It’s All Jazz

There are a variety of Jazz Summer Camps around the world for young people looking to try out jazz. Here are a few of those summer camps:

Stanford Jazz Workshop: The Stanford Jazz Workshop (in Stanford, CA) is a camp that offers two options, jazz camp and jazz residency. The jazz camp is the lower level while residency is for advanced students.

Jazz Camp: “Jazz Camp provides a fun, focused, and supportive environment where young musicians study and play with motivated peers and a prestigious faculty of professional musicians and educators. Jazz Camp attracts a diverse, multinational group of young musicians at all levels of experience, from beginning to advanced, including vocalists, string players, classical music players, and those with no previous jazz training.”

Jazz Residency: “Jazz Residency offers a week-long intensive interaction with jazz legends, top professionals, gifted educators, and motivated students from around the world. SJW’s Jazz Residency curriculum includes master classes, small ensemble playing, and performance opportunities, as well as theory, musicianship, arranging, Afro-Latin jazz and jazz history instruction.”

JazzCamp WEST is another jazz camp program in california. This one is in Oakland, according to their mailing address. I have never heard of it before, but here is a bit from their website

“Jazz Camp WEST is an eight-day jazz immersion program for instrumentalists, vocalists and dancers held in the beautiful redwoods of La Honda in Northern California. The combination of workshops, personalized instruction, student performances, faculty concerts, late night jams, and beautiful surroundings with new friends and mentors creates an inspiring and memorable week.”

You can find their website at jazzcampwest dot com. One thing unique about this camp that I have never seen before is that they have an “outdoor jazz film series” for the campers at night. I can only imagine what kind of movies they watch- the newport one, Lady Day Sings The Blues, etc. etc. Maybe Space is the Place? The sun ra movie?

Adult Jazz Camp can be found at Tritone Jazz Camp. Here is a quote from their webpage, tritonejazz dot com:
“At Tritone Jazz Fantasy Camps, adult (over 21) jazz players and singers learn and play in a friendly, non-threatening environment, supported by a faculty of caring, professional jazz musician/educators and surrounded by kindred spirits.”

Any of these camps sound great for a camper that wants to go to a jazz summer camp. Thanks for reading It’s All Jazz

Here’s some info about an upcoming jazz concert festival and where you can get tickets.

The West Oak Lane Jazz and Arts Festival will start tomorrow and run thru Sunday. Some of the headliners will be WAR, The Mingus Big Band, Average White Band, Tower of Power, and Roy Ayers.

This festival is funky and happening. The people love it. For tickets, you can visit their website at westoaklanefestival dot com. It may also be possible to get tickets from stubhub, ticketmaster, or eBay. I don’t know for sure.

Here’s some bits about the headliners:

Average White Band: “Widely regarded as one of the best soul and funk bands in the history of music, Average White Band is perhaps known best for their timeless instrumental mega-hit ”Pick Up the Pieces.” The band’s strength actually lay in their consistently accomplished songwriting, stretching across several gold selling albums and multi-Grammy nominations for the legendary Atlantic Records.”

Mingus Big Band: “The Mingus Big Band is one of three repertory bands that were created to celebrate the music of the composer and bassist, Charles Mingus, who died of ALS in 1979. Under the artistic direction of Sue Mingus, this critically acclaimed band tours extensively in the United States and abroad, providing audiences with a mix of ballads, blues, extended through-composed pieces, and arrangements for vocalists. With nine recordings to its credit—six of which have been nominated for Grammy Awards—the Mingus Big Band and the other repertory bands, Mingus Dynasty and Mingus Orchestra, are keeping Mingus music alive and vibrant for future generations.”

Anyways, this looks like a great festival! I can’t wait to go. I’m not sure about where to get tickets. Tickets may be available online or at StubHub, Ticketmaster, eBay, or other places.