Jazz40

40 Years of Jazz at NEC

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, to 1969, when NEC launched the first fully accredited jazz studies program at a music conservatory. In celebrating the 40th anniversary of this creative first, NEC dips into the past, present, and future, with concerts in Boston and New York.

For updates on NEC's Jazz40 concerts, bookmark this page, signup for NEC e-mail news, follow us at twitter.com/necmusic, or become a fan of facebook.com/necjazz.

Jazz40 NYC events
March 2010

NEC dips into the past, present, and future, with a week of club dates in New York, March 20–27. A similar series of club appearances heated up Boston's jazz clubs back in October.

2010-03-20 Cornelia Street Café
Anthony Coleman, Jeremy Udden's Plainville

2010-03-21 Jazz at Lincoln Center
Jazz panel with David Baker, Cameron Brown, Stanton Davis, Jerome Harris, Ingrid Monson, Ken Schaphorst, Gunther Schuller, Ben Schwendener

2010-03-21 Cornelia Street Café
André Matos's Quare

2010-03-22 55 Bar
The Public Option (Jason Palmer), Noah Preminger Quartet

2010-03-23 The Jazz Standard
Darcy James Argue's Secret Society

2010-03-24 The Jazz Standard
All-star faculty ensemble, Marty Ehrlich Quartet

2010-03-25 Douglass Street Music Collective
The New Mellow Edwards, alumni jam session

2010-03-26 Joe's Pub
Vocalist showcase

2010-03-26 Cornelia Street Café
John McNeil, Bill McHenry Quartet

2010-03-27 B.B. King's
NEC jazz stars including singers Dominique Eade, Sarah Jarosz; pianists Ran Blake, John Medeski, Bernie Worrell; drummer Anton Fig; Lake Street Dive

Jazz40 upcoming events at NEC

After an intense October week of concerts that concluded with a sold-out Wayne Shorter show in Jordan Hall, we invite you to come back to NEC for these upcoming concerts from the jazz and Contemporary Improvisation departments.

2010-02-01 Jason Moran piano trio masterclass
2010-02-01 Luis Bonilla masterclass
2010-02-01 Jazz faculty spotlight concert
2010-02-02 Jason Moran small ensemble masterclass
2010-02-04 Music of Jason Moran
2010-02-17 Fred Hersch

Pierce Jazz Series
Early-evening series moves to NEC's newest performance space, Pierce Hall, with many dates this spring:
2010-04-05 Pierce Jazz Series
2010-04-06 Pierce Jazz Series
2010-04-13 Pierce Jazz Series
2010-04-19 Pierce Jazz Series
2010-04-20 Pierce Jazz Series
2010-04-21 Pierce Jazz Series
2010-04-22 Pierce Jazz Series
2010-04-27 Pierce Jazz Series
2010-04-28 Pierce Jazz Series
2010-04-29 Pierce Jazz Series
2010-05-03 Pierce Jazz Series
2010-05-05 Pierce Jazz Series

more listings to come

Wayne Shorter at NEC

The Wayne Shorter Quartet took to the stage of NEC's Jordan Hall on October 24, 2009, joining forces with the NEC Philharmonia, conducted by Stanford and Norma Jean Calderwood Director of Orchestras Hugh Wolff. This video captures their performance of Prometheus Unbound, a reinterpretation of the track Capricorn II from Shorter's 2003 Verve album Alegría.

Listen to NEC jazz

Now available at CD Baby: Artifacts, a commemorative recording of great performances from 40 years of jazz at NEC! Featuring Carl Atkins, Ran Blake, Bob Brookmeyer, Jaki Byard, Dominique Eade, George Garzone, Jimmy Giuffre, Steve Lacy, John Lockwood, Rakalam Bob Moses, George Russell, Ken Schaphorst, Gunther Schuller, and NEC's many talented jazz students of yesterday and today.

Available for online purchase as download or physical CD.

Download a free sample MP3 track here: Ken Schaphorst's Making Lunch performed by the NEC Jazz Orchestra. Right click / "save as" on this link to download the MP3 track directly to your computer.

NEC Jazz in the media

2009-10-21 The Boston Herald
"Hot and Cool trumpets NEC's jazz odyssey"

October 2009 Down Beat magazine feature story covers the NEC jazz program’s
“40 years of individual expression”

October 2009 Jazz Times - Jazz Education Guide
”A Tradition of Innovation: NEC celebrates four decades of groundbreaking jazz education”

2009-09-14 The Boston Globe
“Toasting its unique niche: NEC marks 40 years of jazz education”

Sponsors

For information on how you can support jazz at NEC, please read about sponsorship opportunities or contact Don Jones (617-585-1155).

Study jazz at NEC

• Explore College jazz studies at NEC.
• Explore College Contemporary Improvisation studies at NEC.
• Explore Preparatory jazz studies at NEC.
• Explore Continuing Education jazz and Contemporary Improvisation studies at NEC, including Certificate program. Play side by side with professional musicians!

More on jazz and NEC

NEC jazz musicians have received many awards and honors, including Grammy Awards, MacArthur Fellowships, the Rome Prize, and being named NEA Jazz Masters.

Jazz conversation with NEC faculty Ken Schaphorst, David Zoffer, Hankus Netsky.

2010-02-03