All That Jazz: The CCM Jazz Orchestra residency with Wynton Marsalis in São Paulo, Brazil

All That Jazz: During the last week in June, the CCM Jazz Orchestra shared a weeklong residency with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in São Paulo, Brazil.

Photo by Frank Stewart.

By Kathleen Doane

The CCM Jazz Orchestra had been in São Paulo less than eight hours when the young musicians gathered outside their hotel to board a bus for what was only described on their itinerary as “welcoming jam session and celebration with Brazilian musicians and JLCO (Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra) members.”

“We were thinking it was going to be a nice little jam session in a room somewhere,” says Scott Belck, CCM’s Director of Jazz Studies. Were they in for a surprise.

When they arrived at SESC Pompeia, it was immediately clear that the “little jam session” was a fully staged performance for what Belck describes as “an extremely attentive Brazilian audience.” And the Brazilian musicians who joined them and JLCO members onstage were superstars: reedman Nailor Proveta, percussionist Ari Colares and bandolinist Hamilton de Holanda.

That night set the tone for what was to come in the next week — unforgettable musical collaborations with some of the world’s best musicians and transformative moments for the CCM students. Language differences evaporated and music became the universal language to a culture and people who were thrilled they were there.

As JLCO’s fi rst college affi liate, the CCM Jazz Orchestra’s weeklong, international residency in São Paulo launched a new program that each year will enable a top-ranked U.S. college jazz ensemble/big band to collaborate with Wynton Marsalis and the JLCO for a similar experience.

Wynton Marsalis performs with CCM students during a visit to campus in 2008.

Photo by Dottie Stover/UC Creative Services.

Todd Stoll, Vice President of Education at Jazz at Lincoln Center and a CCM alumnus, said the idea was born out of conversations that he and Belck began in earnest about three years ago.

“One of the things Scott and I talked about was how to integrate JLCO with the higher education world,” Stoll says. JLCO had a well-established online educational presence with its resources, videos, recorded concerts and music for download, but Belck felt the missing piece was access to JLCO musicians themselves. JLCO’s international residency tour model seemed the perfect opportunity to bring that all together, and the CCM Jazz Orchestra the perfect college ensemble to launch the program. “We obviously knew about the quality of the program there and the commitment to excellence,” Stoll says. “I knew it would be a great collaboration.”

Like all of the events that week, the groundwork was organized by SESC, a Portuguese acronym for Social Service of Commerce, JLCO’s partner for the weeklong residency in São Paulo. The private, nonprofi t agency is dedicated to the belief that culture and education transform lives. To that end, they operate community centers throughout Brazil, mostly in low-income areas, off ering a range of educational and cultural activities, lessons and programs (including healthcare) that are free or at very little cost. In São Paulo alone, SESC sponsors more than 400 events a month. During its weeklong residency, the CCM Jazz Orchestra performed and worked with children at half a dozen SESC centers. Everyone on the trip agreed that their experiences became memories for a lifetime.

For third-year DMA saxophone major Carly Hood, the orchestra’s baritone saxophonist, the interactions with younger children throughout the week were most memorable, especially one day in particular. Hood had learned a little Portuguese before the trip and she — the only female in the CCM Jazz Orchestra — and her large baritone sax always attracted a lot of attention.

CCM Jazz Orchestra performs outside of a SESC facility while audience members dance the Lindy Hop.

Photo by Frank Stewart.

Carly Hood (center) with a group of young students in Brazil.

Photo provided by CCM Jazz.

“After one concert I was chatting with a group of kids, demonstrating things on the bari, and I started playing the Jaws theme, and one person shouted, ‘tubarão!’ (shark in Portuguese), then the kids yelled, ‘Tubarão bebê!’ (Baby Shark), which is this children’s song that’s a global phenomenon. Luckily, I knew that, too, and all the kids started to sing along when I started to play,” she says. “It really was a special moment.”

Junior sax major Christian Paradiso recalls one musical gathering that featured a group of young Brazilian musicians. “We would play a piece for them, then they would play for us. Finally we all came together and formed one big band. It was such a meaningful experience because we could barely communicate with each other by speaking, but we sure could make music together.”

Unforgettable experiences weren’t limited to the students. Faculty member Craig Bailey, who conducts the CCM Jazz Lab Band and teaches jazz history, was surprised to see that a dance craze first popularized in the U.S. during WWII, the Lindy Hop, was in full swing in Brazil. “At one concert, there was a featured group of dancers, but people in the audience were dancing, too,” he says. “And people knew the lyrics to American jazz standards. It was amazing.”

In total, the CCM jazz orchestra played 16 concerts in seven days, usually with instrument demonstrations and lots of interactions with the audience during and after the concerts.

JLCO member Sherman Irby, saxophone, performs with CCM students Hayden Floro, drums; Christopher Andrews, saxophone; Mitchell Parton, trumpet; and Jack Phillips, trumpet.

Photo provided by CCM Jazz.

CCM students Christopher Andrews, saxophone; Jonathan Wiseman, trumpet; Hayden Floro, drums; and Justin Dawson, bass, in a late-night jam session at the São Cristovão Bar e Restaurante.

Photo provided by CCM Jazz.

One concert was a special event for the U.S. Consulate General in anticipation of July Fourth.

Throughout the week there were also workshops for CCM students led by JLCO members. The final outdoor concert with Wynton Marsalis and JLCO attracted more than 7,000 people.

“The trip was beyond any expectations we imagined,” Belck says. It also exceeded a basic goal that Belck and Stoll had set for the CCM students: showing them the power of jazz by taking it out of clubs and concert halls and to people in their communities.

“Over the course of the week, our band’s playing crystallized, and they went from students to young professionals,” Belck says, proudly. “They were playing as well as any band I’ve ever had.”

Student sax player Paradiso summed up the best lesson learned during that unforgettable week: “It really cemented the idea that I don’t care where I am in the world or whom I’m with. I just want to play music together.”

Nine undergraduate and 10 graduate members of the CCM Jazz Orchestra and four CCM faculty members took part in the international residency in São Paulo, Brazil, with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. SAXOPHONE Hector Gagnet, Lead Alto Jacob Lemons Christian Paradiso Christopher Andrews Carly Hood, bari TRUMPETS Jack Phillips, Lead Timothy Fogarty Jonathan Wiseman Mitchell Parton

TROMBONES Zachary Granger, Lead Spencer Merk Simon Jansen Wade Goodwin, bass trombone

RHYTHM SECTION Robert Gooch, guitar Marcelo Invernizzi da Silveira, guitar Ryan Jones, piano Justin Dawson, bass Andrew Walits, bass Hayden Floro, drums

FACULTY Scott Belck Stephen Allee Craig Bailey Kimothy Pensyl