Biography
Born in Galveston, Texas, on January 5, 1930, Frederick Tillis rose to prominence among African American composers, his approach shaped by European influences alongside the jazz environment of his youth. Over many years he also distinguished himself as an educator at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
His teenage mother Bernice and her parents raised him under limited means, yet she nurtured his developing musical abilities. After gazing at instruments in Galveston shop windows, he acquired a bugle and entered the drum and bugle corps at segregated Central High School. He later moved to the trumpet in the school jazz band; the director further encouraged the saxophone, echoing the path of idol Benny Carter. During World War II the arrival of military personnel in local clubs enabled him to perform for pay under the name Baby Tillis. Although her church voiced disapproval of the late hours, his mother maintained her support. After the war a music scholarship brought him to historically black Wiley College, where he became band director immediately upon graduation.
Additional study remained a priority, and G.I. Bill resources allowed him to pursue it while seeking to leave segregation behind by heading north to the University of Iowa. Service in the U.S. Air Force briefly halted his coursework, but he returned to earn both master’s and doctoral degrees. Teaching positions at historically African American institutions followed, first at Wiley College, then Grambling College (now University), and finally Kentucky State University from 1967 to 1969. He was then recruited to the faculty of UMass Amherst, where he remained from 1970 until retiring in 1997. “If I made my living off royalties from my music, we would be living in the poor house,” he told Contemporary Black Biography. Later he released a dozen volumes of poetry.
The creator of more than 125 works, Tillis fused jazz and classical idioms in orchestral, choral, chamber, and vocal compositions. Especially notable are his large choral pieces, among them Freedom, composed in response to the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and concertos that place a soloist before a jazz orchestra. A sequence of twelve pieces bears the title “Spiritual Fantasy,” most scored for soloist with orchestra or piano; the final one was written for string quartet. Several received recordings. Tillis died in Amherst, Massachusetts, on May 3, 2020.
His teenage mother Bernice and her parents raised him under limited means, yet she nurtured his developing musical abilities. After gazing at instruments in Galveston shop windows, he acquired a bugle and entered the drum and bugle corps at segregated Central High School. He later moved to the trumpet in the school jazz band; the director further encouraged the saxophone, echoing the path of idol Benny Carter. During World War II the arrival of military personnel in local clubs enabled him to perform for pay under the name Baby Tillis. Although her church voiced disapproval of the late hours, his mother maintained her support. After the war a music scholarship brought him to historically black Wiley College, where he became band director immediately upon graduation.
Additional study remained a priority, and G.I. Bill resources allowed him to pursue it while seeking to leave segregation behind by heading north to the University of Iowa. Service in the U.S. Air Force briefly halted his coursework, but he returned to earn both master’s and doctoral degrees. Teaching positions at historically African American institutions followed, first at Wiley College, then Grambling College (now University), and finally Kentucky State University from 1967 to 1969. He was then recruited to the faculty of UMass Amherst, where he remained from 1970 until retiring in 1997. “If I made my living off royalties from my music, we would be living in the poor house,” he told Contemporary Black Biography. Later he released a dozen volumes of poetry.
The creator of more than 125 works, Tillis fused jazz and classical idioms in orchestral, choral, chamber, and vocal compositions. Especially notable are his large choral pieces, among them Freedom, composed in response to the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and concertos that place a soloist before a jazz orchestra. A sequence of twelve pieces bears the title “Spiritual Fantasy,” most scored for soloist with orchestra or piano; the final one was written for string quartet. Several received recordings. Tillis died in Amherst, Massachusetts, on May 3, 2020.