jazz education

Vermont Jazz Center Presents: Val Jeanty & the Berklee Institute of Jazz & Gender Justice

by vtjazz | Music

The Vermont Jazz Center will present its fourth annual Emerging Artist Festival on Saturday, November 13th. The event promotes new ideas and individuals affecting the future of jazz, a music that encourages creativity and lauds game-changing artists. This year the Jazz Center will partner with the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice and will feature one of their instructors, Haitian turntablist Val Jeanty (Val-Inc).

Performances will begin at 1:00 PM on Saturday: student groups from around the region will be coached by members of the institute throughout the day and will attend a 4:15 masterclass. The Festival will culminate in an 8:00 PM performance by Jeanty and members of the Institute.

The entire event is open to vaccinated individuals (please bring proof and ID) and is free to students and members of the LGBTQ community. Tickets for the 8:00 PM concert cost $20. Outright Vermont will be tabling throughout the afternoon events.

VJC’s 45th Annual Summer Workshop Goes Virtual With Zoom Into Jazz!

by vtjazz | Music

The Vermont Jazz Center will celebrate its 45th season by offering an online version of its annual Summer Jazz Workshop from August 9-14, 2020. In the spirit of moving forward, the VJC has developed a structure to share the love of jazz and the wisdom of the faculty as a temporary replacement for its traditional summer jazz workshop in Putney, Vermont. This year’s program features an expanded faculty, a new take on masterclasses, plus two new features: “Hot Topics” and “Zoom Tunes,” as well as a composition course led by Helen Sung as part of our theory curriculum.

Called “Zoom Into Jazz,” 2020’s workshop welcomes a handful of new masterclass instructors on bass (Linda Oh, Genevieve Rose, David Picchi), drums (Clarence Penn, Corey Fonville), piano (Shamie Royston, Maya Keren, Miro Sprague), trumpet (Rachel Therrien, Ray Vega) and saxophone (Felipe Salas) to complement VJC’s stellar faculty (see below for a full list). The masterclasses will focus on different, daily topics – transcribing, comping, improvising, electric or acoustic instruments, note sets, etc. Each teacher will define the parameters of their own offerings.