JAS & Frost School of Music Two-Week Student Residency
The Inaugural JAS Academy Presented by
Jazz Aspen Snowmass in Collaboration with the
Frost School of Music at the University of Miami
Set for August 4 — 19 in Aspen
Jazz Greats Artistic Director & Six-Time
GRAMMY® Award Winner Christian McBride with
JAS President/CEO Jim Horowitz to be Joined by
Multi-GRAMMY® Nominee Dean Shelly Berg & Frost
Faculty In Newly Expanded Program to Bring 23
Student Musicians to Aspen for Summer Residency
Arturo Sandoval, Catherine Russell, Frost
Alumnus Veronica Swift & Emmett Cohen to
Host Master Classes and Perform
Twenty-three jazz students from across the US and beyond will be arriving in Aspen, Colorado on August 4 for the newly revamped, two-week JAS Academy presented by Jazz Aspen Snowmass in collaboration with Frost School of Music (FSoM) at the University of Miami. The diverse group of students represent eleven elite music programs including Frost, the Manhattan School of Music, North Texas University, Michigan State, UCLA, Princeton, Florida State University, Eastman, The Hartt School, California State University Northridge and Tel Aviv University.
During their time in Aspen the students will have an opportunity to work with and learn from some of the greatest jazz musicians in the field, including 6-time GRAMMY® Award-winning bassist and JAS Academy Artistic Director Christian McBride. Additional Academy faculty include Frost School of Music Dean Shelly Berg, JAS President and CEO Jim Horowitz, and additional Frost faculty including JAS Academy Program Director Chuck Bergeron, Rey Sanchez and Brian Lynch. The Frost faculty will spend much of the first week in a classroom setting with the students focusing on Frost curriculum surrounding the business side of the music industry with subjects including technology, entrepreneurship, artistic vision and recording. The second week will focus on Big Band training with McBride, leading into a public performance at the JAS Café rooftop at the Aspen Art Museum on their final night, Sunday, August 18.
The Academy will also offer students the opportunity to attend master classes with some of the biggest names in jazz including the legendary Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval and vocalist Catherine Russell. They will be joined by two of the hottest newcomers on the jazz scene today Frost alumnus Veronica Swift (B.M. ’16) and pianist Emmet Cohen (B.M. ’12) who represent just one of the many reasons students study at FSoM and why successful proud alumni claim to the #FrostBuilt! Each of these artists will be performing public shows at the JAS Café during their visit. Tickets for those performances can be found at jazzaspensnowmass.org.
The public will have additional opportunities to see the JAS Academy students perform as well, including a three-night run of shows at The Limelight Hotel in Aspen, August 5-7. During these free “jam sessions” students can be seen performing in small combos and groups, which will be the focus of week one. Two existing ensembles were pre-selected for the Academy, while the remaining students will come together while in Aspen to create their own small ensemble.
The JAS Academy is one of the nation’s only full-scholarship summer residencies, something that has been made possible by the generosity of philanthropists Sasha and Ed Bass who pledged to underwrite the operating budget of the JAS Academy for the first five (5) years of the partnership with Frost. With this generous donation, JAS and the Frost School of Music have already expanded the previous 7-day residency to two weeks, with the hopes of moving to a four-week program by 2021.
For more information on the Academy or to learn more about the students attending please visit jazzaspensnowmass.org/academy.
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About Frost School of Music:
The Phillip and Patricia Frost School of Music is one of the largest and most highly acclaimed music schools located in a private university in the U.S., and one of the most comprehensive and relevant in all of higher education. With over 700 students and 100 faculty members, it is a top choice for instrumental, keyboard and vocal performance as well as composition, music business, music education, music engineering technology, music therapy, songwriting, jazz, studio music, and more. It is one of two schools created in 1926 when the University of Miami was founded. The naming gift from Dr. Phillip and Patricia Frost in 2003 was a historic occasion. The Frost School of Music seeks to transform lives through the study and performance of music, and to enhance music’s future as the result of the most innovative and relevant curricula in higher education.
About JAS Aspen Snowmass:
Founded in 1991 and entering its 29th season, Jazz Aspen Snowmass (JAS) is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization which has generated over $7.5million of support for its music education programs since 1996. The Mission of JAS is to present and preserve jazz and related forms of music through world-class events, performances, and education programs. JAS launched its acclaimed music education programs in 1996 with the launch of the Thelonious Monk Institute Jazz Colony, which became the JAS Academy Summer Sessions in 2000-2008, the nation’s only all-scholarship summer training program for gifted young emerging jazz artists. The Academy paired these young artists with acknowledged jazz masters such as Herbie Hancock, Dianne Reeves, Russell Malone, Monty Alexander, Benny Green and many others in an intensive series of workshops, seminars and performances. Many of these artists have gone on to become permanent members of some of the most prestigious working jazz groups today including Wynton Marsalis, Christian McBride, Dianne Reeves and Roy Hargrove, among many.
In addition to the JAS Academy, JAS funds and operates a wide range of education initiatives that complement existing public school music programs in the Roaring Fork Valley and replace programs where schools suffer losses in music education. Programs ranging from providing faculty assistance to music instructors, instrument donations, , annual Summer Camps, Scholarship to Berklee 5-Week Summer Program and hosting performances and more.
At JAS’ two large events, JAS has collectively presented a roster of iconic Artists ranging from Tony Bennett, BB King, Ray Charles, Harry Connick, Jr., Herbie Hancock, Diana Krall, Natalie Cole, at the JAS June Experience and Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Keith Urban, Maroon 5 at the JAS Labor Day Experience and countless others. JAS has historically presented both established and iconic Artists as well as emerging stars, and has been there at the outset of many Artists’ growing careers since its inception.
Another Mission driven initiative, The JAS Café, launched by JAS in 2011, has exploded in popularity in recent years presenting stellar artists in both winter and summer who embrace jazz and related diverse music in the “Jazz Spoken Globally” series at intimate venues in Aspen. Artists featured have hailed from France, Italy, England, Japan, Cuba, Brazil, the Caribbean and the USA.