Benefits of Training in Small Ensembles with Jazz Music

Notes on Conducting Jazz Ensembles  Listening, Imitation, Improvisation, Cultural, Personal and Historical Awareness  By David Berger (highlights) The universal love of jazz and its identification with America is about the personal freedom of expression and democracy in action. In order to be a responsible citizen, we need to be educated and articulate. This is especially true in being a member of a jazz band, which is a democratic musical society. Your first responsibility as a member is to understand the musical arrangements. Although the conductor is the final arbiter of taste, each player should bring as much understanding and personal

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Grammy winners Kamau Kenyatta and Gregory Porter share tight musical bond

By GEORGE VARGASEP. 24, 20169 AM Van Morrison, Hubert Laws, Don Was and Jamie Cullum are just a few of the luminaries who sing the praises of former San Diego State University-student-turned-Grammy-Award-winning singer Gregory Porter in the new film documentary, “Gregory Porter: Don’t Forget Your Music.” But when it came to composing and recording new original music for the soundtrack, the producers of “Don’t Forget” knew there was only one person for the job: Kamau Kenyatta. The veteran saxophonist and pianist is a lecturer at UC San Diego, where he is the director of the Department of Music’s jazz ensembles. He

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Student Profile: Mattias Almassy

Mattias Almassy has been a wonderful student at International Academy of Jazz and we have been blessed to have such a talented, hard working individual be a part of our programs. Mattias started with us in 2016 with a strong background in classical piano.  He was not as confident in solo performances nor did he have much knowledge about jazz. He worked mostly with Kamau Kenyetta and Tonga Ross Ma’u. In an interview with Mattias, he mentioned how much he enjoyed feeling like he could let the music come out freely and how open the teachers were to collaboration and

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B.B. King and Eric Clapton’s ‘Riding with the King’ album like working with ‘blues royalty’ for Nathan East

The Grammy Award-winning 2000 album features San Diego bassist Nathan East, who says: ‘B.B. was such a great storyteller’ Having already worked separately with B.B. King and Eric Clapton, bass-guitar great Nathan East was understandably delighted to join the two guitar legends in 2000 when they recorded the chart-topping “Riding with the King.” The album, which went on to earn a Grammy Award, is being re-released in expanded form on Friday to commemorate its 20th anniversary. The new 20th anniversary edition of “Riding with the King” adds two previously unreleased numbers to the original 12-song album. The two, “Let Me Love You” and

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An Interview with Steve Merriam

Professor in the Rhetoric and Writing Studies Department at San Diego State University | Board member of International Academy of Jazz. Steve Merriam, Ph.D., has 30 years’ experience in teaching, research, project management, instructional design, and curriculum development. Dr. Merriam teaches graduate courses in professional writing at San Diego State University and the University of California Extension, specializing in corporate and foundation grant writing for nonprofit organizations.  As a board member of the International Academy of Jazz, Steve enjoys supporting the nonprofit through his grant writing skills. His love for jazz and passion for playing inspired him to get involved. The support he has

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The Elegant Sadness of Kamau Kenyatta

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BECOMES AN ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER FOR THE INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF JAZZ of SAN DIEGO

Nathan Harrell East, born on December 8, 1955 in Philadelphia, PA was raised in San Diego along with his 6 siblings. In seventh thru ninth grades, Nathan played cello in his local Horace Mann junior high school's orchestra and at age fourteen he developed an interest in the bass guitar, playing in church, Christ The King, for folk masses. Influencers included Charles Mingus, Ray Brown and Ron Carter on upright bass; and James Jamerson, Paul McCartney and Chuck Rainey on electric bass. He continued his music studies at UC San Diego. SEE HIS BIO Nathan Harrell East has become an American jazz, R&B, and rock bass player and vocal legend. With more than 2,000 recordings, East is considered

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Fall 2017 Audition Sign-up

Auditions can be scheduled.    Please call 619.794.0189 You'll be tested on: 1) Sight-reading, 2) Jazz melody solo* and 3) Improvisation* of your choosing. * Please provide your backing tracks for the melody and improvisation on an MP3 or device of your choosing.     Sign up by completing the form here.

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NextGen 2017!

In the photo, left to right, Alvin Paige (sax), Zion Dyson (vocals), Johnny Steele (drums), Nick Vedder (trumpet), John Murray (bass), Jason Picker (keys), Andrew Martinez (guitar) On Friday, March 31, seven students in Gilbert’s 9am class and their families made their way up to Monterey for the 47th annual Next Generation Jazz Fest.  We met at Round Table for a quick dinner and then headed off to the Opening Night Concert at the Golden State Theatre.  The concert, also called “The Judges Concert,” features festival adjudicators.  We were so lucky to hear performances by NextGen artists in residence John

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IAJSD Students Off to Festivals!

Gilbert Castellanos' 9am ensemble was accepted as a finalist in The Next Gen Jazz Festival! Next Gen Jazz Fest in Monterey, CA, will take place March 31 - April 2. It is an invite only festival. Gilbert’s 9am combo (from left to right: Johnny Steele, drums, Alvin Paige, sax, John Murray bass, Zion Dyson, vocals, Gilbert Castellanos, instructor, Jason Picker, piano, Nick Vedder, trumpet, Andrew Martinez, guitar) submitted an audition recording in December and on Jan 27 received the good news that they were accepted to the festival! They will be competing with 5 other bands in the High School

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