November 5, 2008; Monterey, CA; The Monterey Jazz Festival, a leader in jazz education since its inception in 1958, is pleased to announce the 5th Annual Next Generation Festival, featuring the nation’s most talented middle school, high school, conglomerate, and college jazz musicians and vocalists. The Next Generation Festival, which includes MJF's Next Generation Festival Jazz Competition, will take place in historic downtown Monterey from April 3 - 5, 2009.

The Next Generation Festival is accepting applications from middle school, high school, conglomerate, and college big bands; high school combos and vocal jazz ensembles; and from college vocal jazz ensembles through January 23, 2009. Application forms may be downloaded at the Monterey Jazz Festival’s website, montereyjazzfestival.org. The application process is free as is entry to the competition.

The three-day event will include performances and competitions, with awards going to the best groups for Middle School, High School, Conglomerate, and College Big Band Divisions; for High School Combos and Vocal Ensembles; and for College Vocal Ensembles. The event also includes the annual Composition Competition, open to high school composers. The top three high school big bands, top high school combo, top conglomerate big band, top college-level big band and vocal ensemble and top two high school vocal ensembles will win cash awards and be invited to perform at the 52nd Annual Monterey Jazz Festival, September 18 - 20, 2009. In total, 9 groups from the Next Generation Festival will perform at MJF/52, with the top high school big band kicking off the Arena/Lyons Stage on Sunday, September 20, 2009. Other winning groups will perform in the Night Club, the Garden Stage, and the Coffee House Gallery on the Grounds.

Auditions will also be held for chair positions in the Monterey Jazz Festival’s Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, which embarks on a yearly tour and is a featured ensemble on the Festival's Sunday, September 20, 2009 afternoon Arena/Lyons Stage program. For MJF/52, Wynton Marsalis will perform as a guest soloist with the NGJO.

The Next Generation Festival encompasses the annual National Next Generation Festival Jazz Competition, now in its 39th year. The Competition is open to superior rated big bands, combos, and vocal ensembles. The non-competitive middle school category is open to superior rated big bands. The College Division is open to big bands, with a new college vocal ensemble division category for 2009. “There is no doubt that the Next Generation Festival has become one of the premier international jazz education events of the year,” Said Dr. Rob Klevan, MJF Education Director. “With the addition of the Conglomerate Division for high school and younger students last year, and the new College Vocal Jazz Ensemble Division addition this year, the NGF continues to expand and provide exceptional performance and workshop opportunities for instrumental and vocal jazz music teachers, students, and fans. Monterey will be a very ‘happening’ place next April 3 - 5!”

Next Generation finalists are selected through recorded auditions by faculty from the Berklee College of Music, and will include twelve big bands, six combos, and eight vocal ensembles in the High School Division. Six college-level big bands and six college vocal ensembles will also be selected, in addition to six conglomerate and six middle school big bands.

The Next Generation Festival will also feature special invited groups. In 2008, over fifty groups from across the United States attended the Next Generation Festival, including groups from Japan, the Czech Republic and Australia.

In addition, The Big Band Composition Competition is open to high school student composers. Judged by college faculty from leading music schools across the country, the winning composer will receive the second Gerald Wilson Award and a cash prize, with the winning composition to be performed by the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra at the 52nd Annual Monterey Jazz Festival, September 20, 2009 on the Jimmy Lyons Stage in the Arena before a crowd of 7000 fans.

All Next Generation Festival events - From Friday night's Kick-Off Concert through Saturday and Sunday's Next Generation Festival Jazz Competition, events and activities are open to the public, free of charge. The Festival will also conduct clinics, workshops, jam sessions, and auditions in the heart of the historic Monterey, with music to be performed at the Monterey Conference Center, the host Portola Plaza Hotel, at Fisherman’s Wharf, and at Monterey Live.

Interested schools and students should visit montereyjazzfestival.org for instructions on how to apply to the Next Generation Festival. Applications with an audition tape/CD should be mailed to: Next Generation Festival, c/o Dr. Rob Klevan, Jazz Education Director, 9699 Blue Larkspur Lane, Suite 204, Monterey, CA, 93940.

The Monterey Jazz Festival is also pleased to announce that the Artists-In-Residence for 2009 will be Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Featured during the Next Generation Festival in April will be renowned LCJO members alto saxophonist Sherman Irby, trumpeter Sean Jones and saxophonist Joe Temperley.

Sherman Irby (alto saxophone) was born and raised in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Encouraged by his mother to explore music, Mr. Irby studied viola, guitar and piano. Although he was studying classical music in school, playing gospel music in church and R&B at dances, he was drawn to jazz by listening to Charlie Parker. At Clark-Atlanta University, he played in the school jazz orchestra and performed with Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Rouse and Kenny Burrell. In 1994, he moved to New York and played with the Boys Choir of Harlem and in 1995, he landed the second alto chair with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. In 1996 and 1997, he participated in Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead program. He has toured with Marcus Roberts and worked with Ann Hampton-Callaway, the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra and the New York City Ballet. In 1997, Mr. Irby began a three-year association with Roy Hargrove, performing with the Grammy Award-winning “Crisol” project. Mr. Irby has recorded Full Circle, Black Warrior and Big Mama’s Biscuits, which was included on the New York Times list of top 10 records for 1998.

Sean Jones (trumpet) earned a degree in classical trumpet performance from Youngstown State University in Ohio, and earned his masters degree from Rutgers University in New Jersey. He is now is an Assistant Professor of Jazz Studies at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  In his young career, Mr. Jones has worked with the Chico O'Farrill Orchestra, the Gerald Wilson Orchestra, the Illinois Jacquet Big Band, the Louis Armstrong Legacy Band, Charles Fambrough (and was featured on Mr. Fambrough’s release Live At Zanzibar Blue), Joe Lovano, and the International Jazz Quintet, in addition to leading his own groups. He has released three albums on the Mack Avenue label: Eternal Journey, Gemini and Roots.

Joe Temperley (baritone and soprano saxophones, bass clarinet) was born in Scotland and first achieved prominence in the United Kingdom. In 1965, he came to New York City, where he performed and/or recorded with Woody Herman, Buddy Rich, Joe Henderson, Duke Pearson, the Jazz Composer’s Orchestra, the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, Clark Terry, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, and many more. Mr. Temperley’s Broadway and film credits include Sophisticated Ladies, The Cotton Club, Biloxi Blues, Brighton Beach Memoirs, When Harry Met Sally and Tune In Tomorrow, composed by Wynton Marsalis. Mr. Temperley is a mentor and a co-founder of the FIFE Youth Jazz Orchestra program in Scotland, which now enrolls 70 young musicians, ages 7 to 17. Mr. Temperley has released several albums as a leader, including Nightingale (1991), Sunbeam and Thundercloud with pianist Dave McKenna (1996), With Every Breath (1998) and Double Duke (1999). He is an original member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and serves on the faculty of the Juilliard Institute for Jazz Studies.

As MJF’s Artists-In-Residence, members of the JALC Orchestra will work year-round with young student musicians in performances, clinics and one-on-one sessions at the Next Generation Festival and the MJF Summer Jazz Camp, in addition to performing at the Monterey Jazz Festival. Started in 2004, the MJF Artist-In-Residence program has brought Regina Carter, Branford Marsalis, Kurt Elling, Terence Blanchard and Christian McBride to the Monterey Bay; their involvement and interaction with students provides a unique educational opportunity through mentorship that will last a lifetime.

About The Next Generation Festival and MJF Jazz Education Programs

The genesis of the Next Generation Festival started in 1971 when Jimmy Lyons, founder and General Manager of the Monterey Jazz Festival, began presenting the winners of the California High School Jazz Band Competition at MJF. Over the years, some of the young musicians who have participated in what tenor saxophonist Joshua Redman describes as “the Superbowl of California high school jazz competitions” have gone on to become stars of their generation their own right: saxophonists Joshua Redman, Dave Koz and Dave Ellis, pianists Benny Green and Patrice Rushen, multi-instrumentalist Peter Apfelbaum, bassist Larry Grenadier and many more. In 2005, the competition was expanded to add more educational components and renamed the Next Generation Festival, and the High School All-Star Band morphed into the Next Generation Orchestra and in 2008, the High School Jazz Competition was dubbed the Next Generation Festival Jazz Competition. The Next Generation Festival and Next Generation Festival Jazz Competition both draw upon 39 years of educational experience, history and innovation to its expanding lineup and scope.

Starting with a modest $35,000 scholarship fund in 1970, the Monterey Jazz Festival now invests over $900,000 annually in jazz education through a variety of different programs, which are a model of arts education for the entire nation. These hands-on, cutting-edge educational components include the Traveling Clinician and Latin Jazz Programs, with professional musicians visiting Monterey County schools to teach students how to play and improvise in jazz and Latin styles; the Artist-In-Residence Program, which brings a leading jazz performer to work with students throughout the year; the MJF Summer Jazz Camp, the MJF Instrument and Sheet Music Library, The Digital Music Education Project, the Next Generation Festival, the Monterey County High School All-Star-Band, the MJF Middle School Honor Band, and MJF Vocal Jazz Ensemble, and the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra.

The Next Generation Festival is produced and supported through partnerships with the City of Monterey, the D'Addario Music Foundation, JazzTimes Magazine, the Surdna Foundation, and Yamaha Instruments.

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For more information please contact:
Timothy Orr, Monterey Jazz Festival
Direct Line: 510-652-1122 / MJF Phone: 831-373-3366 X252
timorr@montereyjazzfestival.org
www.montereyjazzfestival.org