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Monterey Jazz Festival Lauches Summer Youth Jazz Camp June 19 – 30

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 8, 2006
Media Contact: Jason Arnold
Phones: 831/373.3366, cell 510/326.4353
Jason@montereyjazzfestival.org
www.montereyjazzfestival.org
MONTEREY JAZZ FESTIVAL LAUNCHES SUMMER YOUTH JAZZ CAMP JUNE 19 – 30 AT MONTEREY PENNINSULA COLLEGE
INSTRUCTORS INCLUDING MJF ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE KURT ELLING TO TEACH MONTEREY COUNTY MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL JAZZ STUDENTS
$125,000 IN SCHOLARSHIP MONEY OFFERED TO 250 POTENTIAL MJF SUMMER JAZZ CAMP PARTICIPANTS
MJF ALSO PRESENTS ADULT JAZZ CLASS ON JUNE 20, 22 & 27 WITH PIANIST MARK LEVINE AT MPC
Monterey Jazz Festival Summer Youth Jazz Camp
Ages 13-18
June 19-30, 9:00am-5:00pm
Monterey Peninsula College
980 Fremont St, Monterey, 93940
Camp Vocal Solos & Combos Concert
Wednesday, June 28, 7:00pm
Location: National Steinbeck Center
1 Main St, Salinas, CA 93901
Free & Open to the Public
Camp Big Bands & Vocal Ensembles Concert
Thursday, June 29, 7:00pm
Location: Pacific Grove Middle School Auditorium
835 Forest Avenue
Pacific Grove, CA 93950
Free & Open to the Public
MJF Adult Jazz Class
June 20, 22, & 27, 6:00-8:00pm
Monterey Peninsula College
980 Fremont St, Monterey, 93940
$75 Tuition for Three Class Sessions
June 8, 2006; Monterey, California; The Monterey Jazz Festival holds its two-week Summer Jazz Camp for middle and high school students at Monterey Peninsula College this June 19 – 30, 2006. This year, 250 students from 24 schools in Monterey County have been offered the opportunity to immerse themselves in jazz study and performance with a star-studded line-up of professional musicians and educators. As part of its long-standing commitment to jazz education, the Monterey Jazz Festival has offered a total of $125,000 in scholarship funding for participating students, making the camp not only educationally rewarding and fun, but inexpensive as well.
The MJF Summer Jazz Camp is an intensive immersion program for young jazz students to learn and develop music skills and knowledge, with classes including big bands, small ensembles, vocal performance, instrumental master classes, and daily workshops on different music subjects. The camp also includes special sessions for students to attend combo rehearsals and theory classes. MJF staff expect total enrollment of 160 young musicians to participate in this worthwhile music endeavor, keeping classes and ensembles to a small size. The students – ranging in age from 13 to 18 years old – earn one unit of credit from Monterey Peninsula College at the completion of camp. Students will the opportunity to show off their newly-honed skills in recital performances for fans, friends and family on June 28 at the National Steinbeck Center and June 29 at the Pacific Grove Middle School Auditorium. Student jam sessions, giving students the opportunity to play with the pro’s, will take place at Monterey Live with dates and times to be announced.
This year’s MJF Summer Jazz Camp is distinguished by the presence of this MJF 2006 Artist-in-Residence, vocalist Kurt Elling. The seven-time GRAMMY Award nominee, who astonished attendants at this year’s MJF Next Generation Festival in April, will inspire young musicians with his open and enthusiastic approach to jazz education as well as his lauded vocal talent.

The camp’s full roster of instructors also includes many of the finest jazz educators in the field. This year’s faculty includes saxophonists Paul Contos and Virginia Mayhew, trumpeter Sal Cracchiola, trumpeter Michael Galisatus, trombonist Terry Russell, drummer Vince Lateano, bassist Scott Steed, guitarist Bruce Forman, GRAMMY-nominated pianist Mark Levine, pianist and Monterey Peninsula College professor Eddie Mendenhall, and vocalists Madeline Eastman, Dick Whittington and Julia Dollison. The camp also invites several of the festival’s talented All-Star High School Big Band alumni to mentor younger students, and this year the MJF Summer Jazz Camp welcomes trombonists Chris Myrick and Mark Stotzer, guitarist Aron Forbes, bassist Shawn Stillinger, and drummer Skylar Campbell to its faculty. While the MJF Summer Jazz Camp promises to be a life-changing experience for young students, the MJF Adult Jazz Class taking place in June will also prove fun and educational for adults. Held June 20, 22, and 27 at Monterey Peninsula College from 6:00pm to 8:00pm, MJF’s Adult Jazz Class is a terrific opportunity for novice adult musicians to acquire a basic knowledge of jazz styles and techniques as well as develop individual performance skills. The only pre-requisite for the adult students is an ability to read and understand music notation.
The MJF Adult Jazz Class is taught by Grammy-nominated pianist, composer and educator Mark Levine, whose books, “The Jazz Theory Book” and “The Jazz Piano Book” are definitive texts on jazz theory and piano performance used in classrooms worldwide. Reservations for class space can be made by contacting Dr. Rob Klevan at the MJF Office at (831) 373-3366 or rob@montereyjazzfestival.org.
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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 8th, 2006 at 5:49 pm. It is filed under Monterey Jazz Festival, Music News/Info. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.