Alternative (and Great) Careers for Jazz Graduates

By Terry Perkins I Sep. 18, 2025

David Weitzman found improvisational spirit in his work with major corporations.
(Photo: Courtesy Sal Crocker)
Gene Dobbs Bradford found his career in arts management after studying at Eastman School of Music.
(Photo: Bailey Davidson)
Leo Sherman discovered videography while working as a musician.
(Photo: Abbey MacKay)
Chuck Manning Works for NASA … and plays jazz.
(Photo: Mary Barrow)

Congratulations! After years of study, you’ve earned your degree in jazz performance. But let’s face it: Making a living wage as a jazz musician can be quite a challenge. If you’ve also earned a degree in music education, and you teach jazz at the middle school, high school or collegiate level, you can pursue opportunities to play jazz outside the classroom as well. But what if you don’t pursue a music education degree? Are there other career paths aside from teaching that work for jazz musicians who want to continue to play music or to use skills they’ve learned as musicians in other professions?

DownBeat interviewed five talented jazz musicians who have achieved success in careers very different from playing jazz for a living — and discovered some interesting connections between those diverse careers and the skills these musicians learned in jazz school.

Jazz Spirit in Silicon Valley

David Weitzman grew up in New Jersey and began playing music in middle school on trumpet, an instrument he chose because it only had three buttons. “Since it only had three,” he recalled, “I thought it must be the easiest to play. Of course, I soon found out that’s exactly why it’s hard.”

Weitzman played in regional and all-state bands in high school and attended the Jazz for Teens program led by bassist Rufus Reid at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. “Rufus would share recordings by Clifford Brown and Freddie Hubbard that had influenced him,” he said. “That program was hugely influential for me.”

He began playing piano in high school to understand theory and improve his improvisation. When it was time to apply to college, he was torn between choosing a major in computer science and jazz piano performance.

“I decided to go to Carnegie-Mellon and major in computer science, since it seemed more realistic and practical” he said. “But it required a minor, so I chose jazz performance. Before I graduated, I had an interview with Google, and when I got my degree, I moved to the South Bay area. I did keep playing piano, on restaurant and bar gigs after work and at a weekly jam session.”

But when Weitzman moved to San Francisco, those gigs became more difficult to get to. He kept up his interest in jazz by attending the Stanford Jazz Workshop led by Barry Harris. Later he played with an area big band, but eventually found other outlets for his musical interests: salsa, tango and swing dancing.

“Dancing seems like physical jazz to me,” he explained. “And I’ve met interesting tango musicians like Pablo Estigarribia. His recent album, tangomorphosis, is a fusion of tango with jazz and hip-hop beats.”

Weitzman now works for Grammarly and previously worked for Pinterest after moving on from Google. Interestingly, he’s noticed traits learned playing in jazz groups carry over to his work as a software engineer.

“I think the spirit of improvisation is a fundamental asset and really works if you’re going to be present with everyone in your group,” he explained. “Finding a common wavelength with a group is essential. If you can find joy in improvisation, you can find joy in life — which is a kind of extended improvisation.”

Improvising Behind the Lens

After his family moved from St. Petersburg, Russia, to Baltimore when he was young, Leo Sherman began playing piano but switched to drums in middle school. He eventually discovered the upright bass after hearing a Duke Ellington composition, “Main Stem.”

He attended George Washington University, then got his degree in jazz bass performance from William Paterson University before earning a master’s in music performance at the Manhattan School of Music. But he didn’t stop there. Sherman soon after earned a master’s degree in education from Columbia University.

“Initially I was thinking of the practical side of things with the education degree,” explained Sherman. “With music, there could be plentiful gigs then a dry spell. An education degree could be something valuable to have. It can help you communicate ideas more clearly.”

Sherman began playing with the Villa Lobos Brothers, a fusion band that blended Mexican music with jazz. “I was getting into videography and put together a video to promote the band,” he recalled. “It helped gain attention for the band and led to better-paying gigs. As a result, my interest in creating videos became an important part of my creative work.”

Sherman recorded his debut album, Tone Wheel, in 2019. When COVID hit, he became even more interested in focusing on videography. “I also became interested in UX design, and decided to study at a bootcamp called Springboard,” he explained. “I spent an intense year learning product design, then got a job at a design lab. I worked on projects to make marketing websites more intuitive. In product design — thinking about users and connecting with the audience who will work with that product — no two days are the same. Like jazz, there’s an improvisational element.

“In fact, I appreciate the art of jazz even more now. When you’re playing music every day it’s hard to turn off the critical listening component. Now I listen in a fresh way, taking it as a whole, not honing in on specifics. For example, I’m not thinking about what kind of modal mixture the pianist is using — that’s in the background. For me, it’s now an organic instead of a critical approach to the music.”

Taking Improv Flights

Growing up in Memphis, Tennessee, Sal Crocker started saxophone lessons at age 10, and continued through high school, earning a place in the Tennessee All-State High School Band for three consecutive years. He was also named to the McDonald’s All-American Jazz Band — which included talented young musicians Delfeayo Marsalis, Javon Jackson and Mark Whitfield. Crocker won a scholarship to Berklee and his musical future looked bright.

But Crocker was also in love with airplanes and yearned to fly. Growing up near the flight path at the Memphis airport, he could see planes land right over him, and determined he wanted to be a pilot.

While at Berklee, Crocker continued flying lessons but couldn’t afford to do that and also pay the other costs of attending Berklee. He returned to Memphis, got his degree from Memphis State and headed to pilot training. At the age of 23, he became the second youngest pilot ever hired by United Airlines. And he’s also managed to find the time to build his career as a jazz tenor saxophone player.

“I wanted to do both, and nobody ever told me I couldn’t, so I’ve worn dual hats for 37 years,” said Crocker. “It’s definitely a balancing act, and there’s never a dull moment.”

Since 2014, Crocker has been based in the Los Angeles area, and he’s built a solid reputation on the L.A. jazz scene, taking lessons and building a friendship with Yellowjackets saxophonist and educator Bob Mintzer. As he’s progressed through the ranks at United over the years, he’s been able to dedicate more time to playing the sax and is looking forward to performing music full time as retirement nears. He’s also discovered some parallels between piloting an airliner and playing jazz.

“Flying a plane and playing jazz are both dynamic environments,” he said. “When you play with good jazz musicians who really listen, you never know what direction a tune is going to take. You may have a plan or structure, but you never know where it’s going to go. It’s the same with flying. You may plan on leaving at a set time and fly a certain path at a certain speed and land on a certain runway. But nature, or the airplane, may have a whole different concept.”

From Jazz to NASA

Like Crocker, tenor saxophonist Chuck Manning has managed to balance his musical career with a four-decade-plus job at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab. He started playing alto saxophone at age 11 while growing up in Washington and fell in love with jazz.

“My twin brother played trumpet, and another brother played drums,” recalled Manning. “I kept playing through high school and was selected for the American Youth Concert Band, then got a grant to attend North Texas State, where I met Jim Snidero, Conrad Herwig and so many others. But money was tight and after playing in Toronto for a while I moved to Southern California. My brother was enrolled at Cal Tech, and I got a job there in a lab where they were studying moon rocks. And then I became a technician at the Propulsion Lab. At night I was playing as much as possible, especially with the bands of Gary Foster and Bobby Bradford.”

Manning absorbed as much information as possible as an apprentice technician to the head engineer in his lab. “When the engineer retired,” said Manning, “he told me, ‘It’s all yours now, buddy.’ I had become the guy who knows something about everything in the lab, and I’ve been there ever since.”

In addition to his work at the Lab, Manning kept playing jazz whenever and wherever he could. He became a member of the L.A. Jazz Quartet in the late 1980s, a band he still works with regularly.

“It’s been a real journey to have a very interesting job — I’ve built stuff that’s on different planets — and I also play jazz,” said Manning. I’m getting closer to retirement at the Lab, so I now have more time to devote to playing music. The real key for me is to not just rest on your laurels — on the job or playing music. There’s always some chord progression to learn, and that M.O. transfers over to the lab. You don’t want to be the dumbest guy in the room — at work or playing jazz.”

Starring Behind the Scenes

When Gene Dobbs Bradford graduated from high school, he was accepted at the Eastman School of Music and planned on earning a degree in jazz bass performance — and eventually playing jazz bass as well as performing as a bassist with the Boston Symphony.

“That’s what I wrote in my high school yearbook,” recalled Bradford. “But a speech during freshman orientation at Eastman made me realize there’s a whole world of jobs in the music industry I hadn’t even thought about. Robert Freeman, the president of Eastman, talked to us about how hard it is to make it as a solo musician and to present a concert at Carnegie Hall — paying to rent the Hall, advertising the concert and all the other expenses. I thought that was really fascinating.”

Bradford did earn his degree in bass performance, but by that point had decided to focus on working behind the scenes in music management. He interned with the American Symphony Orchestra League, working with orchestras in Cleveland, Baltimore and New Mexico before accepting a job as production manager with the Honolulu Symphony.

Bradford moved on to become the Director of Operations at the St. Louis Symphony — a move that led him back into jazz. In 1999 he became President and CEO of Jazz St. Louis. During his 23 years there, Bradford greatly expanded the non-profit’s educational and outreach programming as well as totally revamping and expanding the venue’s performance space.

He has been the Executive Director of the Savannah Music Festival for the past three years and expanded the reach of the festival throughout the year and built stronger education and community programs. Bradford recently resigned and has returned to St. Louis to care for his extended family as well as starting GDB Arts Consulting, designed to help organizations promote jazz.

“When I look back on Eastman,” recalled Bradford, “I know I was a good bass player, but I wasn’t ever going to be playing in Herbie Hancock’s band. But because of what I learned with orchestras and then Jazz St. Louis, I was able to bring Herbie and other great jazz musicians to St. Louis. When a concert you’re producing really comes together, it’s great. I’ve had the opportunity to make musical events happen that otherwise wouldn’t have occurred — then sit backstage and have conversations with my heroes. And that’s what I absolutely love to do. Plus, I get the chance every now and then to get on stage with other musicians and play harmonica.” DB