West Coast Shows Kick Off Renowned Band’s
Summer Tour of Japan
Monterey, CA; July 7, 2014; Monterey Jazz Festival’s 2014 Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, the Festival’s internationally-renowned high school all-star big band, will perform two West Coast shows prior to their departure for a two-week your of Japan.
On Saturday, July 19, the orchestra will perform at Cal State Monterey Bay’s World Theater in Seaside at 7 pm. Presented in partnership with CSU Summer Arts, the show is part of CSU Summer Arts’ system-wide program of concerts, theatre productions, dance performances, and lectures. Tickets for the CSUMB performance are $15, with discount admission for students and seniors. Children 12 and under are free. Tickets can be bought by calling 831-262-2714 or by visiting www.csusummerarts.org.
On Sunday, July 20, the orchestra will perform at Yoshi’s San Francisco, at 3 pm. Tickets are $12 and can be bought by calling 415-655-5600 or visiting www.yoshis.com.
“We’re delighted to have the opportunity to present the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra to our local communities on the Monterey Peninsula and Salinas,” said Paul Contos, Education Director of Monterey Jazz Festival. “The quality of this national group of all-stars is stunning, and they will be presenting a program of new pieces featuring many of the orchestra’s brilliant young players. This will be a fantastic collaboration between Monterey Jazz Festival and CSU Summer Arts.”
Leaving for Japan on July 21, the orchestra will perform at the Monterey Jazz Festival in Noto on July 26,the Free Hills Jazz Festival in Nagoya on July 29; the Tokyo TUC Jazz Club on July 30; and the Tomisato Jazz Festival on August 2. The orchestra will make their traditional Sunday appearance at the 57th Monterey Jazz Festival on Sunday, September 21, with 2014 Artist-In-Residence, Eric Harland, and then will close out the Festival as the backing band for Michael Feinstein’s Sinatra Project, with soloists Russell Malone and Harry Allen.
Featuring the best high school jazz musicians in the country, 21 high school musicians from six states comprise the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, including California, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington State. To read the biographies of the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra members, please click here.
Northern California student musicians in the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra include alto saxophonist Emery Mesich (Folsom High School, Folsom, Ca.); baritone saxophonist and Palo Alto resident Henry Solomon (Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, Mich.); trombonist Hanne Williams-Baron (Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, San Francisco, Ca.); and trumpeter Andrew Stephens (Rio Americano High School, Sacramento, Ca.)
California musicians include students from Fresno, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, and Santa Clara Counties.
Created in 1971 as a part of Monterey Jazz Festival’s continuing commitment to jazz education, members of the orchestra are selected through an application and audition process during the Festival’s Next Generation Jazz Festival each spring. Former members of the orchestra include professional musicians such as pianists Benny Green and Patrice Rushen, bassist Larry Grenadier, drummer Chad Wackerman, saxophonists Joshua Redman, Donny McCaslin, Eric Marienthal, Mark Turner, and Dave Koz; trombonist Andy Martin, trumpeters Gilbert Castellanos, Ambrose Akinmusire, and big band leader Gordon Goodwin to name a few. In the past, the band has been under the leadership of Ladd McIntosh, Don Schamber, Benny Golson, Bill Berry, and many others. Monterey Jazz Festival’s Education Director, Paul Contos, the renowned saxophonist and flutist serves as the director of the orchestra and presents the ensemble with some of the most challenging big band repertoire available.
Tickets for the 57th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival, September 19-21 are available by phone at 888.248.6499 and online at montereyjazzfestival.org.
About Monterey Jazz Festival
Monterey Jazz Festival is dedicated to perpetuating the uniquely American form of music known as jazz by producing performances that celebrate the legacy and expand the boundaries of jazz; and by presenting year-round local, regional, national, and international jazz education programs. Monterey Jazz Festival is a nonprofit organization and has donated its proceeds to musical education since its inception in 1958.
2014 NEXT GENERATION JAZZ ORCHESTRA MEMBERS
Director – Mr. Paul Contos
WOODWINDS
Emery Mesich, alto / Folsom High School, Folsom, Ca.
Immanuel Wilkins, alto / Upper Darby High School, Upper Darby, Pa.
Andy Arditi, tenor / Harvard-Westlake School, Studio City, Ca.
Max Lesser, tenor / LA County High School for the Arts, Los Angeles, Ca.
Henry Solomon, baritone** / Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, Mich.
TROMBONES
Coleman Hughes*** / Newark Academy, Livingston, N.J.
Nicholas Lee / LA County High School for the Arts, Los Angeles, Ca.
Kevin Jiang / Newark Academy, Livingston, N.J.
Hanne Williams-Baron / Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, San Francisco, Ca.
Steven Robinson (bass) / Westlake High School, Westlake Village, Ca.
TRUMPETS
Michael Gutierrez / Buchanan High School, Clovis, Ca.
Andrew Stephens** / Rio Americano High School, Sacramento, Ca.
Anthony Hervey / Dillard Center for the Arts, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Noah Halpern / Roosevelt High School, Seattle, Wash.
Wallace Roney Jr. / Jazz House Kids, Montclair, N.J.
RHYTHM
Chris Fishman, piano / LA County High School for the Arts, Los Angeles, Ca.
Daryl Johns, bass**** / Dwight-Englewood School, Englewood, N.J.
Joseph Bell, guitar / Princeton High School, Princeton, N.J.
Ashwin Prasanna, drums / Holmdel High School, Holmdel, N.J.
Cameron MacIntosh, drums*** / Columbia High School, Maplewood, N.J.
Lizzi Trumbore, vocals / Rancho Bernardo High School, San Diego, Ca.
** 2-year NGJO member
*** 3-year NGJO member
**** 4-year NGJO member
2014 Tour Dates
07.19: Cal State Monterey Bay Summer Arts
07.20: Yoshi’s San Francisco
07.21: Depart for Japan
07.26: Monterey Jazz Festival in Noto
07.29: Free Hills Jazz Festival, Nagoya
07.30: Tokyo TUC Jazz Club
08.02: Tomisato Jazz Festival
08.04: Return to United States
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For more information please contact:
Timothy Orr, Marketing Associate
Monterey Jazz Festival
Direct Line: 510.652.1122
Monterey Office: 831.373.3366
[email protected]
www.montereyjazzfestival.org