MJF’s Next Generation Jazz Orchestra Performs for Hundreds of Monterey County Public School Music Students
Pianist Luca Mendoza Wins Gerald Wilson Award
Monterey, Calif; September 8, 2016; Monterey Jazz Festival kicks off the weekend’s activities on Thursday, September 16 with another edition of the “Concert on the Lawn” at the Monterey County Fairgrounds, with 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 11am on Thursday, September 15 at the Garden Stage Presented by HepcHope.com at the Monterey Fairgrounds.
The pre-Festival “Concert on the Lawn” has been a tradition at the Monterey Jazz Festival for 26 years, inviting students from Monterey County middle and high schools to the free annual event, with an estimated 500 students attending annually. The concert is part of an outreach effort by Monterey Jazz Festival to bring jazz music, for free, to the students of Monterey County.
Created as a part of Monterey Jazz Festival’s continuing commitment to jazz education, members of the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra were selected through an application and audition process during the Next Generation Jazz Festival each spring.
Twenty-one high school musicians from seven states comprise the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, including California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, New York, Texas, Virginia, and Israel. Read the biographies of the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra members.
Four members of the orchestra are returning for a second time, including trombonists Jasim Perales (Berkeley High School, Berkeley, Calif.) and Ethan Santos (Buchanan High School, Clovis, Calif.); trumpeter Carlos Ramos (Downey High School, Downey, Calif.); and tenor saxophonist Morgan Guerin (Westlake High School, Atlanta, Ga).
Two Monterey County musicians, trumpeter Akili Bradley of Seaside, and guitarist Isaac de Vera of Monterey, are the first Monterey County students to be accepted in the NGJO since 2005.
The 2016 orchestra recently traveled to Japan, where they performed 13 shows and workshops to six thousand students and fans between July 21 and August 5, 2016. The orchestra will make also perform at the 10th Jazz Legends Gala honoring Quincy Jones at the Inn at Spanish Bay in Pebble Beach, Calif. on September 15. They also will perform at the 59th Monterey Jazz Festival on Saturday, September 17 at 4pm on the North Coast Brewing Company Jazz Education Stage, followed by an alumni jam session at 5pm. The orchestra will appear on the Jimmy Lyons main stage at their traditional Sunday appearance on Sunday, September 18 with 2016 Artist-In-Residence, Terri Lyne Carrington.
Created in 1971 as a part of Monterey Jazz Festival’s continuing commitment to jazz education, former members of the orchestra include professional musicians who are performing at the 59th Monterey Jazz Festival in 2016: Saxophonists Joshua Redman, Donny McCaslin and Mark Turner; pianist James Francies; trombonist Andy Martin; trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos; drummer Kenny Wollesen; and fluitist Elena Pinderhughes. Monterey Jazz Festival’s Education Director, Paul Contos, serves as the conductor of the orchestra and presents the ensemble with some of the most challenging big band repertoire available.
Monterey Jazz Festival invests over $500,000 annually in its Education Program which includes jazz clinics in schools, Summer Jazz Camp, the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra and more.
Luca Mendoza Wins 2016 Gerald Wilson Award
The Next Generation Jazz Orchestra will also play “Omnibus” by Los Angeles pianist Luca Mendoza, who will be awarded the 2016 Gerald Wilson Award for the winning piece from the Next Generation Jazz Festival’s composition competition. The performance will be on Sunday, September 18 in the Arena at 12:30pm. Mendoza was also accepted to the 2016 Next Generation Jazz Orchestra.
Mendoza, 16 is a junior at Crossroads School in Los Angeles. In 2015, he received an LA Music Center Spotlight Award for piano performance, a DownBeat Student Music Award for composition, and was a National Young Arts Foundation winner. For the past five years, Luca has also participated in Colburn Musical Encounters, which fosters music education throughout Los Angeles inner city schools. He studies piano with Alan Pasqua and Rina Dokshitsky, and is the son of composer and arranger Vince Mendoza. His other awards include first or honorable mentions in the Southwest Youth Music Festival and Glendale classical competitions, as well as Outstanding Solo Award at the 2015 Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival. He has also recently performed chamber music with the Elizabeth Mandell Music Institute during a live radio broadcast at the LA County Museum of Art.
2016 NEXT GENERATION JAZZ ORCHESTRA MEMBERS
Director – Mr. Paul Contos
WOODWINDS
Matt Richards, alto / Las Lomas High School, Walnut Creek, CA
Aviv Blum, alto / Sudbury Democratic School, Jerusalem, Israel
Morgan Guerin,** tenor / Westlake High School, Atlanta, GA
Michael Schwartz, tenor / Redwood High School, Larkspur, CA
Adam Band, baritone / Bullard High School, Fresno, CA
TROMBONES
Ian Kaufman / Mt. Carmel High School, San Diego, CA
Jasim Perales** / Berkeley High School, Berkeley, CA
Ethan Santos** / Buchanan High School, Fresno, CA
Jack Kotze / Lincoln-Way North High School, Frankfort, IL
Joshua Hernandez (bass) / J. M. Hanks High School, El Paso, TX
TRUMPETS
Carlos Ramos** (lead) / Downey High School, Downey, CA
Erik Ondrejko (asst. lead) / Denver School of the Arts, Denver, CO
Geoff Gallante / West Potomac High School, Alexandria, VA
Evan Abounassar** / Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, Los Angeles, CA
Akili Bradley / California Virtual Academies, Seaside, CA
RHYTHM
Luca Mendoza, piano / Crossroads School, Santa Monica, CA
Isaac de Vera, guitar / Monterey High School, Monterey, CA
Max Schwartz, bass / Berkeley High School, Berkeley, CA
Julius Rodriguez, drums / The Masters School, White Plains, NY
Benjamin Ring, drums / Piedmont High School, Piedmont, CA
Abigail Berry, vocals / Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, Los Angeles, CA
** 2-year NGJO member
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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
timorr@montereyjazzfestival.org
www.montereyjazzfestival.org
MJF59 Partners include: Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Scheid Family Wines, Gilead Sciences, Yamaha Drums, Yamaha Pianos, NEA Artworks, North Coast Brewing Company, Inns of Monterey, Alaska Airlines, Taylor Farms, The Jazz Cruise, KSBW/Central Coast ABC, DownBeat Magazine, Jazziz, Monterey-Salinas Transit, San Francisco Chronicle, Cal Humanities, Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, Macy’s, Monterey Bay Aquarium, JazzTimes, Alvarez Technology Group, AT&T, City of Monterey, LÄRABAR, SmoothJazzGlobal.com, Mission Linen Supply, KAZU 90.3FM, Monterey County Herald, Remo, and Tesla.