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jazzView Profile: Bob Taylor Instr: Trumpet, vocal Favorite artists: Wynton Marsalis, Clifford Brown, Chick Corea, Clare Fischer, Bobby McFerrin, Joshua Redman Brief bio: visual-jazz.com, Jazz Studies instructor at BYU, Cal State Los Angeles, Pasadena City College, Westminster College. Author of Art of Improvisation, Sightreading Jazz, etc. Leader of BRIJJ jazz-fusion group. Recordings: BRIJJ - Beat the Rats, BRIJJ - Crossover Personal notes: Love to travel, write, hike, spend time with family - and play jazz!! |
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Inside This Issue
- Interview with Susan Muscarella, Founder of the Jazzschool (Berkeley, CA)
- Jazz Articles
- Back Issues are Here!
- Transcribed Guitar Solo - Rich Dixon
- Photo of the Month - Bryce Canyon Collage
- Newsletter/Contact Info
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jazzView talks with
Susan Muscarella
founder of Jazzschool
The Jazzschool is an innovative music school dedicated to the study and performance of America’s indigenous art form — jazz, and related styles of music from around the world. Founded in 1997, the Jazzschool is now located in the historic Kress Building on the northwest corner of Shattuck and Addison streets, situated in the heart of the burgeoning Downtown Berkeley Arts District. Integrating a unique number of uses complementary to jazz study and performance, the Jazzschool resides in a multidimensional arts community with the Tony Award-winning Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Aurora Theater, the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre in the Nevo Education Center, Capoeira Arts, the Art & Music Room at the Berkeley Public Library and the restaurant, Downtown.
jazzView: Tell us about your background in jazz performance and education.
Susan: First of all, thanks so much for your invitation to participate in this interview for jazzView -- The Visual Jazz Newsletter, Bob. What a brilliant creation!
I began playing the piano when I was eight years old. Fortunately, my first piano teacher improvised for the silent films so she was very supportive of my early interest in jazz and improvisation. I began performing jazz professionally in high school and went on to study composition at UC Berkeley with noted contemporary music composer, Andrew Imbrie. I served as both Associate Director and Director of the UC Berkeley Jazz Ensembles Program from 1975 to 1989, producing the Pacific Coast Collegiate Jazz Festival, the largest collegiate jazz festival in the country at that time. I have recorded two solo albums of original material and have performed at major clubs and festivals throughout the United States and in Japan. Currently, I work "around the clock" as Founder/Director and CEO of the Jazzschool in Berkeley. The highlight of my professional life is an appearance on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on NPR.
jazzView: Where did the idea for Jazzschool originate?
Susan: I founded the Jazzschool in 1997, in part because I felt students needed more opportunities to perform. I was interested in offering a comprehensive, combination music study/performance program, hence the Jazzschool tagline "For Music Study and Performance". By the way, originally the tagline was "For Jazz Study and Performance" but I changed it for two reasons. First, I feel strongly that it's in students' best interest to listen to and study all genres of good music, and I wanted to have the option of offering classes and concerts other than jazz. Second, for some reason unbeknownst to me, many people think the Jazzschool is a school for "jazz dance"! So, I changed the name to include the word "music" in the title.
It was bassist John Wiitala who came up with the one-word name "Jazzschool". My trio was sitting on a plane flying over Japan on tour with Arturo Sandoval batting around ideas for a name that would imply the "one stop shopping for jazz" concept that I had in mind for the school, and after a lot of joking around, John suggested we simply call it the Jazzschool, spelled as one word. I loved this idea! I had been concerned that being in Berkeley, people would confuse us with the great Berklee College of Music in Boston and I couldn't resist "threatening" to call it "The Boston College of Music in Berkeley". Ha ha! Anyway, the name Jazzschool stuck and I have John Wiitala to thank for it.
jazzView: What have been your goals in forming and developing Jazzschool?
Susan: My foremost goal is to provide students with an opportunity to participate in a high quality, comprehensive, yet affordable music program that integrates academic course work with practical application in live performance. The current Jazzschool facility was specially designed to include everything students need to forward their music education - fully equipped classrooms, practice rooms, an intimate performance space, bookstore and café. Students study with a world-renowned faculty of musicians and music educators and have many opportunities to perform throughout the year. Along with their own concert series and many private referrals, they're invited to play at the prestigious Monterey Jazz Festival, Downtown Berkeley Jazz Festival, Live Oak Park and Spice of Life Fairs, Jupiter Beer Garden and also have the opportunity to record on the Jazzschool Records "Rising Stars" label, budget permitting. At some point down the line, I'd like to offer an accredited 4-year program in Jazz Studies. I'll keep you posted on my progress with that!
jazzView: What opportunities and surprises have you encountered along the way?
Susan: The Jazzschool has been a joy to create and grow - even after almost 10 years! The rewards are endless, really. Being exposed to new music and ideas; collaborating with a diverse range of musicians and like-minded music organizations throughout the country; working with a wonderful board of directors; meeting new people and making new friends and the list goes on and on. What is most surprising is that I even enjoy most all of the aspects of fundraising because it allows me to share my passion with others who are equally passionate about jazz and want to support my vision. But "at the end of the day", the biggest thrill for me is working with the students -- watching them grow musically and personally, and seeing the unbounded joy they have for music. I know I speak for our faculty in this regard.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record as the director of a nonprofit, the biggest challenge of course, is finding enough funding to keep the school fiscally sound and accomplish all of the goals I set for it. And like most directors of nonprofits, my vision somehow seems to become more multifaceted with each passing day!
jazzView: What are the key elements that make Jazzschool successful today?
Susan: I think the Jazzschool's success is based on three key elements. First, students have the opportunity to study with a faculty of highly skilled performing and recording artists/educators who have a genuine love for jazz and are inspired by sharing their knowledge of the art form with their students. I like to think of the faculty as the "heart" of the Jazzschool. Second, providing our students with as many opportunities as possible to perform is at the top of the list in terms of priorities. Third, I have the opportunity to work with a top-notch board of directors who not only support and promote the Jazzschool's mission but also put up with all of the limbs I'm continually stepping out on!
jazzView: How does the Jazzschool experience differ from, or complement, what students would get at public or private schools?
Susan: The Jazzschool reaches out to complement music programs at various public and private schools in the Bay Area in various ways. In addition to offering classes and workshops taught by a specialized faculty, we design specific programs and apply for funding from various sources to meet the needs of Bay Area schools' music programs whose music budgets have been cut or even eliminated. For example, we have designed a project funded by Another Planet Entertainment to partner with Berkeley public and private middle schools to offer a yearlong, bi-weekly program of study beginning this fall. Musically inclined, need-based students play in jazz, blues, Latin Jazz, Brazilian and world music ensembles and take classes in Rhythm Studies, Theory and Improvisation, and Jazz History. To maintain good standing in the program, they are required to attend classes on a regular basis, write a "term paper" on a jazz master and attend a specified number of live performances. They are also invited to perform in the Student Performance Series, free to family, friends and the public, each quarter.
jazzView: Who are some of the notable jazz faculty members at Jazzschool?
Susan: It's difficult to know where to start. The Jazzschool has been blessed to have a faculty comprised of the who's who in the Bay Area including Mark Levine, Eddie Marshall, Marcos Silva, Mimi Fox, Frank Martin, Kitty Margolis and Wayne Wallace to name a few. Visiting artists have included Christian McBride, Geoffrey Keezer, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Kurt Elling, SFJAZZ Collective, Allison Miller, Dave Douglas, Russell Ferrante and Dave Weckl among others. Our new artists in residence for 2006 are vocalist Madeline Eastman and pianist Taylor Eigsti! It just doesn't get any better than that and I am truly grateful to have these extraordinary artists and mentors for our students and music community.
jazzView: What's the current jazz scene like in the San Francisco Bay area? Do your students get opportunities to perform locally?
Susan: Berkeley is hopping! The Jazzschool is located in the heart of a burgeoning arts district in Downtown Berkeley and is one of a number of jazz venues all within walking distance of each other. In addition to Jupiter, Anna's Jazz Island, downtown Restaurant, Shattuck Down Low and the Berkeley Public Library, there are other major clubs and arts presenting organizations throughout the Bay Area that present top name artists including Yoshi's, Pearl's, Kimball's (coming soon) and Cal Performances as well as smaller venues that offer exciting cutting edge talent. The Jazzschool's mission includes supporting and promoting student performances by referring our up and coming young students to a number of these venues as well as private events. The Jazzschool also presents "Rising Stars Summer Series" a concert series devoted solely to those students who are hard working, musically gifted and committed to becoming professional musicians. Jazzschool students are featured three times annually in the Student Performance Series at the end of the fall, winter and spring quarters.
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There are few improvisation techniques that can elicit more of that "aha" moment, than a well-placed quote in a solo. But quoting can also sound trite, predictable, overdone, or out of place. What makes the difference?
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Article 21: Making the Most of Sequences
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