News

Top Jazz Artists to Lead Jazz Improvisation Workshop for High School and College Students at William Paterson July 19-25, 2015

Trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater, bassist Marcus McLaurine, trombonist Timothy Newman, bassist Steve La Spina, and pianist James Weldman, some of the top artists on today’s jazz scene, are among the College of the Arts and Communication’s music faculty leading a week-long jazz workshop for students, age 14 and older, this summer at William Paterson University in Wayne.

“Summer Jazz Improvisation Workshop” will run from July 19 to 25, 2015 on campus. Tuition and fees are $799 for commuters and $1,125 for residents, which include nightly clinics and concerts featuring internationally acclaimed jazz artists and a trip to a New York City jazz club.

The workshop curriculum will combine music theory with small group performance. The daily sessions will include jazz theory/improvisation, jazz history, and jazz arranging, followed by group rehearsals and a clinic each afternoon. Concerts featuring top jazz artists will be held each evening in William Paterson’s Shea Center for the Performing Arts as part of the University’s Summer Jazz Room Series.

Bridgewater has toured and recorded with the Max Roach Quartet and Double Quartet, Horace Silver, the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Dizzy Gillespie, Lena Horne, Art Blakey, and Wynton Marsalis. As a composer and arranger, his works have been performed by Lena Horne, Vanessa Rubin, the Uptown String Quartet, the Count Basie Orchestra and Dee Dee Bridgewater.

McLaurine has performed as a bassist in Clark Terry’s Quintet for nearly 20 years, with numerous tours and recordings. He has performed with Kenny Burrell, Jon Hendricks, McCoy Tyner, Abbey Lincoln, Cleo Laine, Lou Donaldson, Abdullah Ibrahim, and the Count Basie Orchestra. He has recorded with Kenny Burrell, Abbey Lincoln, Michael Cochran, Grover Mitchell, John Hicks, Hank Jones, Vincent Herring, Bob Trowers, Jay Hoggard, Nancy Monroe, and the Spirit of Life Ensemble, and has appeared in the motion picture Cotton Club.

Newman, a William Paterson associate professor of music, and jazz workshop coordinator, is a veteran of New York’s big-band and freelance scene. He has performed and recorded with the Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Slide Hampton’s World of Trombones, the Mario Bauza Afro-Cuban Orchestra, the Bill Mobley Jazz Orchestra, Manhattan Bones, and They Might Be Giants, as well as numerous Broadway show orchestras.

La Spina has toured and recorded with Jim Hall, Stan Getz, Toots Thielemans, Joe Williams, Benny Carter, Chet Baker, Pat Martino, Zoot Sims, Tommy Flanagan, Richie Bierach, and Marian McPartland. He has five solo recordings with his own group on Steeplechase Records, one on Italy’s Ram label, and has performed as a sideman on more than 90 recordings.

Weidman has played and recorded with Max Roach, Woody Herman, Archie Shepp, James Moody, Greg Osby, Bobby Hutcherson, Slide Hampton, Jay Hoggard, Marvin “Smitty” Smith, Gloria Lynne, and blues diva Dakota Staton. He has performed internationally with saxophonists Joe Lovano and Marty Ehrlich, and trombonist Ray Anderson. He is the accompanist for some of the world’s most celebrated singers, including legendary jazz vocalists Abbey Lincoln and Cassandra Wilson. Weidman has performed at major venues and festivals, including the Montreux, Monterey, Newport, North Sea, and JVC jazz festivals, Carnegie Hall, Birdland, Blue Note, Sweet Basil, Village Vanguard, Iridium, and Jazz Standard.

Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis and will be accepted until the workshop is full. Space is limited to the following: 9 brass instrumentalists, 18 saxophonists, 9 guitarists, 9 pianists, 9 bassists, 18 drummers, and 6 vocalists. For convenience, all registrations will be processed online. Interested students may apply online at wpunj.edu/cpe/youthprograms.

#     #     #