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| Brubeck Institute Announces the 2005 Summer Jazz Colony The Brubeck Institute announces that renowned trumpeter Ingrid Jensen will serve as Artistic Director and internationally acclaimed trombonist, educator, and author Hal Crook will be one of many Artists-In-Residence at the Brubeck Institute Summer Jazz Colony at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., August 7-13, 2005. The Brubeck Institute Summer Jazz Colony, dedicated to the memory of saxophone visionary Paul Desmond, is a full scholarship program that provides 17 of the best young jazz musicians in the nation, age 14-17, the opportunity to interact with and learn from eminent jazz artists. Aimed at exceptionally gifted and intrinsically motivated jazz students between their freshman and senior years of high school, the program creates an inspiring, stress-free environment where prodigious young players can perform, practice, and study along with their peers who are equally committed to this music. Upon completion of the program, the students serve as young jazz ambassadors, returning to their respective high schools around the country to share with their peers what they have learned, use their talent to perform community service in their hometowns, and positively affect lives through America’s art form. “The students this year are truly incredible, ” said J.B. Dyas, Executive Director of the Brubeck Institute. “They not only hail from New York, Miami, Houston, Dallas, and Los Angeles as you might expect, but also from small towns across the Midwest and more. Hearing these amazing kids play with so much talent and passion, and knowing that they come from all over the country, assures me that Dave [Brubeck's] legacy is in good hands. They are truly the jazz giants of tomorrow.” “Based on my inspired experiences I have had with the Brubeck Institute in the past, I can't wait to hang out with this year’s Summer Colony participants” added Jensen. “The future of jazz is full of exciting, spirited players, and I am thrilled to be invited on part of their journey in the music, and honored to be able to share my stories and ideas with them. Let’s play!” While at the Colony, the student musicians will participate in daily masterclasses, rehearsals, and jazz seminars with Jensen, Crook, and Tardy, as well as an array of other acclaimed visiting and resident artists including pianists Joe Gilman, Taylor Eigsti, and Geoffrey Keezer, bassist Jeff Chambers, saxophonist Patrick Langham, trumpeter Bart Marantz, drummer Brian Kendrick, guitarist Mike DeMicco, and vocalist Madeline Eastman. Other drop-in artists and guests will include internationally lauded Grammy winner, trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard, and two members of one of the royal families of jazz, Chris and Dan Brubeck. The 17 students-in-residence include pianists Julian Bransby of Bloomington, Ind., Woody Goss of Skokie, Ill., and Noah Kellman of Fayetteville N.Y.; saxophonists Brian Crutchfield of Kingwood, Tex., Isaiah Morfin of Bakersfield, Calif., and Ben Van Gelder of Groningen, the Netherlands; bassists Nicholas Jozwiak of Naperville, Ill., Katie Thiroux of Chatsworth, Calif., and Charlie Zuckerman of Miami, Fla.; drummers Harvel Nakundi of Miami Fla., Steve Renko of Euclid, Ohio, and Max Wrightson of Pasadena, Calif.; trumpeters Kyle Athayde of Orinda, Calif. and Gregory Diaz of Whittier, Calif.; trombonist Ismael Cuevas of Los Angeles, Calif.; guitarist Graham Keir of Blue Bell, Pa.; and vocalist Nadia Washington of Dallas, Tex. Each of these students has excelled on their instruments and has garnered numerous awards on local, regional, and national levels; they were selected to attend the Summer Jazz Colony based on merit and strength of performance. Still in high school, their musical prowess far belies their years. The Summer Jazz Colony has become an incubator for the country’s most gifted student musicians. Summer Jazz Colonists have routinely gone on to be awarded full scholarships at the nation’s leading higher institutions for jazz, including the Berklee College of Music, New England Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, New School University, and University of Southern California. The Brubeck Institute Fellowship program includes a high percentage of Summer Jazz Colonists, with next year’s crop of Fellows including 2004 SJC alumni pianist Glenn Zaleski, trumpeter Brian Chahley, and saxophonist Lucas Pino. Bassist Dominic Thiroux, whose Colony experience was in 2002 and 2003, is a returning Fellow. As a testament to the power of hands-on learning from jazz masters in a cooperative environment, sixty percent of all students selected as Brubeck Fellows since the Institute's inception have been former Summer Jazz Colonists. Artistic Director Ingrid Jensen is one of the most-gifted trumpeters of her generation. Born and raised in Canada, she attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston and later toured Europe with the Vienna Art Orchestra's production of Fe and Males. She eventually settled in Linz, Austria, teaching jazz trumpet at the Bruckner Conservatory and the Hochshule for Musik in Berlin. Currently living in New York, Jensen has released three critically acclaimed albums on the ENJA label, Vernal Fields, Here on Earth, and Higher Grounds, and has recorded and performed around the world with such renowned artists as Bob Berg, Terri Lynn Carrington, George Garzone, Jeff Hamilton, Lionel Hampton, Billy Hart, Geoffrey Keezer, Victor Lewis, the Maria Schneider Orchestra, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Bill Stewart, Clark Terry, Jeff Tain Watts, and Lenny White. She also was the featured guest soloist last fall with Joe Gilman and the Capital Jazz Project in Sacramento where they performed a captivating recreation of Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool album. She has received numerous awards, been cited by Down Beat magazine as one of the “25 Most Important Improvising Musicians of the Future, ” and placed second in Down Beat's 2005 Critic’s Poll for Trumpet Rising Star. Jensen also plays “stunningly inspired solos” on Maria Schneider's latest CD Concert in the Garden which won Down Beat's 2005 Jazz Album of the Year and the 2005 GRAMMY for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Recording. Besides being a superlative performer, Jensen is a dedicated jazz educator, teaching at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore and presenting jazz workshops around the globe. Her upcoming CD At Sea will be released this fall. Internationally renowned jazz trombonist/pianist, composer/arranger, author, and educator Hal Crook graduated summa cum laude from the Berklee College of Music in Boston in 1971. Since then he has performed throughout the world with such artists as Toshiko Akiyoshi, Eric Alexander, Jerry Bergonzi, Bob Brookmeyer, Jon Faddis, George Garzone, Lionel Hampton, Tom Harrell, Woody Herman, Milt Hinton, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, John Medeski, Paul Motian, the NBC Tonight Show Band, Clark Terry, James Williams, and Phil Woods. He appears on over 40 recordings, including the GRAMMY nominated album Celebration with the Phil Woods Quintet of which he was a member for many years. Equally esteemed as a jazz educator, Crook is currently a full professor at his alma mater, is a regular Visiting Artist-in-Residence at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz in Los Angeles, has authored three critically acclaimed textbooks on jazz improvisation (How To Improvise, How To Comp, and Ready, Aim, Improvise!), and has written a jazz songbook (The Music of Hal Crook) featuring 35 of his original compositions. His fourth textbook, Beyond Time and Changes: A Player’s Guide to Free Jazz Improvisation, is due to be published later this year. Some of his former students include Roy Hargrove, Ingrid Jensen, Delfeo Marsalis, Danilo Perez, and Miguel Zenón. write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Jazz News :: home page |