Saturday, February 18th, 2023
Whitney M Young Magnet High School, 221 S Laflin St., Chicago, IL 60607
Co-sponsored by Jazz at Lincoln Center
GreeEngs Students, Bandleaders Adjudicators and Guests,
Many thanks to each and every one of you for your role in keep jazz music alive and thriving!
Whether you are learning and growing on your instrument and with your bandmates and peers, celebraEng recent accomplishments and reaching new goals, expertly developing lesson plans and curricula to inspire our next generaEon of creaEves, or using your experEse to fine tune the work of the world’s young musicians, we are honored to have you here in the name of jazz!
In 2020, this important event was held just before the world changed forever. LiUle did we know on that bright and cold Saturday that this would be the last Eme in a long Eme that we would hear live music and connect this way. For the JIC staff, looking back on that day gave us all hope and joy in the quiet and isolaEng months that followed.
In the spring of 2022, it was a thrill to gather again - to see and hear students, teachers, musicians, bandleaders, and more all come together from all over the city to learn and play together again. Watching our musical youth chat and reconnect was truly the highlight of the day as we watched our community conEnue to develop and grow.
As a proud Chicago Public School (Turner Drew Language Academy and Whitney Young) graduate, I am commiUed to the experiences that we can create in-partnership on school grounds and create an environment for students to thrive.
Thank you for being here and congrats to you all!
Heather Ireland Robinson ExecuEve Director Jazz InsEtute of Chicago WELCOME FROM JAZZ INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR HEATHER IRELAND ROBINSONHello and welcome to all Jazz in the Chi parEcipants!
Last year Jazz in the Chi returned in limited form and facing significant adversity, but we knew it was worth the trouble. This year we’ve been able to move it back to its proper season and add back most of the things that make it as full and special as it should be.
Essen6ally Ellington Jazz Band FesEval is an ve event for youth jazz ensembles from the Chicago region and beyond! It represents a partnership between the Jazz InsEtute of Chicago, Jazz at Lincoln Center and Chicago Public Schools. We know many music programs are sEll recovering from the massive disrupEon we all experienced. This is the place to get beUer and feel encouraged! Kudos to you for all your hard work, finding music to play, planning, pracEcing, rehearsing and gebng here!
So, we hope parEcipants perform to the best of their abiliEes and then learn how to take it to the next level from our fantasEc adjudicators and clinicians. We also hope you enjoy yourselves and make the most of the day! Check out the other performances, join in a jam session, take in a master class, network with peers and visit the vendors! Of course, directors, make sure you aUend the Band Directors’ Luncheon hosted by the Essen6ally Ellington clinicians. Everyone else, make sure you don’t miss the Midday Concert with Northwestern University Jazz Orchestra!
Thanks, congratulaEons, and keep swinging!
Darius Hampton Director of EducaEon and ArEst Development Jazz InsEtute of Chicago
The Essen6ally Ellington High School Jazz Band Program (EE) is unique among educaEonal resources for high school jazz bands. Each year, Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) transcribes, publishes, and distributes charts by Duke Ellington and other seminal big band composers and arrangers, along with addi E onal educaEonal materials to bands in the U.S., Canada and American schools abroad. Beyond providing these charts, EE also supports its members throughout the school year with a variety of iniEaEves including teaching guides, the Essen6ally Ellington website, newsleUers, a student composiEon contest, and professional feedback of student performances of the charts. Schools that join the program are eligible for parEcipaEon in noncompeEEve regional fesEvals and also have the opEon to submit recordings for the naEonal Essen6ally Ellington High School Jazz Band CompeEEon & FesEval held annually in New York City at Frederick P. Rose Hall, the home of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Figeen bands are selected as finalists and, to prepare, each finalist band receives an in-school workshop in their community led by a JALC clinician. The CompeEEon & FesEval culminates in a three-day fesEval in May for the finalist bands, including workshops, rehearsals, jam sessions, and performances. The three top-placing bands perform an evening concert with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.
Since 1995, over 846,000 students have parEcipated in Essen6ally Ellington. To date, more than 280,000 copies of 150 previously unavailable scores have been distributed to more than 5,300 schools internaEonally. In 2006, Essen6ally Ellington piloted noncompeEEve, educaEon-focused Regional fesEvals in an effort to reach more bands and provide the opportunity to perform Ellington's music and receive professional feedback from JALC clinicians and other jazz professionals in their own backyard.
Founding leadership support for Essen6ally Ellington is provided by The Jack and Susan Rudin EducaEonal and Scholarship Fund. Major support is provided by Jessica and Natan Bibliowicz, Alfred and Gail Engelberg, Casey Lipscomb, Dr. J. Douglas White and the King-White Family Founda E on, Augus E ne Founda E on, Ella Fitzgerald Charitable FoundaEon, Charles Evans Hughes Memorial FoundaEon, and the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, Bloomberg, Con Edison, Entergy, and United Airlines.
ADJUDICATORS
Christopher Dorsey, Bijon Watson, ScoU Hall, Jarrard Harris, CaEe Hickey, Roxanne Stevenson and Clif Wallace
PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS
Chicago High School for the Arts
Downers Grove South High School
Edwin G. Foreman College and Career Academy
William Jones College Preparatory High School
Kenwood Academy High School
Albert G. Lane Technical High School
Lincoln Park High School
Midwest Young Artists
New Trier High School
Oswego High School
Thornwood High School
Whitney M. Young Magnet High School
VENDORS
Chicago Jazz Philharmonic
Chicago State University
Live the Spirit
Midwest Young ArEsts
Northwestern University
PM Music Center
Roosevelt University
University of Illinois Chicago
Jazz InsEtute of Chicago
Founded in 1969, the Jazz InsItute of Chicago promotes and nurtures jazz in Chicago. We do this by providing jazz educa E on to youth and adults, developing and supporEng musicians through live performance opportuniEes, building audiences by making jazz accessible through free concerts and fesEvals and fostering a thriving Chicago jazz scene.
We understand that engagement in the arts encourages a lifelong applicaEon of creaEve thinking. The Jazz InsEtutes’ Jazz Links educaEon and arEst development program empower an ever-growing community of teachers and students through collaboraEon, experienEal learning, professional development and direct connecEons to Chicago’s rich jazz legacy.
The Chicago Public Schools
Department of Arts EducaIon (DAE) champions high-quality arts educaEon by providing arts learning opportuniEes for students, strengthening teacher and administrator capacity, and promoEng policies that expand equitable access to the arts for all students. The Jazz InsEtute and DAE have worked together to present the Jazz FesEval for CPS students for a number of years and are pleased to conEnue this partnership.
SPECIAL THANKS TO
Whitney M Young Magnet High School: Rickey Harris - Principal and James Barbick - Director of Bands; Jazz at Lincoln Center: Todd StollVice President of EducaEon and Oliver Beardsley - Manager of Student and Family Programs; Chicago Public Schools Department of Arts
EducaIon: Krista Wortendyke - Manager of Student Programs and Kendall Hill - Student Programs Coordinator; and all volunteers!
Heather Ireland Robinson
Executive Director
Darius Hampton
Director of Education and Artist Development
John Foster
Managing Director of Program & Education Initiatives
Jon Nadel
Manager of Membership and Development
Maggy Fouché
Grants Management Consultant
Mashaune Hardy
Social Media Manager
Scott Anderson Marketing Manager Raymond A. Thomas Creative Director
JAZZ INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Board President
David Helverson
Vice Presidents
David Bloomberg
Warren Chapman
William Norris
Keyonn Pope
Kent Richmond
D.V. Williams
Darryl Wilson Treasurer
Brian Myerholtz Secretary
Howard Mandel
Directors
Zenobia Johnson-Black
Miguel de la Cerna
KaEe Ernst
Rajiv Halim
Jarrard Harris
Chiquita Jones
Greg Kelley
Bill King
Bethany Pickens
Mike Reed
Judith E. Stein
Neil Tesser
Emeritus Directors
Joseph B. Glossberg
Ted Oppenheimer
The Jazz Ins6tute of Chicago is supported by: the Alphawood Founda6on, The Benjamin Rosenthal Founda6on, a CityArts grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, Crown Family Philanthropies, Cultural Treasures, The Darling Family Founda6on, The Ella Fitzgerald Founda6on, the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelly Founda6on, The Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, The MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at Prince, The Polk Bros. Founda6on, The Oppenheimer Family Founda6on, and The Vang Family.
Jazz in the Chi Regional SCHEDULE
Essentia
Saturday, Febr
Time Big Bands (Whitney Young Theatre) Combos (The Bridge)
Jones College Prep Jazz Ensemble ChiArts Combo A
Kenwood Academy Jazz Band ChiArts Combo B
Downers Grove South Jazz Ensemble Oswego High School Jazz Combo ChiArts Big Band
Jones College Prep Jazz Combo A
Oswego High School Jazz Ensemble 1 Jones College Prep Jazz Combo B
Jones College Prep Jazz Combo
(Whitney Young Theatre)
Lincoln Park High School Jazz Band Whitney Young High School Combo 1
New Trier High School Jazz Ensemble 1
Whitney Young High School Combo 2
Foreman Jazz Ensemble Freddy Hubbard Jazz Combo
Thornwood HIgh School Jazz Ensemble
Whitney Young High School Jazz Ensemble
Lincoln Park High School Combo
Lane Tech Jazz Combo
ally Ellington
uary 18, 2023
OF EVENTS
Jazz Band Festival
Jam Session with Jazz Institute of Chicago Alumni House Band
(Room 198 - Band Room)
Ernie Adams
“A Masterclass on Modern Hiphop, Soul and R&B Production from a Professional Jazz Musician’s Perspective”
(Room 198 - Band Room)
ESSENTIALLY ELLINGTON BAND DIRECTORS' LUNCHEON
(Room 197)
Ernie Adams
Reprise of
“A Masterclass on Modern Hiphop, Soul and R&B Production from a Professional Jazz Musician’s Perspective”
(Room 198 - Band Room)
Jam Session with Jazz Institute of Chicago Alumni House Band
(Room 198 - Band Room)
12:30 PM
PM
PM
ADJUDICATORS
Christopher Dorsey received his Bachelor of Music EducaEon from Jackson State University (1983) and his M. S. of EducaEon – Instrumental Music, from the University of Florida (1986).
Christopher has taught for more than 36 years at various schools in Miami-Dade and Broward CounEes. His intent is to give students the opportunity to compete with other high school programs on a State and NaEonal level and provide opportuniEes for students to pursue careers in music. His main mission is to teach life skills through the music.
For over 34 years, Mr. Dorsey’s bands have consistently received superior raEngs on the District and State levels. Students in all of Mr. Dorsey’s programs, past and present, have been accepted to the finest colleges, universiEes, and conservatories in the US, ogen with generous scholarships.
Since 2004, Christopher Dorsey, Director of Jazz and Contemporary Music Studies, has developed the Jazz Program at Dillard Center for the Arts into one of the premier high school jazz programs in the country. Over the years, the program has developed from one to three jazz bands and they have reached a level of skill, style and swing that has earned the program a strong naEonal presence.
Mr. Dorsey is an accomplished musician and has performed with jazz greats such as Nat Adderley, Al Grey, Slide Hampton, Lionel Hampton and the Roland Burnes Quintet. As a featured trombonist, Chris toured extensively through Europe with the off-Broadway producEon of “Ain’t Misbehavin” and worked with Dionne Warwick and Melton Mustafa.
In 2017, Chris was nominated and won Arts Teacher of the Year – ArtsEd Forever! The Arts Teacher of the Year Award was created by the Broward County Cultural Division and Council in 1985 to recognize and honor a significant arts teacher in the Broward County Public Schools. Chris received an award for the 2017 Outstanding School Arts EducaEon Professional from the Florida Alliance for Arts EducaEon and Teacher of the year – Dillard Center for the Arts – October 2016.
Bijon Watson’s career as a musician and educator spans more than 25 years and has taken him around the globe to perform for audiences worldwide. Born in Boston, MassachuseUs, Bijon began playing the trumpet at the age of 8. He aUended the New England Conservatory of Music Preparatory School, and the University of Southern California, and was a member of the 1994 Disney All-American College Band and 1995 Disney/Grammy All-American College Jazz Band.
Bijon’s recording and/or live performance and touring credits are vast and the short list includes iconic arEsts such as Natalie Cole, Michael Bublé, JusEn Timberlake, Harry Connick, Jr., Diana Krall, Michael Jackson, Arturo Sandoval, Lady Gaga, Mariah Carey, Joe Williams, Queen LaEfah, Earth, Wind & Fire, Stevie Wonder, Nicholas Payton, Rosemary Clooney, Steve Tyrell, Eric Benét, Jamiroquai, Prince, Barbara Morrison, Dianne Reeves, Nancy Wilson, Alicia Keys, Chaka Khan, Luis Miguel, The TemptaEons, and Gladys Knight.
Bijon’s love for big band and laEn jazz inspired him to become a student of the great bands of the past and present and he has become a sought ager and in-demand lead trumpet player. Bijon is the lead trumpet for the Grammy-nominated Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, the Grammynominated John Daversa Progressive Big Band, the Grammy-nominated John Beasley’s Monkestra, José Rizo’s Jazz on the LaEn Side All-Stars, the late Gerald Wilson Jazz Orchestra, and many other jazz, salsa, and pop bands throughout the United States. InternaEonally, Bijon has recorded and performed live as lead trumpet with the Frankfurt Radio Big Band.
On television, Bijon has performed on episodes of “American Idol”, as well as “The Tonight Show”, Grammy Awards shows, The BET Music Awards, and “Dancing With The Stars”. Bijon’s film appearances include appearing in the award-winning film “La La Land” and recording on several soundtracks with studios such as Paramount, Fox, and Disney, including most recently “Despicable Me 2”, and “The
Secret Life
of Pets”.
As a classically trained musician, Bijon has had the opportunity to perform as a guest with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Los Angeles Opera, the CincinnaE Pops Orchestra, the San Diego Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony.
A dedicated educator, Bijon is an in-demand clinician that has given master classes and clinics to colleges, conservatories, secondary schools, high schools, and middle schools throughout the United States, and Europe, as well as maintaining a private lesson studio.
ScoW Hall began his associaEon with Ramsey Lewis in 2007 arranging Lewis’ composiEons for Ravinia FesEval collaboraEons such as the Joffrey Ballet, Turtle Island Quartet, and the Abraham Lincoln celebraEon “ProclamaEon of Hope”. He has conducted at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., Teatro Manzini in Milan, Ravinia FesEval, Chicago Theatre, Jazz Showcase, Peoria Civic Center, and the Conservatory Luisa D’Annunzio in Pescara, Italy. His recent premier of the Concerto for Jazz Trio and Orchestra at the Ravinia FesEval featured his work as arranger and conductor for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with the Ramsey Lewis Trio. His contemporary arrangements for symphony orchestra have been commissioned and performed by the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Peoria Symphony Orchestra.
A classically trained trumpeter, he works predominantly as a jazz conductor, performer, arranger, producer, and educator. He has conducted important Duke Ellington works for jazz orchestra such as “Black, Brown, and Beige”, “A Concert of Sacred Music”, “New Orleans Suite”, as well as Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s “Far East Suite”. While Assistant Conductor to Bill Russo of the Chicago Jazz Ensemble, he conducted the ensemble in concert with the late Buddy DeFranco in Milan, Italy for the reenactment of Benny Goodman’s 1938 Carnegie Hall concert. Mr. Hall is currently Professor of InstrucEon and Coordinator of Contemporary Musicianship and Jazz at Columbia College Chicago.
He has performed at Symphony Center, Chicago Jazz FesEval, Ravinia FesEval, Harris Theatre, HumaniEes FesEval, Chicago Theatre, and the Jazz Showcase. His internaEonal appearances have been at the Beijing Dance FesEval, Montreal Jazz FesEval, Conservatory of Puerto Rico, Pescara Jazz FesEval, Vicenza Jazz FesEval, and throughout Italy.
Mr. Hall is currently Senior Lecturer and Director of Jazz Studies at Columbia College Chicago. As an invited clinician and teaching arEst he has mentored for the Sant’Anna Arresi Jazz FesEval, Arcevia Jazz FesEval, Pescara Jazz FesEval, Illinois Music Educators AssociaEon, and the Straight Ahead Jazz Camp with the Jazz InsEtute of Chicago.
As producer for Hallway Records, he has recorded and released albums for some of Chicago’s finest jazz arEsts. His debut album ScoU Hall Quartet “Strength In Numbers” received criEcal acclaim from Down Beat magazine and media play in the United States and Europe.
Jarrard Harris, saxophonist and educator aUended the University of CincinnaE College Conservatory of Music to pursue a degree in jazz studies. At CCM he studied with Rick VanMatre, Pat Harbison, and Marc Fields. Upon GraduaEon from CCM Harris moved to Chicago in 1998 to aUend DePaul University where under the tutelage of Bob Lark, Tim Coffman, and Marc Colby he earned his master’s degree in jazz studies. He currently serves on the music faculty at Purdue University in West LafayeUe, Indiana and was formerly a faculty member at Northwestern University and Columbia College Chicago. He also served as the director of jazz studies with the Chicago Public Schools Advanced Arts EducaEon Program at Gallery 37. He maintains an acEve private teaching studio in addiEon to serving as a director, clinician, guest arEst and adjudicator at college and high school fesEvals, and state band fesEvals. He has performed in the United States and abroad at numerous jazz fesEvals and performed with jazz arEsts Jon Faddis Big Band, Barry Harris, Joe Magnarelli, Nicholas Payton, Joe Lovano, Claudia Acuna, Jimmy Heath, Brian Lynch, Antonio Hart, Bobby Watson, Benny Green, Eric Reed, Stefon Harris, The Chicago Jazz Ensemble, the Chicago SinfonieUa, Sean Jones, Sharel Cassity, Eric Alexander, and Johnny Griffin to name a few. He has performed at the Goodman and Court Theater in the musicals “Ain’t Misbehavin’ and “Five Guys Named Moe. Jarrard was a founding board member of the Jazz EducaEon Network and serves as a current board member for the Jazz InsEtute of Chicago. Jarrard plays Vandoren saxophone Reeds and mouthpieces and is currently a Vandoren Performing ArEst.
CaIe Hickey is a trombonist, educator and arts advocate based in Chicago. CommiUed to expanding the role of the 21st century musician, she co-founded the Taller de Trombones Panama in 2014. Ms. Hickey is a frequent guest of Trombonanza, Urubrass and many other brass workshops in LaEn America. She teaches at Loyola University-Chicago and the Francis Parker School. A former touring member of the Foothills Brass Quintet, she performs with groups ranging from New to the Joe Clark Big Band. CommiUed to improving access to music educaEon in Chicago, CaEe also serves on the board of directors of Chicago Arts and Music Project.
Roxanne Stevenson is AcEng Department of Music Chair, Professor of Music EducaEon, Director of Bands, Music Ed and Gospel Music Coordinator and Woodwind Instructor at Chicago State University. She earned a B.S. from Bethune-Cookman University and the M.S. degree from The University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana both in music educaEon. She has performed with Bernie Mac, Vickie Winans, Jean Carnes, Cherelle, the Chi-Lites and many others. Professor Stevenson is the Jazz Coordinator for the Historically Black Colleges and UniversiEesNaEonal Band Director’s ConsorEum, Interim Vice-President of the African American Jazz Caucus, Vice-President Elect of the Women Band Directors InternaEonal and member of the Diversity CommiUee, Illinois Music EducaEon AssociaEon, Jazz EducaEon Network and the Jazz EducaE on Network’s Sisters in Jazz Commi Uee. She serves as adjudicator, panelist and guest director for numerous marching, concert and jazz fesEvals and compeEEons and has worked as band/choral director and a classroom/music teacher in Indiana and Illinois public and private elementary and high schools. Professor Stevenson is a contributor to the textbook Teaching Music Through Performance in Jazz Volume I and Volume II, and the books Rehearsing the Jazz Band and The Horizon Leans Forward. She is the author of the arEcle “Novel to Normal: Seeing Women in Music” published in the Illinois Music Educator Journal and the ConnecEcut Music Educator Journal. She is a member of the NaEonal AssociaEon for Music EducaEon, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Phi Beta Mu InternaEonal and sponsor/honorary member and sponsor of Tau Beta Sigma and Kappa Kappa Psi Honorary Band Sorority and Fraternity. Professor Stevenson received the African American Arts Alliance of Chicago’s Black Excellence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music – Jazz. The Absolute Winds of Change, a Tribute to Chicago’s African-American Women in Jazz, recognized her as a saxophonist/educator and she received a ChrisEan Girls Rock award. She was a quarter-finalist for the 2nd Annual Grammy Music Educator Award, JEN’s AAJC Jazz Griot Award; and the CSU Black Heritage Ball’s Ntesie/Mate Masie Outstanding Administrator Award.
Clif Wallace began serious studies in Jazz at North Carolina Central University where he received both a Bachelor of Arts in Music and a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance. In College, Clif gained broad experience in playing in many different musical sebngs playing with any one from blues guitarist Roy Roberts to Jazz Great Branford Marsalis. UlEmately earning the drum seat in the African American Jazz Caucus’s Historically Black College and University (HBCU) All-Star Big Band for three years. With the HBCU Band, he had the opportunity to perform with Jimmy Heath, Joe Chambers, Gerald Wilson, and Jimmy Cobb. Just ager college, he joined the judging panel for the 2008 Notre Dame Collegiate Jazz FesEval along the likes of Marvin Stamm, Gene Bertoncini, Jim McNeely, Larry Ridley, and Jamey Abersold. In 2009, Clif Wallace took the opportunity to parEcipate in BeUy Carter’s Jazz Ahead ArEst Residency Program in Washington, DC, as well as the Ravinia/ Steans InsEtute ArEst Residency Program led by Dr. David Baker, James Moody, Dr. Nathan Davis, and Rufus Reid in Chicago, Illinois. He was also chosen to be the drummer for the Chicago Jazz InsEtute’s annual Young Lions performance in 2010. Recently, Clif Wallace has heard and seen playing with Saxophone and ClarineEst Victor Goines, and Vocalist Tammy McCann. As well as a host of other great arEsts such as Bobby Broom, Pharez WhiUed, The Chicago Jazz Orchestra, Rodney Whitaker, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Diego Rivera, Robert Irving, III, Marquis Hill, Dan Trudell, John Brown and Orbert Davis. More notably, Clif also leads his own Quintet and other groups as a band leader and producer. Residing in Chicago, Illinois, Clif has become one of the city’s most in demand drummers for a many music plaworms.
