2013 Summer Jazz Camp Clinicians
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JOE LOVANO - 2013 Monterey Jazz Festival Artist-In-Residence
Hailed by the New York Times as “one of the greatest musicians in jazz history,” GRAMMY Award-winning saxophone giant Joe Lovano has distinguished himself for over three decades as a prescient and path finding force in the arena of creative music. The secret to Lovano’s success is his fearless ability to push the conceptual and thematic choices he has made in his quest to find new modes of artistic expression within the jazz idiom.
Lovano was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1952, and began playing alto saxophone as a child. A prophetic infant photo of Lovano shows him cradled in his mother’s arms along with a saxophone. His father, tenor saxophonist Tony “Big T” Lovano, schooled Lovano not only in the basics, but in dynamics and interpretation, and regularly exposed him to live performances of international jazz artists such as Sonny Stitt, James Moody, Dizzy Gillespie, Gene Ammons, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk.
Upon graduation from high school he attended the famed Berklee College of Music in Boston. Lovano’s early professional gigs were as a sideman with organists Lonnie Smith, Brother Jack McDuff, and a three-year tour with the Woody Herman Thundering Herd from 1976 to 1979.
After leaving Herman’s band, Lovano settled in New York City where he eventually joined the Mel Lewis Orchestra for its regular Monday night concert at the Village Vanguard, playing from 1980 to 1992 and recording six albums with the Orchestra.
To this day, Lovano finds time for very special performances with the Vanguard band and recently paid tribute to Thad Jones with Thad’s brother Hank Jones, on the 2007 GRAMMY-nominated release, Kids: Live at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola.
Lovano joined the Paul Motian band in 1981 and has since worked and collaborated with John Scofield, Herbie Hancock, Elvin Jones, Charlie Haden, Carla Bley, Bobby Hutcherson, Billy Higgins, Dave Holland, Ed Blackwell, Michel Petrucciani, Lee Konitz, Abbey Lincoln, Tom Harrell, McCoy Tyner, Ornette Coleman, Jim Hall, Bob Brookmeyer and many more.
Lovano’s illustrious relationship with Blue Note Records began in 1991 and includes eight GRAMMY nominations with a win in the Best Large Ensemble category for 2000’s 52nd Street Themes.
Also in recent years, Lovano has spent a good deal of time collaborating, both in the studio and the concert hall, with two other premier tenor saxophonists of his generation--Dave Liebman and the late Michael Brecker in the collective Saxophone Summit. Their first release, Gathering of the Spirits, was released in 2004 on Telarc. After the untimely passing of Michael Brecker, Lovano and Liebman were joined by Ravi Coltrane on their acclaimed sophomore release, Seraphic Light.
In early 2008, Joe replaced Joshua Redman in the tenor saxophone chair of the touring and studio ensemble, the SFJAZZ Collective. Also in the Collective were trumpeter Dave Douglas, trombonist Robin Eubanks, and fellow Blue Note Recording Artist vibraphonist Stefon Harris. They joined Miguel Zenon, Renee Rosnes, Matt Penman and Eric Harland in this popular ensemble of some of today’s most exciting jazz players.
Lovano’s 2008 release and GRAMMY-nominated Symphonica placed him in front of the world-renowned WDR Big Band and WDR Rundfunke Orchestra performing some of the saxophonist’s most acclaimed and cherished compositions as arranged and conducted by Michael Abene.
Since 2009, Lovano’s main vehicle for his exploration has been Us Five, a dynamic young band—which features drummers Otis Brown III and Francisco Mela, bassist Esperanza Spalding, and pianist James Weidman. The band’s most recent release, the GRAMMY-nominated Bird Songs (Lovano’s 22nd album for Blue Note Records) is an exploration of the Charlie Parker songbook that breaks the mold of Bird tribute records. In 2011, the JJA (Jazz Journalists Association) named Bird Songs Recording of the Year and named Us Five Small Ensemble of the Year. It was also the DownBeat Editor’s Pick for Album of the Year. Us Five’s debut recording, 2009’s Folk Art, was a wide-ranging set of Lovano’s original compositions that resulted in Us Five being awarded Best Small Ensemble of the Year at the 2010 JJA Jazz Awards and winning the Best Jazz Group of the Year category in the 2010 DownBeat Critics Poll. Lovano completed a double-triple of awards by also winning the JJA’s Musician and Tenor Saxophonist of the Year, and DownBeat’s Jazz Artist and Tenor Saxophonist of the Year.
PECK ALLMOND - trumpeter and educator. Originally from San Francisco, multi-horn player and composer Peck Allmond has lived in NYC for over a dozen years. Aside from leading and writing for his own jazz and world music unit, the Peck Allmond Kalimba Kollective, he is an in-demand sideman on an unlikely variety of instruments: trumpet, flute, saxophones, valve trombone, bass clarinet, kalimba, and many others. Peck is a current member of Me'Shell NdegeOcello's jazz project The Spirit Music Sextet, and Oliver Lake's quintet and big band. His recording and performance credits include work with Don Cherry, Julius Hemphill, Peter Apfelbaum's Hieroglyphics Ensemble, Craig Handy, Paul Shaffer, Will Lee, James Brown, and Lenny Kravitz.
ROBYNN AMY - trombonist and educator. Robynn Amy received her B.M. in Performance at Berklee College of Music where she is currently an instructor in the Brass Department, specializing in both tenor and bass trombones. Robynn has performed with Syncopation, the "Swingin' Europe" European Jazz Orchestra, Against the Grain, the DIVA Jazz Orchestra, Maiden Voyage Jazz Orchestra, WAITIKI Orchestrotica, the Artie Shaw Orchestra, and the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra. She has additionally worked with Christian McBride, Patrick Williams, Vince Mendoza, Johnny Mandel, Patti Austin, Eguie Castrillo, Victor Mendoza, Gloria Estefan, Lee Ritenour, Abe Laboriel, Burt Bacharach, Dave Grusin, Donna McElroy, Carmen Branford, and Dee Daniels. Robynn has also traveled for the Berklee College of Music, holding brass and jazz clinics all over the world, including Germany, Puerto Rico, and Israel.
PAUL CONTOS - woodwinds performer and educator. Since the 1970s, Paul Contos has been involved in jazz performance and education in the San Francisco Bay Area and internationally. He has mentored and taught an impressive roster of musicians through his work for the Monterey Jazz Festival’s Jazz Education Programs as saxophone clinician and director of the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra and Monterey County High School All-Stars is distinguished. He has been an essential part of the Monterey Jazz Festival's Jazz Education Programs since their inception in 1984, and is active as a saxophone clinician, educator, and performer at various educational festivals, clinics, concerts, and workshops in the U.S., Japan, and Brazil. Contos is a faculty member at UC Santa Cruz, has taught at Monterey Peninsula College, and has developed the curriculum and pedagogy for the Music Recording/Technology Concentration at Cal State University, Monterey Bay. He received three performer grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as serving as Artist In Residence for the California Arts Council. He conducts, performs, and adjudicates at college and high school jazz competitions internationally, including Monterey’s Next Generation Jazz Festival. In September 2009, Paul Contos was appointed as the Director of the SFJAZZ High School All-Stars Orchestra. An inspiration and active in the formation of the Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz, Contos has played with many world-renowned jazz artists such as Mundell Lowe, Clark Terry, Roy Hargrove, Jon Hendricks, Joe Williams, Dianne Reeves, Sheila Jordan, Ray Drummond, Eddie Marshall, Kenneth Nash, Vince Lateano, Madeline Eastman, Mark Levine, Rebeca Mauleón, Bruce Forman, Tee Carson, Dave Eshelman, Ray Brown, Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, the Heath Brothers, Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Christian McBride, Kurt Elling, Regina Carter, Gary Burton, Wayne Shorter, Terence Blanchard, John Faddis, David “Fathead” Newman, and many others. He has recorded with Dave Liebman, Peter Erskine, John Patitucci, Richie Beirach, Alan Broadbent, Terence Blanchard, Charlie Haden, Don Cherry, John Abercrombie, and Alex Acuna.
JULIA DOLLISON - vocalist and educator. The Washington Post has called Julia Dollison "a deeply musical virtuoso with an airy, luminous voice." JazzTimes Magazine praised Dollison's self-released debut CD, Observatory as “rare, fresh and substantive” and Wall Street Journal described it as "richly imaginative." In 2010, Dollison and husband Kerry Marsh released their duo album Vertical Voices, cited by DownBeat Magazine as one of the best CDs of 2010 and was named as one of JazzTimes' Top Three Vocal Groups. Since winning the DownBeat Student Music Award for Best College Jazz Vocalist in 2000, Dollison has shared the stage with Grammy-winning jazz artists Kurt Elling, Geoffrey Keezer, Christian McBride, Dianne Reeves and the Maria Schneider Orchestra. Dollison and Marsh have most recently toured with GRAMMY-nominated indie pop artist and NBC's The Sing Off judge Ben Folds. Today, Dollison is currently a year-round traveling vocal jazz clinician for the Monterey Jazz Festival educational programs and is a returning faculty member at the Stanford Jazz Workshop. She has served on the faculty at Sacramento State University, the Jazzschool in Berkeley, New York's New School University and Florida's University of Miami, where she earned her B.M. and M.M. degrees in studio music and jazz vocal performance, teaching with a full assistantship while earning her graduate degree.
MILTON FLETCHER - pianist and educator. Born and raised in Seaside, California, pianist Milton Fletcher began studying classical music at age four. By the time he was ten, Milton was participating in the Monterey Jazz Festival's education programs, including the Traveling Clinicians Program and the MJF Summer Jazz Camp. As a teenager, Milton held the piano chair in the Monterey County High School All-Star band for five years, and traveled to Japan to perform with the group each summer. Milton was also a four-year pianist for the in the National Monterey Jazz Festival High School All-Star Band (now the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra), and has performed with the group at major jazz festivals in Switzerland, Italy, France and Spain. In addition, Milton was awarded the Youth Benefactor of the Arts Prize by the Cultural Council for Monterey County in 1999, and was selected for both the 1999 and 2000 California All-State Honor Jazz Ensembles. In 2000, Milton won a fellowship at the Vail Jazz Workshop and was awarded the Jimmy Lyons Scholarship to the Berklee College of Music, where he graduated in 2003 with a degree in Music Business and Management. Now residing in Southern California, he plays with the rock, reggae, pop and ska band, The Fabulous Rudies.
BRUCE FORMAN - guitarist, author and educator. His recording and performing credits include the likes of Bobby Hutcherson, Ray Brown, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Barney Kessel, Richie Cole, and countless others, and his guitar work is featured throughout Clint Eastwood's Academy Award winning film, Million Dollar Baby. Bruce has released two educational jazz guitar books, one educational jazz guitar video, and thirteen recordings as a leader.
MICHAEL GALISATUS - trumpeter and educator. Michael Galisatus is the director of bands at the College of San Mateo, where he directs the big bands, combos, and symphonic band. Michael received the California Music Educator’s Association Jazz Educator of the Year in 2004; the Peninsula Arts Counsel Educator of the Year in 2007; and in February 2013, he received the California State Parent Teacher Association Honorary Service Award. As a trumpet artist, Michael has recorded with Pete Escovedo, Queen Ida, Wayne Wallace, and has performed with Mel Torme, Louis Bellson, Natalie Cole, Johnny Mathis, and a host of others. Michael is past president of the Bay Section of the California Music Educator’s Association, and is on the board of directors for the California Alliance for Jazz, and the National Association for Music Education jazz advisory board.
VINCE LATEANO - drummer and educator. A California native, Vince Lateano made his mark performing with Eddie Duran and Vince Guaraldi in the 1970s. After a tour with the Woody Herman Band, Vince joined the Cal Tjader group in 1978, recording six albums with the famed vibist. Vince has also recorded with Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Tania Maria, Tom Harrell, Al Cohn, Richie Cole, Mark Murphy, Eddie Duran, Bill Perkins, and Carmen McRae, among others.
PAUL LUCCKESI - saxophonist and educator. Paul Lucckesi is the Director of Jazz Studies at the Buchanan Educational Center in Clovis, California. At the Buchanan Center, Paul directs the Buchanan High School Jazz Bands and combos ‘A’ and ‘B’ as well as the Alta Sierra Intermediate Jazz Ensembles ‘A’ and ‘B’. The Buchanan Jazz Band ‘A’ received DownBeat Student Music Awards in 2005, 2007, 2008-2010, and 2012. Paul has a degree in music education from California State University, Fresno and was a member of the Fresno State Jazz Band ‘A’. Paul is also the director of the San Joaquin Valley Jazz Festival, which celebrated its 25th Anniversary in March 2013. Paul currently serves at the director of the Monterey Jazz Festival County High School All-Star Band and Middle School Honor Band.
KERRY MARSH - vocalist, arranger and educator. A member of the jazz studies faculty at University of Northern Colorado beginning fall 2013, Kerry will direct the award-winning Northern Colorado Voices and will continue to work worldwide as a commissioned arranger, clinician and adjudicator. Marsh directed the nationally-recognized vocal jazz program at Sacramento State University for 10 years, during which time the program earned 12 DownBeat Magazine Student Music Awards. Marsh earned a B.M.E. in Music Education from the University of Kansas in 2000 and a M.M. in Jazz Studies from University of North Texas in 2003. Over 150 of Marsh's compositions and arrangements for vocal jazz ensemble are featured at KerryMarsh.com.
VIRGINIA MAYHEW - saxophonist, composer and arranger. A native of San Francisco, Virginia moved to New York in 1987 and attended the New School's Jazz Performance program. She has worked with such renowned artists as Norman Simmons, Al Grey, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Lew Tabakin, Joe Williams, Leon Parker, Clark Terry and many others. She is the director and founder of the Greenwich House Jazz Workshop in New York City and has released three albums as a leader.
GARY MEEK - saxophonist and educator. Born in Encino, California, Gary Meek played piano and clarinet as a child and began playing saxophone in high school. He attended the Dick Grove School of Music, and played in big bands at the Los Angeles Jazz Workshop from 1980-1983. In 1987, he played keyboards and toured extensively with Dionne Warwick, and that same year, Gary began a two-decade association with Brazilian legends Airto Moreira and Flora Purim, forming the band Fourth World with guitarist Jose Neto. Gary has performed worldwide at the North Sea, Montreux, Monterey, Playboy, and Telluride Jazz Festivals, and has recorded or toured with Jeff Lorber, Herb Alpert, Al Jarreau, Dave Weckl, Brian Bromberg, and many others. As a leader, Gary has released five albums, and has conducted clinics and workshops at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts, the Los Angeles Music Academy, University of St. Louis, and more.
EDDIE MENDENHALL - pianist and educator. (Week 1 only) An alumnus of the Monterey Jazz Festival High School All Star Band in 1989 and 1990, Eddie Mendenhall is a graduate of Berklee College of Music. Eddie worked in Japan from 1995 to 2002, and was one of the most-often working pianists in Japan. Since returning to the U.S., he has maintained a busy performance schedule and directs the Monterey Peninsula College Jazz Big Band.
SCOTT STEED - bassist and educator. A top-rate bass player in the San Francisco Bay Area, Scott Steed performs regularly with musicians such as Darrell Grant and Anton Schwartz. He has also performed with legendary vocalist Diane Schuur.
