Women in Jazz: Pamela Wise

Pamela Wise began composing music and playing the piano  by ear at the age of 5. Her father Robert C. Wise who was a bassist  decided to start her on piano lessons when she was nine. After studying  the piano basics, Pamela began playing for her church choir which was  directed by her father. While in high school, Pamela formed her own  R&B group called the Ohio Movement which performed throughout the  Midwest and East Coast. After 8 years with the Ohio Movement, Pamela  decided to leave the band. "I always wanted to be a jazz composer and  pianist, it was definitely in my blood after growing up listening to  it." When her brother Craig finished college and moved to Cleveland,  Ohio, in 1978 he encouraged Pamela to move with him and she did. While  in Cleveland, Pamela attended Cuyahoga Community College and further  studied music. "Shortly after Craig received an employment opportunity  from a prominent bank in Detroit, MI and we moved to Detroit in December  1979. I worked with several R&B groups in the Detroit area, but I  still wanted to play jazz."

In 2016 Pamela was awarded the prestigious Kresge  Creative Artist Fellowship Award that came with a $25,000 prize for her  work as a pianist, teacher, composer and cultural warrior.  Pamela was awarded another award from the Kresge Foundation in 2019 for her production, Matrix X Detroit-The Gentrification Nation.