville students who strove to integrate the four lunch counters on Rep. John Lewis Way, the band is composed of young college students who have brought national attention and acclaim to their university.

Tennessee State University has a lot to celebrate this year. This well-known historically black college has seen record-setting enrollment rates, and it is beloved by alumni and the Nashville community. In 2023, Oprah Winfrey, TSU’s most famous alumna, returned to campus to give the commencement address, and TSU President Dr. Glenda Glover welcomed her sorority sister — Vice President Kamala Harris — to give remarks to the graduating class of 2022.