A retired jazz educator, Carol McQueen is known for her impact on the students of jazz studies in Jacksonville; directing jazz bands at Arlington Middle School, Landon Middle School, now a college preparatory school, and eventually developing the jazz program at LaVilla School of the Arts. She was an amazing supporter of the Jacksonville Jazz Festival, performing at the festival with her bands for many years, providing her band room for Jazz Festival professionals to rehearse, and educating many national jazz musicians who performed at the festival including GRAMMY nominee Jamison Ross, Ulysses Owen, Jr., Alphonso Horne, and more. Without the dedication of Carol McQueen and her love and support of jazz education, the musical fostering of young people and her high musical and ethical standards, the advanced growth, and development of the “Jacksonville” jazz musician would not have been possible to the level that it has achieved.
