Every person is unique in one way or another, possessing a skill intended for the betterment of day-to-day living. While some may naturally possess a particular talent, others work hard at it through practice and dedication. For Zuill Bailey, there is no doubt musical prowess with the cello came to him naturally. Still, he is no stranger to hard work and the countless hours it takes to master an instrument and use it as a healing agent, especially during challenging times, times of struggle and uncertainty. It is his ability to play the cello — beautifully, wonderfully, powerfully — that leaves audiences in awe and brings communities together. Bailey possesses that inner desire and natural compulsion to unite a city, especially during trying times, through the elegance of music, medicinal at times, charitable at others.
Image caption: Zuill Bailey (Photo courtesy of El Paso Inc.)
Bailey grew up in a family of musicians where both of his parents had some musical background, encouraging him to play music when he was four. His parents took him to symphony concerts, where he later recalled in a 2002 interview, “It was at these concerts that I fell in love with the cello.” Bailey would grow up to be an accomplished cellist, traveling and performing worldwide and winning multiple awards, including three Grammys for his performance of “Tales of Hemingway,” described by multiple Grammy award-winning composer Michael Daugherty as “a dramatic cello concerto, evoking the turbulent life, adventures and literature of author Ernest Hemingway.”
In 2001, Bailey found another devotion that would drastically change his life – the city of El Paso. The wonderful borderland would become his sanctuary, a place where he feels safe in the community. Bailey would soon work with El Paso Pro Musica (EPPM) and the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), not only teaching and performing music but helping students and audiences of all walks of life live by a musical code, sheet music of sorts, that induces a state of calmness and tranquility among listeners. Although Bailey is a successful musician, his work in and around the El Paso community allows him to serve the city through charitable work, while establishing a pillar of musical excellence in El Paso and influencing many young musicians.
Bailey joined the UTEP music faculty in 2004 and teaches musicians as the director of Center of Arts and Entrepreneurship. He guides students by teaching them how to be great musicians, invest their talent for the good of a community and manage themselves as musicians, not only financially, but perhaps more importantly, charitably.
Bailey’s dedication to expanding students’ knowledge about music and teaching them to be compassionate performers is one of the most critical works Bailey has done. His influence as a professor, musician and performer teaches students of all ages to practice music and practice being kind to others. These types of lessons shape the next generation to be better people and multiply goodness, joy, hope, and most importantly, to spread humanity across the world.
Bailey’s collaborative work with EPPM Executive Director Felipa Solis serves the greater El Paso community through charitable events, area school visits, hospital performances and musical experiences, connecting audiences through shared emotions and mutual respect.
Solis, too, comes from a background rooted in music and dance. Her experience with KTSM 9 News and her journalistic skills became assets for her work with EPPM, combining her musical interests with community work. A close friend of Bailey’s, she stated that Bailey’s job of teaching others has impacted people’s lives for the better. Both genuinely believe music can be the medicine that brings happiness and ease to any person. Bailey has been part of EPPM since 2001 as the Artistic Director.
A non-profit organization, EPPM seeks to provide music for the community and to teach its audiences about music through events, charitable work and by bringing musical minds together. Since Covid-19 became widespread in 2020, EPPM has made music more accessible by posting performances on a dedicated page on their EPPM website called “Making Music Matter,” where musicians perform pieces and encourage people to relax and enjoy the music. Bailey can be seen on this site, playing such works as “Arts Alive No.1” and “Bach Suite for Solo Cello No.1 Prelude,” undoubtedly worth watching.
Bailey and Solis are quick to point out how, even most notably in the worst of times, indeed these pandemic times, music can soothe, and they note that music evokes emotion whenever it is played. A YouTube video shows Bailey performing at the Hospitals of Providence Children’s Hospital for patients, doctors and nurses. In the video, nurses are at ease and patients relax as they absorb Bailey’s performance. A young patient even states that Bailey’s performance was “really good” and that they greatly appreciated his music.
I had the golden opportunity to sit down to an enriching chat with Zuill Bailey and Felipa Solis. I found them to be expressive souls, united in the fight against oppression brought about not only by the devasting presence of Covid19 but by the everyday struggles and stresses caused by the pressures of life. If I learned anything from our talk, it is that “art” is in the “heart.”
It has been quite some time, but when you are in a room with Zuill Bailey, he lights it up because of his artistry. And when you are with the people who he brings to full circle, it is absolutely so brilliant to be able to have the opportunity to have relationships, friendships, conversations with people like this. My dad used to say something in Spanish, and I’ll try to translate it: “The word ‘art’ is part of the word ‘heart,’” and so with that said, when you meet people who are great artists, they automatically have huge hearts. It’s just how I grew up. So being at this point in my life and knowing that my dad was really always right, it kind of brings it all together.
Mr. Bailey, El Paso is fortunate to claim you as one of our own. How is it that you came to live in El Paso and call El Paso home?
I visited El Paso, Texas, but I didn’t know what was to come. That was in 2001. So many things happened during that summer of 2001 that altered my entire future: one being Pro Musica, one being September 11, 2001. It put a cloud over what I had assumed was going to be my foreseeable future and made me not want to go back. I felt, for the first time, a safety in a community that I was not going to feel going back to New York City. I immediately felt a family-like community in El Paso like I had never felt anywhere else. And this year marks the year that I’ve lived in one place the longest, and that’s El Paso, Texas. Everything tilted. This is the year that now I’ve outlived my entire childhood in Virginia, of 18 years, and, of course, any other place I lived, so El Paso is truly home. And to have seen our organization’s effects on this community has been astounding. And it proves many things: the grass is greener where you water it; consistency is key; education is primary, and, you know, the trust. Everything we do is with a pure heart — “heart,” as she was saying, “art.”
And time is not only flying by, but even during this pandemic, we are doing what we have always done, but just in a slightly different way. We have always gone to hospitals. We have always gone to people who needed it, the nourishment to make music matter. But now we are popping up where people are getting tested. We are popping up where people are getting food. We are popping up at gatherings in neighborhoods and at gatherings that are safe because we can. We are innovative and flexible. And when this passes, all the things we have learned during this virtual time we will continue to implement, because we are now able to reach tens of thousands more people than we could in any given season when we were reaching thousands, because of the internet. So that’s also a gift.
The quick answer, it’s very difficult, because it’s easy to get very emotional to see how music impacts people and how it shakes them and reminds them that they are alive and reminds them that the feeling that they are feeling, the emotional feeling, just basically means they are human, and we are going to all get through this together. It’s a gift for our musicians and me and Felipa to be at these places, and we know it because we see it. We know the people we are playing for. When we go to these places, they are our friends. They are our neighbors. They are not just random people.
Image caption: Felipa Solis (Photo courtesy of El Paso Inc.)
And, yes, he is a really famous man, but he also had to go through tremendous obstacles in his life to get to where he is. At the time when he was a young man playing violin, he told a story that there were big impresarios who just didn’t want to touch this kid on crutches. And at The Ed Sullivan Show, Ed Sullivan said, “We are going to give this young man time to walk on stage so that he can get to the stage and get to where he needs to be to perform with the orchestra.” And he performed Mendelssohn, and he was a sensation at the age of 13. But it took a lot for him to get from point A to point B. And just knowing that about him, and how open he was, and what an incredibly large heart he has, it was the thrill of 2020, quite the year of the pandemic, but I look back and think, “Thank you, Zuill, for letting me have an opportunity to spend time and talking with Itzhak Perlman.” That was beyond a gift.
And the gratitude isn’t applause, but the gratitude is just how you change things. You have been touched over the years by people like Zuill, who have just, really humbly, walked into your school with a cello on his back. I think that that would be the greatest gift, is that if it touches one person, if one person says, “He can make a difference, I want to make a difference, too,” or “She can make a difference, I want to make a difference, too.” That’s it. That’s all we have got.
Mr. Bailey, why did you join Pro Musica, and how has the experience been working with Pro Musica?
I’ve used this phrase a lot, but it is the alpha and the omega. El Paso is the beginning and the end for me. I don’t see an end date to me ever leaving El Paso. And the community accepted me, and I accepted the responsibility of what they hoped for. And, again, next year is my 20th anniversary. It’s unbelievable to me. And I like the phrase that I was asked to sculpt the cultural landscape of this region very much because sculpting is one step at a time. But the cultural landscape — like how does it look? And you are always working and tending to it, and then after a while, you go, “Wow, things have really grown a lot.” And very rarely do we have in life an ability to be in one place working for the same thing for 20-plus years. Being able to be a part of it for this long is something that I, quite frankly, don’t ever want to stop.
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It’s wonderful that you have so much love for El Paso, because I don’t think I have ever met someone who has so much profound love for this city.
Image caption: Zuill Bailey (Photo courtesy of El Paso Inc.)
Zuill Bailey: But you know how you get that love, though? You have to have perspective. I’ve been very lucky to have seen the world. I know what’s out there, and I know what I’m not missing. Most people’s imaginations, they think that the neighbor is happier than they are, or up the street, the house is bigger, or the weather is better. It’s not. It’s all here (pointing to his heart). It’s all right here. It happened pretty quickly, but every time I would get to Dallas or Phoenix or Chicago, I got this great feeling getting on that flight because the next stop was home, El Paso. And what I also loved is that I knew so many people on the airplane because they are all going home. Really, I would always just sit beside people and tell them, “Where did you go? Can’t wait to get back.” So, yes, I think a lot of those people who would like leave, we will see. And then they will come back and visit, and they will be, “Oh, the sunsets are so gorgeous here. The weather is so amazing here,” or “I now know why going down to my favorite restaurant and seeing all my friends there meant a lot to me.”Mr. Bailey, El Paso Pro Musica has helped the community by teaching people music. What is it like to be able to influence and teach people music?
When you look at someone like Zuill Bailey, this has been an incredible life investment made by him. He has made the art of his cello and performance a priority to such a degree that it’s changed the world, which is why he has got a Grammy on his mantlepiece. But this is what’s been so important for young people to see who are actually interested in the world of music. He always says, “Practice makes permanent, not perfect,” because you are dedicating yourself to something that is larger than anything, and that’s art. What’s been very satisfying and gratifying and a good learning tool is seeing students who, whether they are in high school in master classes or at the college level, really seeing firsthand what it means to engage in a life of music. Whatever aspect it is of the music universe, where do you best fit? And it’s wonderful to have that kind of influence of inspiration by Zuill and by the artists that we bring in who are not only educators but performers, and who have seen all sides of it. And to have that as the place to go back to and as their kind of research point and learning point, I think is a tremendous advantage. I’m hoping that a lot of young people decide that El Paso is a great place to live and to study here because the very best teacher in the world is here.
When I was in school, they didn’t teach us that. They just said, “Here is your diploma. Move up.” And, you know, it’s horrifying what we did not know. I speak to them very supportively. But that’s wonderful for me, because they are part of my musical family now and forever, because we learn from each other at that age. And it’s a very special time for UTEP and what’s happening with the school and the campus and this new Arts Entrepreneurship Center that I don’t see anywhere else, meaning I think it’s very unique what UTEP is doing, in addition to being with El Paso Pro Musica. They get to have all of these stories and these lessons, but then they are applied, and then the people who come in as our guest performers can back that up, and they can ask questions and take it one step further and/or follow them around, or apprenticeships or mentorships.
Image caption: Zuill Bailey and Felipa Solis (Photo courtesy of El Paso Inc.)
Music is medicine. When Mr. Bailey goes into the neonatal intensive care unit and there are newborn babies, you see the oxygen levels and the heart rates just stabilize because he is playing soothing, calming music. And the doctors and the nurses go crazy because no one is crying, everybody is calm. It’s unbelievable. I have seen how patients have reacted to it in infusion, during chemotherapy, and how the mood changes in children’s oncology, senior citizen homes, our program with the Alzheimer’s Association. We have been working with hospice. One of the hospices had one of Mr. Bailey’s videos of Bach and they played it for a patient who did not have long. She was told [beforehand], and she insisted on getting herself ready for the concert. She is not with us anymore, unfortunately, but imagine touching a life like that. Music has to be in my world. And that happened to a woman who was not old, whose moments in life were limited. That gave her the will to do something special. And we have seen it in senior patients.
We have a program called the Young Artists Development Series. Mr. Bailey also attended the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, a wonderful, incredible music school, and we have a wonderful relationship with them. And there was a brass group that came and played all of the songs of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, all of their mantra songs, if you will. And there were gentlemen in the room who were suffering from Alzheimer’s and had clearly fought in either Korea or World War II, and they stood up and saluted. They got out of their wheelchairs because it just brought such a wonderful warm place. Music is an association with life. Life is music. A life with no music would be like a house with no windows. It would just be a box, and it wouldn’t be a pretty one.
Now we are affiliated with UTEP. Now we have interns and mentorships and apprenticeships. We are affiliated with Johns Hopkins. We are working with a lot of institutions. Now that we are so close with technology, it’s thinking outside of the box with Felipa to determine how we can fly in that direction, too. The projects, in one quick answer, are how to make El Paso even greater than it already is for next season.
tags: Biography
