20 years cultivating jazz greatness at Vail Jazz Workshop

The Vail Jazz Workshop was created in 1996 to assist in the development of exceptionally gifted musicians.  So far 238 young musicians have moved through one of the finest music incubators in the world.  Alto saxophonist, composer and band leader Tia Fuller was at Vail as a teenager, and so was pianist Justin Kauflin.

“Vail helped to shape me into the musician I am today. I was exposed to mentors who were master educators, composers, arrangers and businessmen. To this day they completely encapsulate everything I strive to be as an artist while also carrying themselves with humility and integrity,” said Fuller.

This year 12 students will spend a week in Vail learning and sharing music.

Bassist John Clayton is the director of education.  Some of his charges: Solomon Gottfried attends Interlochen (MI) Arts Academy; Boston native now living in Berkeley, Calif. Max Schwartz played in the California All State Honor Jazz Band, and has won honors at the Mingus Jazz Competition.

Mentoring trumpet players is Terell Stafford.  His students: Evan Abounassar from Yorba Linda, Calif. (an “outstanding soloist” at  the Monterey Jazz Festival) and Luca Rodoni from Bozeman, Mont.,  semi-finalist in the 2015 National Trumpet Competition.

Percussion professor is Lewis Nash, teaching Jerome Gillespie (High School for the Performing and Visual Arts – Houston) and Alec Smith (Los Angeles County High School for the Arts).

Can you imagine learning the trombone under Wycliffe Gordon?  His students are Remee Ashley (a San Francisco Jazz High School All Star) and Ethan Santos, an alumnus of the Stanford Jazz Institute.

 

The piano leader is Bill Cunliffe, teaching Lucas Hahn who started playing at age 7, and Luca Mendoza, who has won several DownBeat Student Music Awards.

Reed master Dick Oatts joins the Vail faculty for the first time this year.  He’s tutoring Rodney James-Spann (the Brooklyn native was admitted to a Juilliard program as a middle schooler) and Alex Laurenzi, a pre-college admission to the Manhattan School of Music.

The Vail Jazz All-Stars play for free at the Jazz Tent at Vail Square Thursday, September 3 at 6:00 p.m., Saturday, September 5 at 11:30 a.m. and Sunday, September 6 at 11:30 a.m.  More information at www.vailjazz.org/education/vail-jazz-workshop/