“Concert for Kids” Kicks Off 54th Monterey Jazz Festival Weekend
with Free Jazz Concert at Monterey Fairgrounds, September 15, 2011
Next Generation Jazz Orchestra Will Perform for Hundreds
of Monterey County Public School Music Students
Next Generation Jazz Orchestra Trombonist Calvin Barthel
is Named 15th Jimmy Lyons Scholar at Berklee College of Music
September 13, 2011; Monterey, CA; The Monterey Jazz Festival kicks off the weekend’s activities this Thursday with another edition of the “Concert for Kids” at the Monterey Fairgrounds, with the Monterey Jazz Festival’s Next Generation Jazz Orchestra performing a free 45-minute set for students enrolled in Monterey County public schools. The concert will start at 11:15 a.m. on Thursday, September 15th at the Garden Stage at the Monterey Fairgrounds.
The pre-Festival “Concert for Kids” has been a tradition at the Monterey Jazz Festival for over 20 years, inviting children from Monterey County middle and high schools to attend the free event every year, with an estimated 500 students attending. The concert is part of an outreach effort on the part of the educational programs of the Monterey Jazz Festival to bring free jazz music to the students of Monterey County.
Created as a part of the Monterey Jazz Festival’s continuing commitment to jazz education, members of the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra were selected through an application process during the Festival’s Next Generation Jazz Festival each spring.
Twenty-one high school musicians from six states and Canada comprise the 2011 Next Generation Jazz Orchestra including eight students from California, four from Florida, three from Oregon, two each from New York and New Jersey, and one from Pennsylvania and Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
In 2011, there are three returning members to the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, including trombonists Kyle Molitor (Tigard High School, Tigard, Oregon) and Chris Palowitch (Amador Valley High School, Pleasanton, California); and trumpeter Tree Palmedo (Oregon Episcopal School, Portland, Oregon).
The Orchestra reassembles for their “Concert for Kids” performance on September 15, as well their Festival performance on Sunday, September 18 on the Jimmy Lyons Stage. From July 23 – August 2, the band performed an 11-day West Coast tour, which included five shows in California, four in Washington State, and one in Oregon.
At their appearance at the 54th Monterey Jazz Festival, former band alumni and 2011 Artist-In-Residence Joshua Redman, will appear with the band Also appearing will be with special guests Benny Green and Donny McCaslin as the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra celebrates its 40th anniversary.
Other former members include pianist Patrice Rushen, bassist Larry Grenadier, drummer Chad Wackerman, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and Dominick Farinacci; saxophonists Eric Marienthal, and Dave Koz, trombonist Andy Martin; 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 more. Now under the tutelage of Paul Contos, the renowned saxophonist and flautist who serves as the director of the Orchestra, the ensemble is dedicated to the study and performance of the most challenging big band literature available.
In related news, Berklee College of Music and the Monterey Jazz Festival announce that award-winning trombonist Calvin Barthel of Albany, California, a member of the 2011 Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, has been named the fifteenth recipient of the Jimmy Lyons Scholarship at Berklee, a major music education prize. The full-tuition scholarship is named in honor of the festival’s late founder, James L. (Jimmy) Lyons, who began the festival 54 years ago with jazz education at its core. Barthel is the first trombonist to receive the Lyons Scholarship.
The Lyons Scholarship is awarded each year to one music student in recognition of their outstanding talent. Previously restricted to student musicians from the state of California, this year marks the third time the scholarship competition has been open to young musicians from the Western United States. Because it is a full-tuition, renewable award, satisfactory academic and musical progress in each successive year will allow each Lyons Scholar to attend Berklee through graduation, entirely tuition-free.
Mr. Barthel will sit in with his new classmates in Berklee Flamenco on Friday, September 16, at 9:30 p.m. on the Garden Stage; and on Saturday, September 18, at 5:00 p.m. in the Coffee House Gallery. He will also perform on Sunday, September 18 with the Jazzschool Monday Night Studio Band in the Night Club at 12:00 p.m. and with the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra 1:10 p.m. on the Jimmy Lyons Stage in the Arena.
Carsbia Anderson, Vice-president of the Festival’s Board of Directors and chair of the Education Committee, with Berklee alumnus Erik Telford, (the first recipient of the Jimmy Lyons Scholarship), will make the Lyons presentation to Calvin Barthel at the festival on Sunday, September 18, at 2:00 p.m., on the Jimmy Lyons Stage.
Trombonist Calvin Barthel, 18, is a graduate of Albany High School in Albany, California where he played in the jazz band, jazz combo, and wind ensemble. He is a three-year member of the Jazzschool’s Monday Night Studio Band, and has also won multiple student awards from DownBeat Magazine.
Calvin was also a member of DownBeat’s award-winning Advanced High School Jazz Workshop at the Jazzschool, the SFJAZZ High School All-Stars Combo, and was selected to be lead trombone in the California Band Director’s Association All-State Jazz Band; and the California Music Educators Association All-Bay Section Jazz Band. He is a 2011 Next Generation Jazz Orchestra member as well.
Calvin has performed at the Essentially Ellington Competition in New York, the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, and the Monterey Jazz Festival, winning numerous soloist awards. He has studied with many private teachers, most notably saxophonist, composer and educator, Dann Zinn, and has had the opportunity to work with Chris Potter, the SFJAZZ Collective, Taylor Eigsti, and more.
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For more information, high-resolution pictures and interview opportunities please contact:
Timothy Orr, Marketing Associate
Monterey Jazz Festival
MJF Phone: 831.373.3366
[email protected]
www.montereyjazzfestival.org
Rob Hayes
Asst. VP for Public Information
Berklee College of Music
617.747.2566 (office) or 617.331.4424 (cell)
[email protected]
www.berklee.edu