Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science

News

Jazz At Drew celebrates 15 years with a little of the old and
something new.

By Cynthia E. Griffin
OW Staff Writer

Reggie Bullen and his family tell a story that exemplifies exactly what the Jazz At Drew Musical Legacy Series and Cultural Marketplace is all about. Bullen is a trumpet and brass musician who spent 1981 to 1984 working in Marvin Gaye’s band.“I went over to Europe with him, and it was a great experience. I was about 22 or 23,” remembered the Watts-born musician. “It was one of my bigger musical moments.” But the birth of one of his children kept Bullen from going with Gaye on what would turn out to be his last tour, and the musician himself said, “I sort of went left field after Marvin. I was on drugs and wasn’t playing any music for about 10 years.”

After hitting a low point, Bullen said he went into a program to regain his sobriety.
“Then I said, ‘Now that I’m sober, what am I going to do with my life?’ I was so grateful to be sober. I went to Compton College (in 1998) and took general education and music classes.”

The next year, he checked into the Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science College of Allied Health as a human resources major with a specialization in substance abuse. Bullen completed his certification as a drug counselor and continued to work on an associates of science degree.
“Dr. Taylor and Dr. Ding in the Alcohol Research/HIV Substance abuse department took an interest in me and gave me a shot as a research technician. I didn’t even know how to turn on a computer,” recalled Bullen, still amazed at the chance the researchers took on him, a former substance abuser.
One thing led to another, and Bullen ended up working with the researchers for two years.
About the same time (2000), one of his daughters graduated from high school and wanted to go to college. “She had decent grades, so I told her maybe she should come over to Drew,” said Bullen. “She reluctantly went and completed the pharmacy tech program, cum laude. Then she took the health information tech course, and finished that cum laude. Now she’s just been offered a position with the county making $28 an hour.”

In 2000, Bullen also obtained custody of his youngest daughter, whose grades he described as “deplorable.” “She was getting Ds and Fs, and that didn’t work with me. At the time, I was doing work study with Lorraine Gray (of the Saturday Science Academy, which is connected with Drew University),” recalled Bullen. He put his daughter in the program, which focuses on helping area students improve their grades. It is also designed to give young people interested in science, math and a medical career a leg up. “She was there six or seven months, and her grades started to soar,” said Bullen of his youngest daughter, who is now a straight A senior at Narbonne High School in Harbor City.
While all of this was going on, the musician said, he also started to play his music again, and his first professional gig (after sobriety) was playing in 2001 with the Jazz At Drew All Stars band.
This year he will be performing at the event with the Marvin Gaye Tribute band and the 1970s all-female vocal group The Emotions. “I had kept in touch with Zeola (Marvin’s sister) over the years, and she called me and said Howard Westbrook wanted to do something with Marvin’s music,” Bullen said. That something was a tribute band that debuted in a Valley club in February of this year.
“It went over very well. So, we performed again at Bones and Blues (at the Watts Labor Community Action Committee [WLCAC] jazz club), and it was a real packed house. That’s where Roland Betts saw us. He said, ‘I want you guys at Jazz at Drew.’”

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