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The New Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Ensemble to Play Cafe 939


by Nick Balkin

Hear the latest crop of young Thelonious Monk Institute wizards five of them Berklee alumni in their only public performance before heading off to New Orleans for studies with Terence Blanchard, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and other jazz greats. The event takes place on Wednesday, June 17, at Cafe 939, 939 Boylston Street, Boston.

To date, 49% of all students in the New Thelonious Monk Institute of
Jazz Performance program have been Berklee alumni. Class of 2011
members were selected by internationally renowned jazz artists Terence
Blanchard, Gary Burton, and Jimmy Heath. The Thelonious Monk Institute
of Jazz Performance is a prestigious full-scholarship, graduate level
college program at Loyola University New Orleans, that enables the
world's most gifted musicians to study tuition free for two years with
the greatest living jazz masters, who also serve as artists-in-
residence. Three-time Grammy Award-winning composer and
internationally renowned trumpeter Terence Blanchard serves as the
program's artistic director.

The New Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Ensemble - Class of 2011

Billy Buss - Trumpet
Playing trumpet since nine, Berkeley, California. native Billy Buss
has received numerous awards, including the Monterey Jazz Festival's
full-tuition Jimmy Lyons Scholarship to Berklee, two Downbeat Student
Music Awards as Outstanding Soloist, and the Gold Award in Jazz from
the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. He has performed
at the Monterey, Umbria, and Montreux jazz festivals; the Dubrovnik
Summer Music Festival in Croatia; numerous festivals in Japan; and at
a variety of clubs in New York.

Nicholas Falk - Drums
Nicholas Falk is from Cape Elizabeth, Maine, and, after graduating
from Berklee in 2006, he moved to New York, where he performed in
venues throughout the city, most notably with the Bryan Baker Quartet
and Sara Serpa Quintet. He has also performed and recorded with Greg
Osby, George Garzone, Seamus Blake, and many others. He has performed
at the Blue Note, Monterey Jazz Festival, and House of Blues Chicago,
and internationally in Portugal, Japan, France, Korea, and Ecuador.

Victor Gould - Piano
Victor Gould, a pianist from Los Angeles, is the recipient of
Berklee's full-ride Herbie Hancock Presidential Scholarship. He has
been awarded chairs in the Monterey Jazz Festival's Next Generation
All-Star Band and the 2005 Gibson/Baldwin Grammy Jazz Band. Gould's
honors include the Los Angeles Music Center's 2004 Spotlight Award and
the Charles "Dolo" Coker Scholarship Foundation prize. Among the
groups he has played with is the quartet of Los Angeles-based jazz and
film composer Jason Goldman.

Hogyu Hwang - Bass
The winner of multiple major scholarships in his native South Korea,
Hogyu Hwang graduated from Berklee in 2007. Hwang has toured with
various musicians in Spain, Poland, Germany, France, Ecuador, and
Japan. Hwang has appeared at renowned jazz clubs such as New York's
Blue Note, Iridium, and Jazz Standard. He has performed with jazz
greats including Terri Lyne Carrington, Jimmy Heath, Joe Lovano,
JoAnne Brackeen, Donald Harrison, and Dave Douglas.

Godwin Louis - Alto Saxophone
A native of Bridgeport, Connecticut, saxophonist Godwin Louis
graduated from Berklee in 2008, and has performed with Wynton
Marsalis, Michael Brecker, Jimmy Heath, the Chico O'Farrill Afro-Cuban
Jazz Orchestra, Billy Preston, the Either/Orchestra, and others. Louis
has performed at numerous jazz venues and festivals worldwide,
including the JVC Festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Trinidad
and Tobago Steelpan Jazz Festival, the Glastonbury Festival, Nancy
Jazz Pulsation, and the Tuscia Jazz Festival, where he won the Jimmy
Wood Award for best saxophonist.

Matt Marantz - Tenor Saxophone
Saxophonist Matt Marantz, from Cedar Hill, Texas, holds a bachelor's
degree in jazz performance from the Manhattan School of Music. He has
played with Dave Brubeck, Christian McBride, Roy Hargrove, Kurt
Elling, Chris Potter, Branford Marsalis, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Ingrid
Jensen, Frank LoCrasto, and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Marantz
has received 26 awards from Down Beat magazine, including top jazz
soloist for four years in a row and is the cowinner of the top jazz
soloist award in 2006 for university level. In 2001, he was invited by
Keilwerth Saxophones and Rico Reeds to be the companies' youngest
artist-clinician. Marantz plays tenor saxophone on the 2008 release In
the Night with the Jonathan Batiste Quintet.





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