Saturday, December 20, 2014

The Monk Institute in 2014: Marquis Hill, Jazz Day, New College Class & More!


This year's competition saw the Institute return to Los Angeles, California for the first time since 2008. With more than $100,000 in scholarships and prizes at stake and special appearances by a who's who of musical and cultural icons - including Herbie Hancock, Former President Bill Clinton, Kevin Spacey, Don Cheadle, Quincy Jones, Arturo Sandoval, Dianne Reeves, Pharrell Williams and John Mayer, to name a few - this truly was 2014's biggest weekend for jazz.


The 2014 semifinalists (Photo by Steve Mundinger)
The November 8th Semifinals packed UCLA's Schoenberg Hall and drew nearly 20,000 views via webcast. Thirteen talented young trumpet players, hailing from Japan, Venezuela and across the United States, clearly demonstrated that the future of jazz remains in capable hands. 

Each competitor had the chance to perform three tunes for the all-star judging panel, consisting of a veritable dream-team of brass masters: Quincy Jones, Roy Hargrove, Jimmy Owens, Randy Brecker, Arturo Sandoval and 2007 Competition Winner Ambrose Akinmusire. Accompanied by the renowned Competition rhythm section of Reggie Watts (piano), Rodney Whitaker (bass) and Carl Allen (drums), the semifinalists rose to the occasion with originals and arrangements of classic standards including the requisite rendition of a Thelonious Monk composition. Click here to watch the 2014 Semifinals on YouTube.

Three stand-out performers advanced to the Finals, held the next evening at Hollywood's Dolby Theatre: Brooklyn native Adam O'Farrill (3rd), Berkeley, CA native Billy Buss (2nd), and Marquis Hill (1st), of Chicago, delighted listeners with their virtuosity and inventive takes on standards like "Polka Dots and Moonbeams," "Criss Cross" and "Brownie Speaks." Hill took home a $25,000 scholarship and guaranteed recording contract with Concord Music Group, and all three finalists had the opportunity to "hang" with the evening's honoree, President Bill Clinton. Click here for photos from the Competition finals.

President Clinton accepted the Institute's Maria Fisher Founder's Award in recognition of his longtime support of the Institute, jazz and jazz education. The award presentation was the crowning moment of the much-anticipated All-Star Gala Concert, which featured stellar performances by Kevin Spacey, John Mayer, Herbie Hancock, Pharrell WilliamsWayne Shorter, Dianne ReevesTaj Mahal, Queen Latifah, 2013 Competition winner Melissa Aldana, 2011 Competition winner Kris Bowers, 2009 Competition winner Ben Williams, 1991 Competition winner Joshua Redman and many others. Speaking off-the-cuff about the importance of jazz and the Institute's programs, Clinton remarked, 

For 20 years, at least, I have watched what has gone on here, and I want to say that both things the Monk Institute does are important. First of all, they really are going to discover the jazz giants of tomorrow...This is America's great contribution to music - and we can never afford not to be the birthplace of new talent, new genius. Secondly, they're bringing music to countless young people in schools, and giving them a chance to learn about jazz, to play jazz. And most of them won't be jazz musicians, but sometimes frustrated jazz musicians wind up with another life that works out pretty well.


The Monk Fellows perform at the 2014 Competition & Gala (Photo by Steve Mundinger)
Beyond the Competition finalists, many new talents were on display, with students from the Institute's high school and college education programs taking the stage to perform. 

The seven Monk Fellows, who study tuition-free at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance at UCLA's Herb Alpert School of Music, played their classmate Daniel Rotem's  "Anticipation," while the Institute's National Performing Arts High School All-Stars burned through Miles Davis' "Milestones" accompanied by 2004 Vocals Competition finalist Kellylee Evans. Click here to learn more about the Institute's public school education programs. 

The Institute also honored corporate partner United Airlines with the 2014 Herbie Hancock Humanitarian Award, recognizing the company's support of a wide range of cultural, youth development, and health and humanitarian initiatives the world over. United Vice Chairman James Compton graciously accepted the award.  
Click here for photos from the All-Star Gala Concert.


International
Organizers in 196 countries worldwide produced events in 2014. In Madagascar, for example, the Madajazzcar Festival and numerous partners organized a free program of concerts throughout the afternoon & evening (Photo by Studio D.Mix)
INTERNATIONAL JAZZ DAY 2015

In 2011, UNESCO declared April 30 International Jazz Day in order to recognize jazz music as a force for peace, intercultural dialogue and international cooperation. The Institute was named lead partner in charge of coordinating international outreach and programs surrounding this historic celebration. Since then, we have played a pivotal role in making this day a worldwide phenomenon.

Following the tremendously successful International Jazz Day celebration on April 30, 2014, the Institute has been hard at work planning for next April 30. Outreach to hundreds of partners in all 196 UNESCO and UN countries is set to begin in January. An unprecedented number of events around the world is expected in 2015, with hundreds of concerts, jam sessions, photo contests, art exhibitions, festivals, conferences, lectures, discussions and other programs already in the works. Stay tuned for the announcement of the 2015 Global Host City, where a daylong series of educational programs and the All-Star Global Concert will set the tone for this worldwide celebration.

The cast of the 2014 All-Star Global Concert in Osaka, Japan (Photo by Steve Mundinger)

If you or someone you know is interested in celebrating jazz on April 30, please consider becoming an official International Jazz Day partner and organizing an event in your city. Click here to learn how you can participate in 2015.

College
The Class of 2016 with visiting artist Jimmy Heath (cntr) and renowned jazz educator Dr. David Baker (left) 
MONK FELLOWS LEARN & SERVE

In October, the Institute was pleased to welcome seven gifted young musicians to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, our full-scholarship master's program at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. Alex Boneham (bass), Christian Euman (drums), Michael Mayo (vocals), Ido Meshulam (trombone), David Otis (alto saxophone), Daniel Rotem (tenor saxophone) and Carmen Staaf (piano), together known as the Monk Fellows, immediately dove into their rigorous two-year course of study, working with jazz legends including Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Jimmy Heath. The Class of 2016 is the 10th in the program's history and the second class at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, which was recently named the number 4 music school in the world by The Hollywood Reporter.
 
Less than three months into the program, the students already have benefited from instruction by a host of top artists, including GRAMMY Award nominees Billy Childs and Stefon Harris and 2013 MacArthur Fellow Vijay Iyer. In addition to their classwork, the Monk Fellows regularly conduct workshops with the visiting masters in UCLA's Schoenberg Music Building, free and open to the public.


The program also places an emphasis on serving students across the United States and abroad through free clinics, master classes and other educational activities. This gives the Monk Fellows opportunities to share their talents and gain a broad range of performance experience, fulfilling the Institute's mission of providing public school-based jazz education programs for young people around the world. In November, the Monk Fellows visited Eagle Rock High School in Los Angeles to lead a clinic and instructional jam session. Many more outreach programs are planned for the coming months.
The Class of 2016 with music students at Eagle Rock High School in Los Angeles

UCLA Director of Jazz Studies Kenny Burrell at an Institute-sponsored discussion with West Coast Director Daniel Seeff (Photo by Suzanne Strong)


As has become a tradition with the UCLA program, the Monk Fellows continue to host their monthly jam session at  Blue Whale, a well-known jazz club in LA's Little Tokyo. This gives local and visiting musicians the chance to benefit directly from the Fellows' already prodigious talents. Other community-based activities include a collaboration with UCLA's student-directed MindFul Music public health initiative, free recitals and jam sessions across the UCLA campus, and open discussions with jazz legends like UCLA Director of Jazz Studies Kenny Burrell.

The college program is lauded especially for preparing students to face the intense world of professional jazz; with that in mind, the recently-graduated Class of 2014 has been keeping busy. While maintaining active individual schedules performing with top artists including Blood, Sweat & Tears, Stefon Harris, John Ellis, Cyrus Chestnut, Jerry Bergonzi, Helen Sung and others, the members of the class have remained together as a group under the name HOLOPHONOR. The group has already released a self-produced album and will be touring in April and May of 2015.



Classroom
The 2014-2015 All-Stars with teaching artist Ambrose Akinmusire
BRINGING JAZZ INTO THE CLASSROOM

A highlight of the 2014 Competition & Gala was a performance by the Institute's 2014-2015 National Performing Arts High School All-Star group, made up of top students from our Performing Arts High Schools jazz program. As part of the initiative, the Institute provides ongoing jazz instruction plus visits from jazz masters for students at 12 public performing arts schools in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Houston, Dallas, New York City, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Miami, Newark and San Francisco. 

In addition to their work in the classroom, Isaiah Collier (Chicago, tenor saxophone), Kayla Williams (Houston, trombone), Joshua Bermudez (Miami, guitar), Jamael Dean (Los Angeles, piano), Kanoa Mendenhall (San Francisco, bass) and Derek Fykes (Newark, drums) will tour the country on an Institute "Peer-to-Peer" tour, mentoring their same-age counterparts and learning from acclaimed professional musicians like Antonio Hart, 1994 Vocals Competition winner Lisa Henry, Bobby Watson and 2007 Trumpet Competition winner Ambrose Akinmusire. Peer-to-Peer Tours featuring our performing arts high school students are being planned for April and May 2015 in the Chicago and Phoenix/Tucson area public schools.

Also present at this year's Competition were jazz students and administrators from Newark's Arts High School. They made the long trip to Los Angeles to support classmate Derek Fykes (onstage drumming with the All-Star High School group) and to take in all the amazing musicianship on display - a true embodiment of our strategy of bringing young musicians into contact with present-day masters.

The 2014-2015 High School All-Stars perform with teaching artist Kellylee Evans at the 2014 Competition & Gala (Photo by Steve Mundinger)


Dee Dee Bridgewater interacts with a student at the Bologna Performing Arts Center in Cleveland, Mississippi (Photo by Rory Doyle)
The Institute continued its educational series "The Blues and Jazz: Two American Classics" with visits to public schools in the Mississippi Delta in September. Accompanied by a stellar ensemble featuring Reggie Watts (piano), Jonathan Pinson (drums, College Program '14), Institute Special Projects Director Leonard Brown (guitar) and 2009 Bass Competition winner Ben Williams, GRAMMY Award-winning vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater enthralled students in Memphis, Tennessee and Cleveland, Mississippi with engaging "informances," complete with historical explanations of the various styles being performed.

The programs were designed to demonstrate the linkages between the blues - which originated in the Delta - and jazz, and highlight the artistic and cultural significance of both musical art forms. Student musicians at Overton High School in Memphis also had the opportunity to learn directly from the masters, with Bridgewater and Thomas conducting master classes with the jazz chorus and instrumental ensemble, respectively. Click here to read more about Institute education programs, including "The Blues & Jazz," Peer-to-Peer Tours, and more.
Media
MONK INSTITUTE IN THE MEDIA

The Institute's work continues to garner public recognition in a range of high-profile publications and forums. In addition to favorable coverage of the 2014 Competition in major outlets from NPR to Forbes to People, our UCLA program was profiled in The Hollywood Reporter and DownBeat, which also named us one of the "80 Coolest Things in Jazz Today" in its July 2014 issue.
 
Alex Rodriguez of NPR Music wrote, "The Monk Institute's arrival has coincided with a noticeable upswing in jazz activity in Southern California - and the Institute seems committed to contributing to that trend." 
 
Barrett Wissman of Forbes said the Institute's work in music education "...has been an inspiration for several generations of talented young musicians who wouldn't otherwise have the opportunities they have had." 
 
Herb Alpert told The Hollywood Reporter, "Jazz really needs to evolve. A lot of artists are playing what has already been played. We're taking it to the next level." 
 
Finally, there is the growing buzz surrounding Keep On Keepin' On, the 2014 film about Institute Co-founder Clark Terry and his tireless mentorship of young jazz musicians, including 2011 Piano Competition semifinalist Justin Kauflin. Directed by jazz drummer Alan Hicks and produced by Quincy Jones, this poignant documentary has won awards at the prestigious Tribeca and Seattle International Film Festivals and received critical acclaim from The New York TimesThe Wall Street JournalRolling StoneUSA Today and many more. The Institute was proud to serve as a consultant on the film. Click here to learn about screenings in your area.

Promotional poster for Keep On Keepin' On


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