Celebrating a Decade of Jazz Education at UC San Diego

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA — UC San Diego’s division of Extended Studies is proudly sponsoring the tenth year of Jazz Camp on its La Jolla campus June 24-29, 2012. A five-day summer program designed for intermediate to advanced musicians ages 14 to adult, UC San Diego Jazz Camp offers a diverse, one-of-a-kind journey into the world of jazz workshops, private lessons, faculty concerts and more. Each year, more than 50 students, ranging in age from 14 to 73, and in conjunction with more than fifteen local, national and internationally-known jazz musicians, immerse themselves in an action-packed week of classes, jam sessions, and concerts.

In support of scholarships for the 2012 camp, UC San Diego is hosting an all-ages camp alumni concert led by three-time camp alumnus Joshua White on piano, fellow alumnus Fernando Gomez on drums and camp faculty member Rob Thorsen on bass, who will be joined by a variety of guest alumni soloists. The concert takes place on Sunday, March 18, 2012, 4-6 p.m. at the Conrad Prebys Music Center on UC San Diego’s campus. Tickets are $15 for the public, $10 for students, and all proceeds go toward the scholarship fund for the 2012 edition of the camp. Parking is free on Sundays in the Gilman Drive Parking Garage. Visit extension.ucsd.edu/spree, or call (858)534-3400 to register in advance, or attendees can pay at the door (cash only, please).

Several UC San Diego Jazz Camp alumni made it into the national spotlight in 2011. Joshua White, alumnus of the camp in its first three years from 2003-2005, won second place and a $10,000 prize in the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz’s International Competition, the jazz world’s most prestigious annual awards honor. He was selected as one of the three finalists by an all-star panel of judges that included such jazz piano icons as Herbie Hancock, Ellis Marsalis and longtime James Moody Quartet pianist Renee Rosnes.  Another camp alumnus, Chase Morrin, took first place in the Open Combo Division at the Monterey Jazz Festival’s Next Generation Festival along with fellow alumni Fernando Gomez and Tyler Eaton.  Morrin, who is a skilled composer, also took the top prize for his piece, “Mumphis” which was performed at the 54th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival by the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra.

More information about UC San Diego Jazz Camp is available at jazzcamp.ucsd.edu, or inquiries can be made via email, jazzcamp@ucsd.edu, or phone (858)534-5760. Registration closes for the 2012 session on May 24^th.

 

What Do Gene Krupa and Joshua White Have In Common?

By Stan Walens

Six years ago, a young scholarship student by the name of Joshua White came to the UC San Diego Jazz Camp and showed such enormous talent as a jazz musician that we were simply blown away. We have been keeping in touch with him since his first year at Jazz Camp, and are happy to report  that he placed second in the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition.  Joshua was recently interviewed by the San Diego Union-Tribune, and he said something that struck a bell with me.

Q: What was the bigger thrill, meeting President Obama or getting praised face to face by Herbie [Hancock]?

A: Even though I love President Obama and I loved speaking to Herbie and getting that kind of encouragement and validation, the highlight for me was taking the stage and having everyone listen while I painted musical pictures over the silence…Being able to take this artistic journey was the biggest thrill.

It’s learning the love of performing that makes music such a central part of someone’s life. Joshua’s comment made me think back to how I got started on a lifelong music-making career myself. Back longer ago than I care to reveal, when I was 5-years-old, my father took me to a concert given by the great jazz drummer, Gene Krupa, who was a longtime friend of his. At the time, Krupa was staging “drum duels” with jazz drumming legend, Buddy Rich. I can remember sitting in a darkly-lit nightclub, surrounded by a miasma of cigarette smoke and the pervasive smell of scotch, watching those two amazing musicians, mesmerized by just how much fun they were having playing. To me, no one conveyed the sheer love, the unending thrill, of being a drummer more than Krupa.

After the performance, my dad took me up to meet his longtime friend, and Krupa, seeing how intensely I was staring at his drum kit handed me his sticks and said, “Here, kid. Go wild.” I sat down at his drum kit and made what must have been a truly horrible cacophony. Krupa picked up another pair of sticks and started playing one of the side drums, setting a rhythm for me to follow. There I was having a drum duel with Gene Krupa! I think the smile on my face must have been a hundred miles wide. After we finished, Krupa looked at my father and said, “He’s a natural,” patted me on the head, then turned to his left and said, smiling, “You’d better watch out, Buddy!”

Simple gestures of encouragement can change our lives when it comes to expressing ourselves. Because of Gene Krupa’s kind words, I started taking drum lessons as soon as I could after that; and then eagerly began learning other instruments as well. But what Krupa passed on to me was one of the greatest gifts a musician can bestow: he showed me the sheer joy of performing, of painting over the silences with sound, of connecting to oneself and others through music. And that’s the primary thing I look for in all of our Performing Arts instructors. Whether it’s Music, Acting or Dance, our Performing Arts instructors are themselves dedicated performers who love what they do, and the core of their teaching is passing on that feeling to others. They have an intense love of their art that is infectious and life-affirming.

Please join us in one of our upcoming acting, dance, singing, piano or guitar courses here at UC San Diego Extension, and take some time to get in tune with your inner performer.

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Stan Walens is Program Representative for Humanities and Performing Arts at UC San Diego Extension. He holds a Ph.D. in Psychological Anthropology, and specialized in the relationship between art, religion, and family dynamics in both Native American and contemporary American cultures. He plays nearly two dozen instruments, lectures and writes program notes for many San Diego music organizations, and has avid interests in history, politics and culture, biology, performance studies, theatre, film and dance. He is a compulsive birder.