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Janice Scroggins (July 17, 1955May 27, 2014) was a jazz pianist and instructor in
Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populou ...
.


Early life

Scroggins was born in 1955 in
Idabel, Oklahoma Idabel is a city in and county seat of McCurtain County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 7,010 at the 2010 census. It is located in the southeast corner of Oklahoma, a tourist area known as Choctaw Country. History Idabel was est ...
, to Henry and Mary Scroggins. Scroggins first began playing the piano at the age of three. Her mother and grandmother, who were church pianists and organists, were among her first music instructors. She attended high school and college in
Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
, and moved to the Albina community of Portland in 1978 along with her infant daughter, Arietta Ward.


Musical career

Scroggins performed with Portland area musicians including Linda Hornbuckle, Thara Memory,
Curtis Salgado Curtis Salgado (born February 4, 1954, in Everett, Washington, United States) is a Portland, Oregon-based blues, blues rock, and blue-eyed soul singer-songwriter. He plays harmonica and fronts his own band as lead vocalist. Career Salgado ...
, Mel Brown and was featured regularly with New Orleans saxophonist
Reggie Houston Reggie Houston (born July 2, 1947, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States) is an American musician who plays soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, alto saxophone and baritone saxophone. He is best known for his association with the New Orleans pi ...
. She also played with the Norman Sylvester Blues Band and was a session musician for several other artists. Scroggins was the music director for the Portland Interfaith Gospel Choir. She directed the musical component of the World Arts Foundation's annual tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. for twenty-nine years. Scroggins was also a piano teacher in the Portland Public School system and at
Portland Community College Portland Community College (PCC) is a public community college in Portland, Oregon. It is the largest post-secondary institution in the state and serves residents in the five-county area of Multnomah, Washington, Yamhill, Clackamas, and Colu ...
. In 1987, Scroggins published an album titled "Janice Scroggins Plays Scott Joplin." The album was nominated for a
Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...
in 1988. She published her second major album, "Piano Love", in 2013. She also performed at the
Portland Jazz Festival The Portland Jazz Festival, now known as the Biamp PDX Jazz Festival, is an annual multi-venue series of over 100 jazz events held during the month of February. Events are presented throughout Portland, Oregon in such venues as P5 Center for the ...
in March 2013. Her music was influenced by gospel, or
church music Church music is Christian music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclesiastical liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn. History Early Christian music The on ...
, as well as
African rhythms Sub-Saharan African music is characterised by a "strong rhythmic interest" that exhibits common characteristics in all regions of this vast territory, so that Arthur Morris Jones (1889–1980) has described the many local approaches as constit ...
and
country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whil ...
.Oregon Arts Watch
writer Bob Hicks described her music as having "a little bit of Oklahoma and a little bit of Oakland and a little bit of gospel and a whole river of American musical history in it".


Family

Scroggins had three children; Arietta Ward, Nafisaria Scroggins, and Francis Scroggins. At the time of her death, she had three grandchildren.


Death

Scroggins died of a heart attack on May 27, 2014, shortly after playing piano for a
Portland Community College Portland Community College (PCC) is a public community college in Portland, Oregon. It is the largest post-secondary institution in the state and serves residents in the five-county area of Multnomah, Washington, Yamhill, Clackamas, and Colu ...
class. She died at the Sylvania campus. Scroggins was fifty-eight years old at the time.


Tributes

In 1992, Scroggins was inducted into the Cascade Blues Association Hall of Fame. She was inducted into the
Oregon Music Hall of Fame The Oregon Music Hall of Fame is an award honoring musicians from the U.S. state of Oregon. The first induction ceremony took place on October 13, 2007. History The Oregon Music Hall of Fame was conceived of in the 1990s by a group called the Ore ...
in 2013. On August 9, 2014, Scroggins was honored with a free festival by Portland blues artists Norman Sylvester, the Linda Hornbuckle Band, the Strange Tones, and others.


Discography

* ''Janice Scroggins Plays Scott Joplin'', Flying Heart Records (1987) * ''Piano Love,'' MAH Records (2014)


External links


Ms. Janice Scroggins and her 88 Keys



References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scroggins, Janice 1955 births 2014 deaths African-American pianists American jazz pianists American blues pianists Gospel music pianists Musicians from Portland, Oregon People from Idabel, Oklahoma 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American women pianists Jazz musicians from Oklahoma Educators from Portland, Oregon African-American history in Portland, Oregon African-American educators American music educators African-American women educators American women music educators Portland Community College faculty African-American history of Oregon American women academics African-American women musicians 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American musicians 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women