Jazz Faculty Spotlight

At New England Conservatory, jazz runs hot in young musicians' veins. It means the blaze of improvisation and individual creativity, the warmth of interaction in small ensembles. Experimentation is encouraged. And that's cool!

This tradition goes back 40 years, when NEC launched the first fully accredited jazz studies program at a music conservatory. In celebrating the 40th anniversary of this creative first, NEC assembles a baker's dozen of NEC's faculty improvisers on the stage of Jordan Hall. These are the artist/teachers who are shaping the next wave of talent to emerge from NEC.

Representing the NEC jazz and Contemporary Improvisation faculties in this concert: Frank Carlberg, piano; Linda Chase, narration, flute; Anthony Coleman, piano; Jorrit Dijkstra, saxophone; George Garzone, saxophone; Tanya Kalmanovitch, viola; Jerry Leake, tabla, udu, voice, percussion; John Lockwood, bass; Cecil McBee, bass; John McNeil, trumpet; Rakalam Bob Moses, drums; Hankus Netsky, piano; Ken Schaphorst, conductor; Ben Schwendener, piano

Plus guest musicians: Brad Barrett, bass; Ariel Friedman, cello; Bob Gay, saxophone; Patrick Kunka, drums; Eric Lane, electronics; Lisa Leake, voice; David McCarroll, violin; Chris Rathbun, bass; Ted Reichman, accordion; Hector Rodriguez, guitar; Phil Scarff, soprano saxophone; Kathryn Schulmeister, bass; Matt Sheens, piano; Stan Strickland, saxophone; Michael Thomas, alto saxophone; James Wylie, saxophone.

Free Improvisation/I Want to Talk about You
Garzone, Lockwood, Moses

Spontaneous Celebratory Other Worldly Sound Prayer by Rakalam Bob Moses
Strickland, Gay, McBee, Moses

Dirty
Coleman, Wylie, Leake, Schulmeister

Close to you Alone by Cecil McBee
Netsky, McBee

Nanotech/How Deep Is the Ocean by John McNeil/Irving Berlin
McNeil, Carlberg

Natraj Duo, Song of the Swan by Phil Scarff/T.K. Ramakrishnan
Scarff, Leake

Atsia traditional song and music from the Ewe people of Ghana
Jeary and Lisa Leake

Glasses/Becoming Gorgeous by Ben Schwendener/Eric Lane
Schwendener, Lane

Tell Me Why I’d Catch My Breath by Tanya Kalmanovitch
Kalmanovitch, Coleman, Reichman

Sonnetchka by Joseph Rumshinsky
Winter Is a Time of Limitation by Linda Chase
Chase, Netsky, Friedman, Rathbun, Leake

De Lachende Dwerg, Een Beetje Zenuwachtig, Rollo II by Misha Mengelberg
Dijkstra, Coleman

Invisible Chair by Ken Schaphorst
McCarroll, Kalmanovitch, Dahlberg, Thomas, Sheens, Rodriguez, Barrett, Kunka