Pianist and songwriter Gabe Dixon has built an enviable career since his time at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. He has released a half-dozen acclaimed studio albums, played with some of the biggest names in the music business, and placed songs in high-profile movies and TV shows. And the Frost School is where Dixon built the musical foundations and made the connections that launched his career.
“When I was at the Frost School, I grew as a musician more than at any other time in my life,” Dixon said.
“I really developed a kinship and love of the brotherhood and sisterhood of musicians when I was there. It was so important for me to be in an all-consuming environment, totally immersed in all different kinds of music with people from all over the country who brought their own roots. I think about that place often because it had such a powerful impact on my music and social life.”
Now Dixon is returning to the place that shaped him to perform with the student American Music Ensemble on November 5, a CAM Fest concert at the Knight Center for Music Innovation’s Hormel Innovation Stage. It will be Dixon’s first time on campus since his student days more than a quarter-century ago.
“It’s an honor to be asked to come back and do this,” Dixon said.
Dixon graduated with a degree in classical keyboard performance in the spring of 2000. But the many connections and inspiration he found here were just as important as his degree. In addition to his bandmates in the Gabe Dixon Band and first manager, Dixon also met his wife, Amanda, a biology major, in Miami.
He also met Eddie Kramer, a recording engineer whose credits included The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, who later did a clinic for music engineering students. Dixon’s music impressed Kramer enough that he returned to record the Gabe Dixon Band’s first album, 1999’s “More Than It Would Seem.” Released while Dixon was still a student, that album led to his first record deal with Warner Bros. Records.
Dixon’s Americana-leaning music is a rich, distinctive mix of blues, pop, funk and gospel. He has had major success placing songs in soundtracks including the Sandra Bullock romantic comedy “The Proposal” and the popular Amy Poehler sitcom “Parks and Recreation.”
Like fellow Southern pianist, songwriter and Frost School alum Bruce Hornsby (namesake of the Frost School’s Creative American Music (CAM) program), Dixon splits time between his own career and a wide range of sideman work. His credits include Paul McCartney, Alison Krauss, the late superstar DJ Avicii, and, most recently, the Tedeschi Trucks Band, where he made major contributions to their last two albums.
Growing up in Tennessee, Dixon began taking piano lessons at age 7. Precocious and accomplished at a young age, he played in a Nashville country band while still in middle school, taught himself to jam out on Elton John and Billy Joel songs, and got formal training in a Vanderbilt University pre-college music program.
Dixon was drawn to the Frost School by the chance to work with keyboard performance chair JB Floyd, who embraced jazz and experimental as well as classical music. “I lived in these two worlds growing up,” said Dixon. “He was open to all the stuff I was into.”
Dixon excelled in his degree program and graduated with honors. But he studied classical music primarily to develop his formidable technique and musicianship.
“I never really had a strong feeling that I was going to become a classical pianist,” Dixon said. “But I continued on that track because it felt like what a musician should do to develop their craft. And being part of a lineage gave me an excuse to connect with my instrument regularly. I loved the classical stuff, but I’ve been writing songs since I was 15. Sometimes I would make a mistake while practicing Debussy or Beethoven. That happy accident would send me into a musical tangent that might become the beginning of a new original song.”
Dixon’s time at the Frost School predated both the Modern Artist Development and Entrepreneurship (M.A.D.E.) and CAM programs. But he informally created a personal contemporary music program with friends while exploring the pop, jazz, and R&B styles that have defined his professional career. He formed the Gabe Dixon Band on campus with fellow students Jano Rix on drums, Winston Harrison on bass and Chandler Webber on alto saxophone.
“Those guys completely blew my mind,” Dixon said of his classmates-turned-bandmates. “I was like, ‘This could be a real augmentation to songs I’m writing and playing.’ Playing with them was a dream. The environment was very open and free. The best thing I got at the Frost School was a community of musicians, and being inspired by my fellow students.”
Another friend from freshman year, jazz drummer Randy Schrager, became a longtime collaborator who plays in Dixon’s current band.
During his visit, Dixon will talk to students about his musical journey. He will arrive early for rehearsals, accompanied by his oldest son—a 16-year-old drummer who is making a campus visit as he scopes out potential colleges.
Coordinated by M.A.D.E. associate professor Daniel Strange, who directs AME, the show will feature Dixon playing material from throughout his career, including some he wrote at the Frost School. AME students will arrange the songs and also perform their own. They’re excited about the opportunity to work with an alumni artist of Dixon’s caliber.
“All of us in M.A.D.E. hope to have careers in music as full and exciting as his has been,” said singer/songwriter Anakeesta Ironwood, a senior. “It’s like a glimpse into a hopeful future. I really like his arrangements. I’m a folk artist but love combining genres, being inspired by people’s talents that I don’t have myself.”
Fellow AME member Fritz Sullivan is also looking forward to working with Dixon on this concert. A multi-talented instrumentalist and singer-songwriter, Sullivan fell in love with Dixon’s song “All Will Be Well” in a “Parks and Recreation” episode when he was in middle school.
“That kind of emotional feel-good songwriting stands out to me because I write like that too,” said Sullivan, a M.A.D.E. senior whose newgrass band The Wire Jays are moving to Dixon’s hometown of Nashville after he graduates. ”He’s a really good example of the wide expanse of ways you can become successful. Frost opens the door to a lot of those opportunities that wouldn’t open as easily if you didn’t go here.”
Strange has wanted to bring Dixon back to campus for years, and he sees it as a benefit to everyone involved. Dixon will experience the excellence of Frost School’s current student musicians, while the students can draw inspiration from an alumnus who has forged his own path in the music industry.
“Him being an alumnus coming back gives our students a confidence that’s so important,” said Strange. “They see that he’s an alum from here and has had the career he's wanted to have. The vibe I get from him is that he’s very happy doing everything he does. I think this will be a great influence on our students.”
