JAZZ@FIRST | JAMMIN' WITH JAMEY: NEA JAZZ MASTER

Louisville-based alto saxophonist, publisher and master jazz educator Jamey Aebersold is internationally recognized for his Play-A-Long jazz recordings, a learning resource that has touched virtually every jazz musician in the last 60 years. A 2014 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master for Jazz Advocacy, Jamey is also a skilled and widely respected jazz alto saxophonist. Come hear this legend of jazz take the stage with the Jamey Aebersold Quartet.

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Complimentary wine and cheese at intermission are included with your ticket.

 

Jazz@First Series Sponsor: Al Harris

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About the Artist: Jamey Aebersold, saxophone and author

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Jamey Aebersold was born July 21, 1939, in New Albany, Indiana. He attended college at Indiana University and graduated in 1962 with a Masters Degree in Saxophone. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music by Indiana University in 1992. He also plays piano, bass and banjo.

 

In 1989, the International Association of Jazz Educators inducted Jamey into their Hall of Fame at the San Diego convention. With this award, Jamey joins other jazz luminaries such as Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong and others.

 

Jamey is an internationally-known saxophonist and authority on jazz education and improvisation, and has developed a series of Jazz Play-A-Longs (book and CD sets now numbering almost 130 volumes) as well as various other supplemental aids for the development of improvisational skills. The Aebersold book and recording sets allow a musician the opportunity to practice and improvise with well-known jazz personalities at home as well as in the classroom. The recordings employ some of the best jazz musicians in the world. This concept has been responsible for changing the practice habits of thousands of musicians around the world.

 

Jamey was one of the first to encourage small group classes that concentrate on jazz improvisation, and he is the director of the Summer Jazz Workshops which now have 40+ years on record. Jamey feels that improvisation is something all people can do—and his clinics and lectures concentrate on demonstrating how the creative and spontaneous nature of each person can be brought to light.

 

These weeklong Summer Jazz Workshops are having a profound effect on musical communities around the world. The Workshops have traveled to Australia, New Zealand, Germany, England, Scotland, Denmark and Canada. Every summer there are at least two weeklong Workshops in the U.S. These camps employ many of the finest players/teachers in jazz and are open to any serious jazz student regardless of ability or age.

 

In 2007, Jamey was awarded the Indiana Governor's Arts Award by Mitch Daniels, the Governor of Indiana.

 

On October 4, 1987, CBS' "Sunday Morning" with Charles Kuralt and Billie Taylor featured Jamey with the Summer Jazz Workshops in an exciting jazz educational segment.

 

Jamey has taught at three colleges and universities in the Louisville, Kentucky area and has made guest appearances in dozens of cities around the world. While conducting a jazz clinic in Brazil he produced a 110-minute DVD/video appropriately titled "Anyone Can Improvise" which has become a best-seller.

 

Jamey's hobby is listening to jazz, especially new young players. He also enjoys playing basketball (he has hit 50 free throws in a row!) and is very much interested in Metaphysics and spiritual pursuits as they apply to the growth of the individual. In December 2004, the Jazz Midwest Clinic bestowed upon Jamey the "Medal of Honor" in Jazz Education.

 

In 2014, Jamey was awarded The National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Award, the nation's highest honor in jazz. Jamey Aebersold is the recipient of the 2014 A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy, which is bestowed upon an individual who has contributed significantly to the appreciation, knowledge and advancement of the art form of jazz.

 

Jamey has been a driving force in America's native art form, Jazz, and continues to kindle the fires of musical imagination in those with whom he comes in contact.

 

Learn more at jazzbooks.com.

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About the Artist: Phil DeGreg, piano

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Phil DeGreg began playing the piano in his childhood and now performs as a jazz pianist internationally. His earliest jazz influences were Bud Powell and Bill Evans, but he is accomplished and comfortable in a wide range of jazz styles, ranging from mainstream to bebop to Brazilian jazz. A graduate of Yale and the University of North Texas, he toured with the Woody Herman Orchestra in the 1980s and has 10 CDs to his credit as a leader. For 13 years he accompanied many national and international jazz artists in the house trio in Cincinnati’s famous Blue Wisp Jazz Club. He has been on staff with the renowned Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshops since 1983, and has performed and taught in Europe and South America.

 

Phil DeGreg is the retired Professor of Jazz Studies at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts study grants. In 2008 he was awarded a 4-month Fulbright Fellowship as a lecturer in Brazil.

 

His text “Jazz Keyboard Harmony” is a practical text for teaching jazz harmony for all musicians, and is used all over the world in universities and for private study.

 

Learn more about Phil DeGreg on his website http://phildegreg.com.