April 28, 2008 | Institute Concludes 2008 Peer-to-Peer Jazz Education Tours with Visit to Anchorage The Institute concludes its three-city 2008 Peer-to-Peer Jazz Education Tours with a visit to Anchorage, Alaska from April 28 - May 3. Internationally renowned saxophonist Bobby Watson, vocal sensation Lisa Henry, and six outstanding jazz musicians from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts are presenting jazz education programs at five public high schools and the University of Alaska. In addition, the group is presenting four public performances at the Organic Oasis on May 2 and 3. Through its national Peer-to-Peer Jazz Education Tour initiative, the Institute arranges for jazz combos comprised of music students from select public performing arts high schools across the nation to perform for their peers in other cities. Each weeklong tour enables the young musicians to gain invaluable performance experience playing alongside internationally acclaimed artists while they, in turn, help educate young audiences in public schools throughout the U.S. about America's indigenous art form. The 2008 series began the week of March 17 in Salt Lake City. Six exceptionally gifted high school jazz students from Chicago's Gallery 37 Center for the Arts accompanied internationally acclaimed saxophone recording artist Antonio Hart, vocalist Lisa Henry, and jazz educator Dr. J.B. Dyas. Each school visit included a concert for all students followed by a jazz workshop for each school's jazz band with the Chicago students playing alongside and sharing ideas with their Salt Lake City counterparts. The series continued the week of March 24, with seven talented jazz students from the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts visiting public schools throughout Miami. A highlight of the Miami tour was a performance by the students and professional musicians at the JAZZIZ Bistro. "As young people are so influenced by kids their own age, who better to expose them to this great American art form than those of their own generation?" said TS Monk, the Institute's Chairman of the Board of Trustees and son of legendary jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk. "The tour is truly an extraordinary opportunity for everyone concerned: students, teachers, musicians, non-musicians – everybody." In addition to playing jazz at a level that belies their years, the participating students talk with their peers about what jazz is, why it's important to America, and how a jazz ensemble represents a perfect democracy. They also talk about some of the important values jazz represents: teamwork, freedom with responsibility, unity with ethnic diversity, hard work and goal accomplishment, and the importance of finding a passion early in life and being persistent. |
April 10, 2008 | Blues And Jazz Education Tour Comes To Mississippi And Tennessee Public Schools The Thelonious Monk Institute will introduce its Blues and Jazz: Two American Classics curriculum to thousands of Memphis public school students on April 14-15. The tour, which was launched in the Mississippi public schools in 2007, will include a series of assembly programs, jazz band clinics, and vocal master classes. Memphis is the first city outside of Mississippi to host a Blues and Jazz tour as the program begins its national expansion. From April 16-18, the Institute’s musicians will make a return visit to Mississippi, visiting public schools in Indianola, Cleveland, and Ruleville and building on the success of last year’s tour. The 2008 tour will feature multiple W.C. Handy Award-winning blues guitarist Joe Louis Walker, world renowned jazz saxophonist Bobby Watson, and vocalist Lisa Henry, a winner of the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition. The assembly programs will feature authentic live blues and jazz renditions that will enhance students’ understanding of and appreciation for these musical art forms and their rich history. Each assembly will also feature an interactive lecture component about the blues and its influence on jazz and a question-and-answer session with the students. Jazz drummer Thelonious Monk, Jr., Chairman of the Institute’s Board of Trustees and son of the legendary jazz pianist and composer, will make remarks about the historical effects of blues and jazz on one another and their respective roles as America’s greatest musical contributions to the world.
As part of the Institute’s free online Jazz in America national jazz curriculum, Blues and Jazz: Two American Classics (www.thebluesandjazz.org) teaches students about the Mississippi Delta’s leading role in the creation of the blues and the extensive influence it has had on the development of other styles of music, including jazz. Students gain insights into how the blues is incorporated into the styles of jazz legends such as Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, and Miles Davis. The curriculum, designed to be taught by American history and social studies teachers, also traces the blues’ excursion from Mississippi to other cities and regions throughout the country.
Funding has been provided by Carolyn & Bill Powers, in memory of Mrs. Powers’ grandparents, Joe Rice Dockery and Keith Dockery McLean, the late owners of Dockery Farms, which is considered by many, including B.B. King, to be the birthplace of the blues. Dockery Farms is located in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, between Cleveland and Ruleville.
In addition to leading a series of public school education programs, the Institute’s musicians will present a free public concert at Delta State University on Thursday, April 17. And they will participate in the April 19 unveiling and dedication of a Blues Heritage Trail sign at Dockery Farms, recognizing this historic plantation’s role in the creation and development of the blues.
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March 12, 2008 | Thelonious Monk Institute Announces 2008 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition and Historic Partnership with Concord Music Group The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz is pleased to announce that the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition finals will again take place on the West Coast on Sunday, October 26 at 5pm at the renowned Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. The Competition semi-finals will take place on the campus of UCLA at Schoenberg Hall on Saturday, October 25 from 1-5pm. This year’s Competition will feature the saxophone. Ten of the world’s most talented young saxophonists will perform in front of an esteemed panel of judges including Jimmy Heath, Wayne Shorter, 1991 Competition winner Joshua Redman, and others to be announced. The winner of the Competition will receive a $20,000 scholarship, the second place winner a $10,000 scholarship, and third place winner a $5,000 scholarship. The Competition application and guidelines are available on the Institute's Web site by clicking here. In addition, the Institute and Concord Music Group jointly announced an historic partnership that will guarantee the 2008 winner a record deal from Concord. This is the first time in the 21-year history of the Competition that the winner will walk offstage with a guaranteed recording contract and the first time Concord Music Group has ever entered into a partnership of this kind. Concord Music Group plans to release the winner’s album in mid 2009. The application for the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Composers Competition is also available on the Institute’s We bsite. Sponsored for the past 15 years by BMI, the Composers Competition awards a $10,000 grand prize to the young composer who best demonstrates originality, creativity and excellence in jazz composition. An All-Star Concert Gala to benefit the Institute’s jazz education programs will immediately follow the Saxophone Competition and will include the presentation of the 2008 Herbie Hancock Humanitarian Award. Details on the benefit concert line-up and the 2008 Herbie Hancock Humanitarian Award recipient will be announced in the coming months. |
February 10, 2008 | Institute Chairman Herbie Hancock Wins the Grammy Album of the Year! Herbie Hancock won ALBUM OF THE YEAR at the 50th Grammy Awards on February 10, 2008 for RIVER: The Joni Letters. This is the first jazz record to capture this top award since 1964 when Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto won for Getz/Gilberto. Herbie Hancock also grabbed a 2nd GRAMMY for "Best Contemporary Jazz Album." Artistic Director Terence Blanchard won the GRAMMY Award for:"Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album" for A Tale Of God's Will (A Requiem For Katrina). For more information please visit: Grammy Awards |
February 9, 2008 | THELONIOUS MONK INSTITUTE OF JAZZ ALUM LIONEL LOUEKE MAKES BLUE NOTE DEBUT WITH MARCH 25th RELEASE OF “KARIBU” FEATURING HERBIE HANCOCK & WAYNE SHORTER On March 25, guitarist Lionel Loueke makes his Blue Note Records debut with Karibu, a stunning album that takes its title from a Swahili word meaning “welcome.” It’s a fitting name, as the opening title track invites the listener into the musical world of one of the most distinctive new voices in Jazz. Featuring Loueke’s long-standing trio of bassist Massimo Biolcati and drummer Ferenc Nemeth, Karibu is also graced by rare guest appearances by two legends: pianist Herbie Hancock and saxophonist Wayne Shorter. Loueke is also featured on Hancock’s recent album, River: The Joni Letters (Verve Music Group), a tribute to Joni Mitchell which was just awarded “Album of the Year” at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. The album also features Jazz legends like Shorter and Dave Holland, as well as superb guest vocalists including Mitchell herself, Norah Jones, Tina Turner, and Corinne Bailey Rae.
Loueke is joining Hancock for several TV appearances this week on the heels of this historic win, including performances on ABC’s "The View" (aired February 19) and NBC’s "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" (to air February 22). Loueke will also be touring again this summer as a member of Hancock’s quartet and also featured as the opening act, including a June 23 performance at Carnegie Hall in New York for the JVC Jazz Festival, and an extensive run of European tour dates from late June through early August. Loueke and Hancock first met when he decided to audition for the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz where the pianist was a teacher. “I flipped,” says Hancock, recalling the moment he first heard Loueke’s audition tape. “I’d never heard any guitar player play anything close to what I was hearing from him. There was no territory that was forbidden, and he was fearless!” After several years of touring and recording with trumpeter Terence Blanchard, who was also a teacher at the Monk Institute, Loueke joined Hancock and has been a part of his regular band ever since. Loueke signed with Blue Note Records in 2007, the same label which released Hancock’s own auspicious 1962 debut, Takin’ Off, as well as his other early classics including "Maiden Voyage" and "Speak Like a Child."
For more information, please visit: Blue Note Records |
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