News Detail

Impressions

4/1/2024

John Coltrane was a prominent American jazz saxophonist, band leader, and composer who defined a style of the jazz genre that influenced millions of musicians, composers, and lovers of his jazz improvisation. Earlier this year I was listening to one of Coltrane’s most enduring compositions, the jazz standard “Impressions,” and came away with a renewed appreciation of Coltrane’s ability to improve constantly upon his improvisational gifts.

With more than a half-year under my belt as ACI Executive Vice President (and over 40 years as a jazz saxophonist), the timing seemed perfect to gather my thoughts, combine two loves in my life (jazz music and ACI), and offer up my “Impressions” of all things ACI so far.

My first impression is that ACI is BIG! Not BIG as in its size, membership, or global presence, but BIG as in its impact throughout the world. With a nod to our history, ACI is a global authority for developing, disseminating, and adopting consensus-based standards, technical resources, and educational, training and certification programs. That is a pretty fair description of who we are and what we do. Now let us address my second impression, the how and why of our mission.

What we do and how we do it reflects an engaged membership that carries out ACI’s mission support through thousands of volunteers—from the Board of Direction leadership to the committee participants—and a very skilled and experienced professional staff. Working in concert with one another, everything that ACI accomplishes is a result of leadership, staff efforts, and the active involvement and unselfish contributions of the thousands of volunteers who serve on ACI committees, contribute to ACI education and publications, lend their intellect to the certification process, or even generously financially donate to all things ACI. These volunteers, contributors, and donors are you, the members. You represent by far the largest and most profound part of the ACI team, and you are the reason that ACI succeeds as a team, a team where everyone has a role to play and carries it out with professionalism, dedication, and passion.

My third impression is that ACI is an extraordinarily complex organization with a rich and diverse history dating back to the early part of the twentieth century. At any given time, we wrestle with dozens of complicated and intriguing issues, proof that time—and history—marches on. With that obvious truth in mind, ACI needs to observe and adapt.

My fourth impression is that as EVP, it is my responsibility to provide leadership and vision to the organization. One of the ideas I plan to implement is expanding and formalizing ACI’s communications processes with you, the members; with the media; with government at all levels; and the public in general. All stakeholders will benefit from ACI sharing its purpose, knowledge, and responsibilities. We will accomplish this by strengthening and focusing our communications and marketing efforts, and by generating and taking advantage of data and trends that are right in front of us every day to help us and you make knowledge-based decisions.

My final impression (for now!). Concrete in one form or another has been on this earth for thousands of years, yet, this year ACI celebrates its 120th birthday! And while that might seem like a long time, I am convinced that ACI has not even hit its stride just yet. In fact, relatively speaking, I believe that we have just entered a new era that complements ACI’s leadership role and function in developing codes and standards, certifying, and educating.

New horizons emerge daily in concrete sustainability, carbon reduction, innovation, and productivity. ACI is at the forefront of these efforts through our Centers of Excellence, our Resource Centers, our thought-provoking ideas, and the important follow-through we provide on ground-breaking concepts and projects. But let us not be satisfied with leaving things there. We have more—much more—work to do. Together.

Each time I perform with a band, I try to incorporate all that I have learned and experienced into my performance. When I finish the gig, I critique my performance to determine where and how I could get better at my art so that I avoid the mistakes I made, build on the successes, and explore new horizons. That is a musician’s credo and one to which I have adhered since I first picked up my horn. I now bring that to ACI in my role as EVP.

John Coltrane is known as one of the greatest and most influential jazz saxophonists of the twentieth century. When he wrote and recorded the album Impressions in 1963, he already had gone down the road of Big Band, Swing, and Bebop, constantly exploring and evolving his style of jazz improvisation. Today—almost 57 years since his passing—Coltrane’s body of work—including Impressions—is set in concrete, maintaining its relevance and influence for jazz musicians and aficionados around the world. The same can be said about ACI.

My final impression (really!)? ACI does not sit still, constantly exploring and evolving. I am grateful to be a part of this effort and I proudly join you in moving ACI forward in the twenty-first century, as we educate, advocate, and innovate—essential functions we will carry out together to help change the world around us. ACI…always advancing!

Fred Grubbe