Juilliard Jazz announces new faculty appointments for the 2008-09 academic year
Ron Carter, Xavier Davis, Ray Drummond, Benny Golson, Benny Green, Frank Kimbrough, Christian McBride, Ted Nash, Steve Turre, and Kenny Washington join the Juilliard Jazz faculty
Juilliard Jazz announces the addition of ten new artists to its faculty for the 2008-09 academic year: Ted Nash (Juilliard Jazz Orchestra conductor), Ron Carter (bass), Xavier Davis (course: piano for non-pianists), Ray Drummond (course: jazz improvisation), Benny Golson (artist in residence and guest conductor for the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra), Benny Green (visiting artist), Frank Kimbrough (piano), Christian McBride (artist in residence and guest conductor for the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra), Steve Turre (trombone and jazz small ensemble), and Kenny Washington (two courses: rhythm section and jazz history) join the Juilliard Jazz faculty.
In his new expanded role, Rodney Jones, who was appointed to the Juilliard Jazz faculty in 2007-08 as a guitar instructor, will add small ensemble class to his schedule and will become one of the instructors for the artist diploma group. He will lead the ensemble practicum class during the spring semester. The ensemble practicum class is designed to prepare jazz students for today’s demanding and diverse industry. Some of the topics covered in the class include putting together set lists, learning performance practices and rehearsal techniques, getting to know how to communicate with an audience, and creating marketing materials. Mr. Jones brings to Juilliard a wide range of experience as a musician, educator, composer and musical director for such artists as Dizzy Gillespie, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Bonnie Raitt, Lena Horne, Ruth Brown, and Maceo Parker, among others.
Ron Carter will join Juilliard as a bass instructor. As one of the most original, prolific, and influential bassists in jazz, Mr. Carter has recorded with many of the music’s greats: Tommy Flanagan, Gil Evans, Lena Horne, Bill Evans, B.B. King, the Kronos Quartet, Dexter Gordon, Wes Montgomery, and Bobby Timmons. He has more than 2,500 albums to his credit. In the early 1960s, he performed throughout the United States in concerts and nightclubs with Jaki Byard and Eric Dolphy. Mr. Carter later toured Europe with Cannonball Adderley. From 1963 to 1968, he was a member of the classic and acclaimed Miles Davis Quintet. He was named Outstanding Bassist of the Decade by the Detroit News, Jazz Bassist of the Year by Down Beat magazine, and Most Valuable Player by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Mr. Carter earned a Grammy award in 1993 for Best Jazz Instrumental Group, the Miles Davis Tribute Band, and another Grammy in 1998 for Call Sheet Blues, an instrumental composition from the film ‘Round Midnight. He earned a bachelor of music degree from the Eastman School of Music and a master’s degree in double bass from the Manhattan School of Music.
Xavier Davis will teach piano for non-pianists in the Juilliard Jazz program. An accomplished pianist, composer and arranger, Mr. Davis’ debut recording Dance of Life was released on Metropolitan Records in 1999. The CD features the talents of Don Braden, Dwayne Burro, and Carl Allen. His second recording Innocence of Youth was released in April of 2002 by Fresh Sounds New Talent. The CD features EJ Strickland on drums and Brandon Owens on bass. Mr. Davis has worked with the legendary Betty Carter, Carl Allen, Tom Harrell and has performed and/or recorded with Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Fortune, Abbey Lincoln, Joe Lovano, Donald Byrd, Nnenna Freelon, Steve Turre, Russell Malone, among others. In 2005, Mr. Davis became the first person to receive the “New Works” grant twice from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation under the auspices of Chamber Music America. He was musical director of the Boy’s Choir of Harlem in 1999-2000 and played keyboard for the television series, Cosby. He received his bachelor’s degree from Western Michigan University.
Bassist Ray Drummond will teach jazz improvisation. A composer, arranger, bandleader, educator and producer are hats that Mr. Drummond has worn well over the past 30 years. The son of an army colonel, he attended 14 different schools around the world. His musical studies began at age eight with the trumpet, then the French horn. Early on, he developed a love for jazz and taught himself listening to the music of the jazz masters. It wasn’t until he was 14 years old that his music instructor persuaded him to play the bass. Mr. Drummond holds a B.A. in Political Science and attended Stanford Business School. While in the San Francisco area, he worked with Bobby Hutcherson, Tom Harrell, and Eddie Marshall. In 1977, he left California and moved to New York City where he quickly became a first call bassist. His solid rhythmic and harmonic innovations landed him gigs with artists, including Betty Carter, Wynton Marsalis, Woody Shaw, Hank Jones, Jon Faddis, Milt Jackson, Kenny Barron, Pharoah Sanders, and George Coleman. He has been documented on over 300 recordings with artists including Art Farmer, Stan Getz, Kenny Burrell, Kavin Mahogany, Toots Thielemans, Benny Golson, David Murray, Houston Person, and Ray Bryant. He has led his own groups for the past 29 years.
Benny Golson will become artist in residence and guest conductor for the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra. A composer, arranger, lyricist, producer and tenor saxophonist of note, Mr. Golson has played in the bands of Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, and Art Blakey. He has made major contributions to the world of jazz with such jazz standards as Killer Joe, I Remember Clifford, Along Came Betty, Stablemates, Whisper Not, Blues March, Five Spot After Dark, and Are You Real? He has recorded over 30 albums for many recording companies in the U.S., and Europe under his own name and innumerable ones with other major artists. He has written more than 300 compositions. He has composed and arranged music for Count Basie, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Quincy Jones, Oscar Peterson, Mel Torme, among many others. Mr. Golson has written for TV and film, as well as radio and TV spots for some of the major advertising agencies in the country. He has conducted workshops and clinics around the country. In 2005-06, Juilliard commissioned Mr. Golson to write a new composition for its centennial season. The work, Above and Beyond, had its world premiere with the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra on February 9, 2006.
Benny Green will be a visiting artist in the Juilliard Jazz program. Mr. Green grew up in Berkeley, California and began classical piano studies at the age of seven. Influenced by his father, a tenor saxophonist, his attention soon turned to jazz. As a teenager, he worked with Eddie Henderson and performed with a group led by Chuck Israels. He freelanced around the Bay area, then moved to New York in 1982. After a short stint with Bobby Watson, he worked with Betty Carter between 1983 and 1987, the year he joined Art Blakey’s band. He remained a Jazz Messenger through late 1989, at which point he began working with Freddie Hubbard’s quintet. He replaced Gene Harris in Ray Brown’s Trio, working with the veteran bass player until 1997. From 1997 on, Mr. Green resumed his freelance career, led his own trios, and concentrated on his solo piano performances. His debut recording on Telarc Jazz entitled, Naturally, was released in 2000 and featured bassist Christian McBride and guitarist Russell Malone. On his 2002 release, he returned to his roots and updated his tradition with a solo collection of jazz standards by Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Erroll Garner, and George Gershwin.
Frank Kimbrough joins the Juilliard Jazz program as piano instructor. He has been active on the New York jazz scene as a pianist/composer for 25 years. He is currently a Palmetto recording artist and has made over a dozen recordings as a leader for the Palmetto, OmniTone, and Soul Note labels, and has appeared on nearly fifty more as a sideman. His extensive tour experience includes appearances in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, England, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Macao. He was a founding member and composer in residence of the Jazz Composers Collective (1992-2005), a not-for-profit, musician-run organization dedicated to presenting original works by its resident and guest composers. Mr. Kimbrough has held the piano chair in the Maria Schneider Orchestra since 1993 and has also toured and recorded with saxophonist Dewey Redman, vocalist Kendra Shank, and with fellow JCC composers in residence Ben Allison, Ted Nash, Michael Blake, and Ron Horton, among others. Play, his latest trio CD featuring drummer Paul Motian and bassist Masa Kamaguchi, was released in May 2006 on Palmetto. He has conducted master classes at Juilliard, The New School, Oxford University, Oberlin, and others. He taught at NYU from 1996 – 2001.
Christian McBride will become artist in residence and guest conductor for the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra. A Grammy Award winner and an alumnus of Juilliard, Mr. McBride is a chameleonic virtuoso of the acoustic and electric bass. The Philadelphian has performed with hundreds of fine artists from McCoy Tyner and Sting to Kathleen Battle and Diana Krall. He currently leads the Christian McBride Band with saxophonist Ron Blake, keyboardist Geoffrey Keezer, and drummer Terreon Gully. He is artistic director at the Jazz Aspen Snowmass summer program and the Dave Brubeck Institute at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. Mr. McBride participated in a Stanford University panel on “Black Performing Arts in Mainstream America.” He’s hosted insightful one-on-one “jazz chats” on Sonicnet.com He also wrote the forward for pianist Jonny King’s book, What Jazz Is (Walker & Co., New York). Mr. McBride is creative chair for the Los Angeles Philharmonic giving him a degree of influence over commercial and educational programs at the Hollywood Bowl and Disney Hall.
Ted Nash will conduct the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra. In addition to leading his own group, Mr. Nash has been very instrumental and active in the New York-based Jazz Composers Collective. The innovative entity is a musician-run, nonprofit organization dedicated to presenting the original works of composers who are pushing the boundaries of their self-expression. Others who participate include Ben Allison, Frank Kimbrough, and Michael Blake. Mr. Nash has also been intricately involved, for the last decade, with Jazz at Lincoln Center – as a composer, educator, and as a member of the Wynton Marsalis-led orchestra. He performs and tours with the large ensemble regularly, and during his tenure there, has contributed as a composer and arranger to a great deal of the orchestra’s repertoire. He is featured on several Jazz at Lincoln Center recordings. Born in Los Angeles, Mr. Nash’s interest in music started at an early age. He was encouraged by his father, trombonist Dick Nash, and uncle, reedman Ted Nash – both well-known studio and jazz musicians. He started playing piano when he was seven. By the time he turned 12, he had started playing the clarinet; a year later, he picked up the alto sax. He moved to New York City at age 18 and became a regular member of a variety of ensembles. He worked with the Gerry Mulligan Big Band and also began what would be a 10-year association as a member of the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra. His most recent release in 2006, In The Loop (Palmetto Records) received solid reviews.
Steve Turre will teach trombone and jazz small ensemble in the Juilliard Jazz program. As one of the world’s preeminent jazz innovators, trombonist, and seashellist, Mr. Turre has consistently won both the Readers’ and Critics’ polls in JazzTimes, Down Beat, and JazzIz for best trombonist and for best miscellaneous instrumentalist (shells). He was born to Mexican-American parents and grew up in the San Francisco Bay area where he absorbed daily doses of mariachi, blues, and jazz. While attending Sacramento State University, he joined the Escovedo Brothers salsa band, which began his career-long involvement with that genre. In 1972, Ray Charles hired him to go on tour. A year later, Woody Shaw brought him into Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. After his tenure with Blakey, he went on to work with musicians from the jazz, Latin, and pop worlds, including Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner, J.J. Johnson, Herbie Hancock, Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Van Morrison, Horace Silver, and others. In addition to performing as a member of the Saturday Night Live Band since 1984, he had led several ensembles. His recordings include Lotus Flower on Verve, and In The Spur of the Moment on Telarc, and his latest release is Rainbow People on Highnote.
Kenny Washington will teach rhythm section and jazz history in the Juilliard Jazz Program. One of the many young hard-bop revivalists to have arrived on the scene in the late 70s and early 80s, Mr. Washington has been in demand by more established musicians, playing with such legendary veterans as Lee Konitz, Betty Carter, Johnny Griffin, Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, and Tommy Flanagan. Born in Brooklyn, Mr. Washington studied with Dizzy Gillespie drummer, Rudy Collins, and attended the LaGuardia High School for Music and Art. A prolific freelancer, Mr. Washington has compiled an enormous discography. He has a strong interest in jazz history and has written liner notes for and/or helped prepare classic jazz re-releases by Art Blakey and Count Basie, among others. He has worked as an announcer at the New Jersey jazz radio station, WBGO.
The 2008-09 season will mark the 8th anniversary of Juilliard Jazz. Juilliard offers an undergraduate jazz degree, awarding a bachelor of music degree to those completing its four-year curriculum; a two-year master of music degree program designed for advanced performers who want to maximize their professional opportunities, onstage, and in the academic world; and an advanced pre-professional curriculum leading to an Artist Diploma, offered through the Juilliard Institute for Jazz Studies -- a collaboration between Juilliard and Jazz at Lincoln Center. All Juilliard Jazz curricula offer equal opportunities for student performance and specially tailored studio coursework. Juilliard Jazz ensembles frequently tour, throughout the school year and during school breaks.
In 2006-07, the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra and Juilliard Jazz Ensembles traveled to Doha, Qatar, the Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis, Missouri, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and performed at the IAJE conference. In summer 2007, they traveled to Snow College in Utah, the Costa Rica International Jazz Festival, the Vitoria Jazz Festival (Vitoria, Spain), the Craftsbury Festival in Vermont, and the Detroit Jazz and Heritage Festival. In the 2007-08 season, the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra toured Aiken, South Carolina, and Juilliard Jazz Ensembles traveled to St. Louis, Missouri.
Carl Allen is Artistic Director of Juilliard Jazz Studies, and Laurie Carter is Executive Director of Juilliard Jazz Studies.