‘The only thing that I had was music’: Carlot Dorvé’s masterclass in tenacity
--
Thirty-five years ago, Carlot Dorvé lost his arm to an infection. He was living in his native Haiti, and a mistreated broken wrist turned into a gangrene infection. After being carried for over five hours to reach a proper hospital, a doctor determined the arm would have to be amputated to prevent the infection from reaching his heart.
He grew up, for the most part, without his father, who largely jilted him after the amputation.
“My dad said, ‘I did not have a child with one arm, therefore this is your child. You deal with him,’” Dorvé recalled his mother telling him.
As he grew up, he eventually dissociated from his father completely.
“There was a time, if I saw him in the street, I would not recognize him,” Dorvé said.
He was raised solely by his mother, who taught him independence despite his disability. In an effort to overcome others’ preconceived notions of him, he learned how to solve problems on his own and make things work.
“And I started with music,” he said.
At the age of nine, Dorvé knew he wanted to play the trumpet. His family couldn’t afford a horn, but he hoped to play in school. He was denied.
“They said I have one arm, I could not play. That I need two hands to play the trumpet,” Dorvé said.
After four long years of persistence, he was given a chance. At 13 years old, he began playing the trumpet. Seeking to prove himself, Dorvé practiced often and made progress quickly.
Years later, Dorvé had the opportunity to attend college in the United States through an exchange program. In January of 2010, he left Haiti for Mott Community College in Flint, Michigan.
He arrived in Flint on Tuesday, January 5. The following Tuesday, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake devastated his home.
Footage from a Coast Guard flyover showed a leveled Port-au-Prince. “Haiti in Ruin; Grim Search for the Dead,” read a New York Times headline the following day. Death tolls would eventually fall in the six figures.
More than 1,800 miles away, Dorvé was in shock. For a time, he had no way of contacting loved ones as the country struggled to bring communication back online.
“You try to call, you cannot find any answers,” he said. “Whatever we saw on the internet was more than we could bear. I felt like my brain was about to explode.”
After a day or two, Dorvé was able to reach someone back home to ease his worry. He applied to stay in the U.S. on a humanitarian status and continued his studies.
Mott is in the heart of Flint, and the first thing Dorvé noticed when he arrived in Michigan was the cold. Exiting the Detroit airport in January, he saw mounds of snow for the first time.
“I could not wait to get in that van that came to pick us up,” Dorvé said. “The only thing you could see was white.”
The exchange program he was a part of allowed him to sit in on classes, and in return, he would share his knowledge and experiences of Haitian culture. But he was not earning credit; He could only sit in on classes for the sake of learning.
While he was a part of that program, he was playing trumpet at a nearby church. One day, a Michigan State alum heard him performing at the church and suggested he audition at his alma mater.
The alum arranged a meeting with Michigan State’s trumpet professor, telling him, “you need to hear this guy play.”
After hearing Dorvé play, the professor recommended he audition for the school. With his talent, his chances of receiving a scholarship were high, the professor said.
“There’s nothing to lose,” Dorvé thought at the time.
He auditioned at Michigan State and received a full scholarship.
His English skills, however, added some delay. Dorvé still was not fluent enough to pass the university’s English entrance exam. But an exception was made. He was in.
Playing gigs has helped Dorvé make a living during his college career. But one relationship has been especially beneficial to his musical studies.
While attending Michigan State, Dorvé went to New York, where he met trumpeter Wynton Marsalis through a mutual acquaintance.
Marsalis, who performs in both the jazz and classical realms, is a nine-time Grammy winner. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Music, writing the first jazz composition to win. The trumpeter has also acted as a leading figure in the Jazz at Lincoln Center organization and the effort to establish jazz as a modern language of community and inspiration.
Marsalis, along with Clifford Brown and other giants, was and is one of Dorvés biggest inspirations on the trumpet.
Wise brought Dorvé to Marsalis, who had just gotten a new Monette trumpet. He asked Dorvé to give it a try, and he did.
“(Marsalis) turned his eyes and looked at me, and said ‘I like this guy,’” Dorvé recalled.
After that, he tried to stay in touch with Marsalis. He met with him again ahead of one of his concerts, and the trumpeter asked Dorvé to play for him once more.
That was when Marsalis asked him what he could do to help. Lessons would have been great, but Marsalis was based in New York, and Dorvé was still attending university in Michigan. Dorvé had a full scholarship there but was still paying room and board.
“He said, ‘Well how much is it?’” Dorvé remembered. “And I told him how much it was. And he said, ‘give me your address, I’ll send you the check.’”
Gaining the attention of Wynton Marsalis is no easy feat for a trumpeter. Dorvé practiced for seven or more hours per day for a period. His studies and other responsibilities have at times restricted his time for practicing, but performance has always been an important part of his musical education, even as he studied music education.
And, at the core of that musical devotion, is a devotion to Christianity. Dorvé’s faith has always been central to his efforts in music and life, and the music he performs is often religious.
“My number one priority is my faith,” he said.
And that commitment has almost spelled the end of his music career. In accordance with the Seventh-Day Adventist denomination, Dorvé recognizes Saturday as the Sabbath — a day of rest. As part of his faith, he refuses to work on Saturday, and that includes music. He’s turned down plenty of opportunities as part of his adherence to the Sabbath—including performing at Carnegie Hall.
“They were shocked that I let that go,” Dorvé said. “Even my trumpet professor was shocked that I let that go.”
He’s had to negotiate job opportunities on multiple occasions to accommodate his strict religious commitment.
One of Dorvé’s most memorable gigs was playing for a commercial for the 2016 Paralympics. He was to be flown out to London to record a song for the commercial and also appear in the taping of the commercial itself. Dorvé, along with some other disabled musicians, was set to record at the legendary Abbey Road Studios, where the Beatles and many other groups have recorded over the decades.
The recording session was on Saturday.
“So I say I can’t do it,” Dorvé said. “This is a gig, this is a job and I’m not gonna do it on the Sabbath.”
He was able to rearrange the recording date to make it work, and Dorvé appeared in the commercial. It’s since garnered more than 10 million views on YouTube.
“I will not, because of my love for music, sacrifice my faith,” he said. “It is that important to me.”
Dorvé’s focus on faith has never been more apparent than in his album, Sacred Sounds of the Trumpet, which brims with hymns. Inside the CD sleeve, he thanks, along with his accompanists and mentors, Jesus. On “There is a Quiet Place,” Dorvé’s heart-wrenchingly lush flugelhorn sound floats over piano accompaniment from Luccanes Louis. The flugelhorn he plays has been modified to accommodate his left-handed playing.
He brings the same spirituality to church performances as well; In Columbia, Missouri, Dorvé frequently performs hymns and other pieces for First Christian Church.
At a performance in April, Dorvé played a set of hymns alongside one of his young students, 10-year-old Fox Bybee.
Dorvé’s horn playing, accompanied by an organist, echoed through the church. It came with a regal, triumphant sound that comes only from a certain mastery of airflow through the instrument. He often played with his eyes closed, producing a rich brass sound that captivated his audience. Whether he was playing a beautiful ballad or lines overflowing with notes, Dorvé displayed a commanding presence on the trumpet, with few signs of struggle or labor. The set wasn’t even rehearsed beforehand with the organist, he later said.
“Me and Rochelle, we didn’t practice,” he explained. “She didn’t have time, I didn’t have time … we just basically came and played.”
Nevertheless, Dorvé’s playing strikes the listener as intentional. Practice in the classical genre ensures accuracy, and that shows through in his playing—especially in the longer, complex lines that demand precision. Even in lengthy, slurred barrages of eighth notes, nearing the end of an hour-long set at First Christian, Dorvé and his embouchure persevered.
Between songs, Dorvé introduced himself to his audience, though many of the onlookers filling the pews were familiar with his work already. He told them of his turbulent upbringing in Haiti, and the resistance he faced in his vie to learn the trumpet. Looking at him now, he said, many might not guess everything he’s been through. But he attributes his ability to overcome those challenging odds to God.
“If it was not for the grace of God,” Dorvé said, “I would not be here today.”
Dorvé credits Marsalis for support throughout his higher education, but he received many scholarships from then on, too. After receiving his Bachelor’s from Michigan State, he started at Penn State in 2016, where he received a full scholarship and a teaching assistant position.
He earned a Master’s Degree in trumpet performance there, then came to the University of Missouri in 2018 for a PhD in music education — which he has nearly completed.
His dissertation examines the experiences of musicians with disabilities at universities around the United States, and studies examples of how collegiate musicians have overcome a physical disability to play a brass instrument. He spoke to parents and professors in his case studies, too, as he sought to understand what has kept disabled musicians motivated to carry on in their craft despite the challenges.
As an educator, he often asks discouraged budding musicians—disabled or not—to remember why they wanted to play their instrument originally. What inspired them to pick up that instrument? Rediscovering that love for music can be all the motivation one needs, he explains.
But he’s also realistic.
“The chance for you to make it is slim,” Dorvé said. “There are a lot of people who are good out there, who are still struggling.”
For musicians with another passion, he said that sometimes pursuing another avenue while performing music on the side is the safer bet. But if music is truly someone’s love, he says it’s worth a try. For Dorvé, it worked.
“Remember, I came to this country with physically nothing. The only thing that I had was music,” he said. “Even if I wanted to study something else, I’m not going to get a scholarship on something else. So I stuck to what I had.”
