" data-original-title="" title="">Karen Xie stumbled upon one of the jazz studies program's big-band concerts. "There were four other people in the audience and 20 people on stage," she recalled. Xie, who is classically trained, felt the band's performance was "really cool. I thought that was something I could do because I could read music. Right after, I started sitting in on their classes, and the next semester I started playing. That was my first introduction to jazz."

At 22 years old, Xie is pursuing a master's degree in jazz studies at Montclair State University (MSU). She is a member of the MSU Jazz Ensemble, which performed at the Montclair Jazz Festival in September, 2024 and on December 6, 2024, as part of a sextet performing at the junior recital of fellow student, tenor saxophonist Ryan Huston.

Xie was attracted by the "energy" of jazz. "There's so much good energy coming from everyone on stage," she said. "It's a little different classically. I think I've gone through what a lot of people have gone through —practice and recital. Jazz was just so different. There's so much joy, although improvising was very nerve wracking. I remember they told me to play a blues, and I had just learned what a blues was. I just put my hands above the keyboard and told my teacher to take the next person."

The jazz program at Hunter is directed by trombonist