21 High School Musicians from California, Florida,
New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Washington State Comprise the Festival’s Renowned National
High School All-Star Big Band
NGJO Makes Two-Week Tour of Japan and Will Perform with Eric Harland and Michael Feinstein at the 57th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival, September 21, 2014
Matt Wong of San Francisco Wins Gerald Wilson Award
Monterey, Calif.; June 23, 2014; Monterey Jazz Festival is proud to announce the members of its 2014 Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, the Festival’s internationally-renowned high school all-star big band, featuring the best high school jazz musicians in the country. Major funding for the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra comes from the Surdna Foundation and generous individuals.
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.
California musicians include students from Fresno, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, and Santa Clara Counties.
Five members of the orchestra are returning, including baritone saxophonist Henry Solomon (Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, Mich.); trombonist Coleman Hughes (Newark Academy, Livingston, N.J.); Andrew Stephens (Rio Americano High School, Sacramento, Calif.); drummer Cameron MacIntosh (Columbia High School, (Maplewood, N.J.); and bassist Daryl Johns (Dwight-Englewood School, Englewood, N.J.), who is the first bassist to make the group four years in a row, and is only the third musician to do so in the band’s 43-year history.
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.
The 2014 orchestra will gather in Monterey on July 17 to prepare for the two-week tour of Japan, with two West Coast concerts: at the World Theater at Cal State University Monterey Bay on July 19, and at Yoshi’s San Francisco on July 20. Leaving for Japan on July 21, the orchestra will perform at the Monterey Jazz Festival in Noto on July 26, the Tokyo TOC 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 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.
Monterey Jazz Festival is also pleased to announce Matt Wong of the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts (SOTA) in San Francisco, Calif. as the winner of the Next Generation Jazz Festival’s Composition Competition. Wong’s composition, “Prima Luce” will be performed by the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra at the Monterey Jazz Festival on September 21. Mr. Wong will also receive the Gerald Wilson Award, and a cash prize.
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
07.30: Tokyo TUC Jazz Club
08.02: Tomisato Jazz Festival
09.21: Monterey Jazz Festival
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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
timorr@montereyjazzfestival.org
www.montereyjazzfestival.org