Learn more about Eastman’s jazz degrees including the DMA in jazz studies, plus profiles of our award-winning faculty, summer jazz offerings for high school students, and more. JAZZ FACULTY Harold Danko department chair, piano Jeffrey Campbell double bass Bill Dobbins composition/ arranging Clay Jenkins trumpet Mark Kellogg trombone
Dave Rivello ensembles Bob Sneider guitar Dariusz Terefenko theory Rich Thompson drum set Walt Weiskopf saxophone
www.esm.rochester.edu/departments/jazz APPLICATION DEADLINE DECEMBER 1
800 388 9695 or 585 274 1060 admissions@esm.rochester.edu
36 JAZZed September 2009
provising. When I’m talking to you, I’m talking in sentences, but I’m trying to express a larger idea that may ultimately be a couple paragraphs long or something. I go from one idea to another. Improvising with melodic phrases is the exact same thing. I’d start to explain it like that – you develop a vocabulary and then you start to form sentences and paragraphs and, on a good day, maybe you can conceive of a whole page of ideas in a larger musical conversation. JAZZed: What do you consider to be some of the highlights of your professional career? JS: I think getting to play jazz professionally at least 150 nights a year for 30 or so years has been the high point for me. I’ve been blessed that I’ve been able to consistently do that with great players. And making 38 records as a leader and getting to write tunes and be on all the records as a sideman – there really have been too many things to think what the high
points truly are. Getting to play with so many of my idols, people whose records I listened to over and over and analyzed and dreamed of playing with… getting to do that has just been incredible. JAZZed: What advice would you impart to today’s jazz instructors – our readership? JS: I think there’s a lot of jazz related music that’s very valid and a lot of high school or college aged kids that you run into will be into other things that are not just straight ahead be-bop, you know? I think that jazz educators should really encourage that type of interest on the part of their students. It’s a big world out there and a lot of the kids will be into different forms that you may not be into, yourself, but it’s still challenging music and they should really be allowed to pursue those passions, as well, and not feel that jazz is an elite old boy network and club that only certain people can be in.