The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance Ensemble will host a performance and jam session at the UCLA Music Library on Friday, February 16. The group will kick things off at noon with a 45-minute set of original music written by the students, followed by an open jam session. Instrumentalists and vocalists are welcome. The event is offered free and open to the public, space permitting.

Building on their intensive training as performers and improvisers, students in the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance are encouraged to develop their personal musical voice through composition. Regular performances, both on and off the UCLA campus, give the students an opportunity to workshop new compositions and to perform with area students and professionals, as well as the occasional jazz master (saxophonist and Institute Artist-in-Residence Jerry Bergonzi has appeared multiple times).

The UCLA Music Library has hosted regular jam sessions with the Institute’s students since the program took up residency at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music in 2012. The library provides access to one of the largest academic music collections in North America and the largest in Southern California, and serves as a venue for music related events such as the Music Library Mid-Day Recital series. The series is designed as a stress-free space for students to try out new material and connect with the local musical community.

For more details on Friday’s event, and to confirm your attendance, check out the Facebook event.

The 2018 Panama Jazz Festival came to a fitting close today with a free open-air concert in the Central Quadrangle of the Ciudad del Saber business and technology park. Performers included the Yogev Shetrit Trio, the Calypso Collective, the Pan-African Jazz Project—and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance Ensemble.

The evening capped five days of performances, educational activities and symposia in beautiful Panama City. The jam-packed schedule included nearly 40 workshops, from the likes of musicologist Isabelle Leymarie and vocalist Luciana Souza, as well as intimate concerts and jam sessions lasting late into the night. This year’s top billing included Institute Trustee Wayne Shorter and his renowned quartet, pianist and composer Ran Blake, and pianist Chucho Valdés and his quartet. The Institute’s students took part for the second year in a row, presenting a concert and jam session at the Villa Agustina cultural space and a full concert at the famed Danilo’s Jazz Club. They also participated in the flurry of free workshops offered to local students and aficionados.

The Panama Jazz Festival is the brainchild of pianist and UNESCO Artist for Peace Danilo Pérez, who also serves as Artistic Director. The Institute was one of five U.S.-based educational institutions included in this year’s program, alongside the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, New England Conservatory, New York Jazz Academy and Santa Monica-based Crossroads School. This is our college program’s second trip to Latin America in recent months; in April 2017, the Class of 2018 visited Havana, Cuba for five days of educational outreach around the sixth annual International Jazz Day celebration.

 

For more information on the 2018 Panama Jazz Festival, click here.

Trumpeter, New Orleans native, and Thelonious Monk Institute Peer-to-Peer All-Star alumnus John Michael Bradford was recently featured on CNN’s program “Turning Points,” which profiled the talented young musician’s experience after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

Bradford, who was just seven years old when his family was forced to evacuate, credits his relationship with legendary trombonist, bandleader and fellow evacuee Big Sam Williams for inspiring his choice of music as a career. Reflecting on his experience, Bradford notes, “I think music can turn a tragedy into something that’s beautiful, because it can touch so many people, and I think everyone can relate to it.”

After returning home, Bradford took up the trumpet and went on to attend the prestigious New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA), one of 12 partner institutions in the Institute’s National Performing Arts High Schools program. While at NOCCA, he was selected as a member of the Institute’s 2014 Peer-to-Peer All-Star group, an ensemble of talented high school jazz musicians from across the nation, and performed with vocalist Kellylee Evans at the 2014 Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Trumpet Competition & Gala in Hollywood, California.

Bradford currently attends the Berklee School of Music in Boston, and recently released his debut album, “Something Old, Something New.”

Watch the video here via WGNO.

Jazz guitarist and Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance graduate Davy Mooney is off to a solid start with his engagement as Assistant Professor of Jazz Studies at the University of North Texas. Mooney recently was profiled in the North Texas Daily, which highlighted his uniquely international background as a musician and educator, noting, “Between international guitar competitions, tours in South America and a Japanese record label, Davy Mooney has had quite the worldly experience in music.”

Mooney, who was a finalist in the 2005 Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Guitar Competition and a member of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance Class of 2009, appears to be applying this experience admirably in his new position. “Davy has been a fantastic addition to the jazz program,” said one student. “He has a very deep understanding and appreciation for the tradition of jazz. His depth of knowledge is so inspiring.” Another student shared, “He is an amazing player with a special ability to notice what aspects students should work on in order to advance to the next level…He’s also very enthusiastic about everything that is happening in school and with his students.”

The Jazz Studies Department at the University of North Texas is widely acknowledged as one of the top programs of its kind in the world, and was the first university in the United States to offer a jazz studies degree. Its renowned One O’Clock Lab Band has served as an early proving ground for Bob Belden, Herb Ellis, Jimmy Giuffre, Conrad Herwig, Ari Hoenig, and many others who have gone on to become leading jazz musicians. With the addition of Mooney – who is himself a graduate of the UNT program – to the faculty, we are certain this number will continue to grow.

Read the full article here.

UNESCO is pleased to announce that the International Jazz Day Global Host Cities for the next two years will be Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation, in 2018 and Sydney, Australia, in 2019.

International Jazz Day is celebrated annually on 30 April in more than 190 countries. The day pays tribute to the art form of jazz and its power to promote dialogue among cultures and deepen respect for human rights and all forms of expression. The cities of Saint Petersburg and Sydney were chosen for their unique contributions to the development of jazz. The jazz scene in Russia was born in 1927 in Saint Petersburg with the appearance of the “First Concert Jazz Band” in the concert hall of the St. Petersburg State Capella, followed by the creation of the first jazz collective in 1929. Saint Petersburg is the only city in Russia to have a Jazz Philharmonic Hall, founded in 1989.

Festivities are set to take place in some of Saint Petersburg’s most significant venues, such as the Mariinsky Theatre. Saint Petersburg’s bid to become a host city was supported by renowned Russian saxophonist Igor Butman.

In Australia, jazz is a flourishing art form, which in recent years has seen an increasing number of players and growing audiences. Australia is host to the world’s largest youth jazz festival, “Generations in Jazz,” which is held in the city of Mount Gambier.

Sydney plans to hold the flagship All Star-Global Concert in the iconic Sydney Opera House, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the streets of the city will come alive with jazz through a daylong programme of “Jazz in Squares,” featuring school bands and jazz combos. Other cities across Australia expected to join in the multi-day celebration include Adelaide, which is a UNESCO Creative City for Music. Australia’s celebrated jazz musician James Morrison was instrumental in the effort to secure Sydney’s bid to host International Jazz Day 2019.

Each year, the All Star-Global Concert, which features UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and iconic jazz pianist Herbie Hancock and dozens of other internationally acclaimed musicians from around the world, is the culminating event of International Jazz Day.

In addition to the main events in Saint Petersburg and Sydney, UNESCO will continue to encourage the participation of schools, universities and non-governmental organizations, as well as public radio and public television around the world. Various performing arts venues, community centres, artists, arts organizations, libraries and educational institutes will also organize activities around jazz.

The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz is the lead nonprofit organization charged with planning, promoting and producing the annual celebration of International Jazz Day.

Visit JazzDay.com for more information.