Only two upright bass players in the country are selected for Carnegie Hall’s annual Jazz Program. This year, Walnut Hills High School senior Cadence Okuwobi was one of them.
The National Youth Orchestra's Jazz Program is so competitive, 16-year-old Cadence said she was surprised to see she got in. To audition for the National Youth Orchestra, interested musicians must submit a short personal essay and a series of videos including musical performances and a video essay.
Not only was Cadence up against people who had never been in the program before, but the two bassists who participated in the 2025 season were also able to re-audition.
“It’s a thing in the younger jazz scene," Cadence said. "If you make it into the National Youth Orchestra, that's
the dream.”
The Jazz Program brings together “remarkable” musicians ages 16 to 19 for a rigorous training residency with world-class jazz artists. After the residency, the group performs at Carnegie Hall with a guest artist before going on an international tour. This summer’s group performed in San Francisco, Shanghai, Taichung and Beijing.
Throughout the monthlong program, Cadence said the crew would rap over YouTube beats and paint their nails red to match the black top-red pants uniform. The group of 22 teens explored each city in their free time, taking long walks as a group and visiting thrift stores.
The young musicians were "becoming the same person" by the end of the trip, Cadence said. “We did pretty much everything together,” she added.
The program’s drummer and Cadence exchanged the titles of their favorite music, something that the teens did throughout the program. She shared the name of her favorite record, the Ray Brown Trios' "Live from New York to Tokyo.” The drummer shared a song he grew up listening to: Ray Barretto's “Guararé."
“We started to have our own unique sound,” Cadence said. “The sound of our generation.”
As a student at the Cincinnati Jazz Academy, a partnership between Cincinnati Public Schools and the Kennedy Heights Arts Center, Cadence frequently performs with professional jazz artists. She got back to those performances as soon as she returned from the tour.
On Aug. 22, Cadence performed in a quintet with Cincinnati-based trumpeter, composer and music educator Myles Ellington Twitty.
The Cadence of her music journey
Cadence's music practice started with piano, when she was 5 years old. In the fourth grade, she picked up the cello. In the sixth grade, Cadence’s strings teacher nominated her to be tested for being gifted in music, according to her mother Oneya Okuwobi.
Former Cincinnati Public Schools Fine Arts Curriculum Manager and Cincinnati Jazz Academy Co-Founder Isidore Rudnick then invited Cadence and all Cincinnati students nominated for assessment in music to be a part of the academy. In March 2021, Cadence started at the academy as a cello player.
In June 2021, Rudnick invited Cadence to learn bass. That’s when she started playing the electric bass and electric guitar. In Summer 2022, Cadence started playing the upright bass.
“I loved it as soon as I picked it up, more than the other instruments,” Cadence said. “I feel like sometimes the bass sounds like butter and that’s my goal. I like playing really pretty things.”
Today, Cadence is the first chair in the bass section at the Walnut Hills High School Chamber Orchestra and plays jazz and electric bass in ensembles at the jazz academy. She credits her fast fluency in bass to Aaron Jacobs, Cadence's Jazz Academy-funded teacher since middle school.
Jacobs is an adjunct instructor of jazz studies at the University of Cincinnati. He’s had plenty of students in Cadence’s age group over the years, but she’s the first to have made it to the National Youth Orchestra Jazz Program.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “But there’s a part of me that wasn’t surprised because I know how hard she works and how talented she is.”
Jacobs credits Cadence’s musicianship level to her drive, talent, incredibly supportive family and the Cincinnati Jazz Academy.
Cadence said her relationship with music can be tumultuous, partly because she’s a perfectionist. But music is what she loves.
“Some of the best moments of my day are when I’m just alone in my practice room, and I’m playing and practicing,” Cadence said. “I love the meticulousness of it.”
Student, teacher, performer, mentee, mentor
Walnut Hills High School doesn’t have a bass teacher, so with her teacher’s permission, Cadence did what she could to help. She now pulls together other bass players in her high school's orchestra once a week to work on scales, ask questions and practice sight reading.
Cadence also runs a professional development program for jazz academy students, hiring them to play gigs alongside professional jazz musicians that she schedules with the help of academy donor funds. She even has the students write their own invoices and sign their W-9s.
“I am incredibly proud of Cadence Okuwobi for being selected to the NYO Jazz program at Carnegie Hall,” said Cincinnati Jazz Academy Artistic Director Ralph DiSylvestro. “As her teacher, I have watched Cadence distinguish herself through her exceptional dedication, musicianship and work ethic, so her selection comes as no surprise.”
Cadence is thankful to her parents for driving her to all her gigs, her teachers, and all the people who hired her for those gigs. “I feel good that I’m able to represent Cincinnati, the Jazz academy, Dr. Rudnick, my private teacher Mr. Jacobs, and Mr. Twitty who gave me my first gigs,” she said.
Aside from all the time she has put into music, Cadence has already taken chemistry and biology college classes. She also works at a chemistry lab.
She wants to pursue a career in jazz and further her education. Cadence is currently applying to colleges and plans on getting dual bachelor's degrees in biochemistry and jazz studies.
“I’m just super excited I get to show people how cool the Cincinnati scene is, and how cool the Ohio scene is,” Cadence said.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: 'The sound of our generation.' Teen reps Cincinnati in US jazz program
