The snow might still be on the ground and a frosty chill in the air, but we’re blazin’ in preparation for two more excellent camps this summer.
The dates are solid: Cool at the Lake, at Bjorklunden, our favorite Wisconsin resort, will run from July 11-16. Then we pack up and move east for Jazz at Naz (July 25-30) once again commandeering the fabulous facilities of Nazareth College in Rochester, NY.
Both 2010 camps will feature new faculty. While the incomparable Janet Planet will still be sticking her fingers in campers’ mouths to coax out perfect notes at Bjorklunden, Jazz at Naz will feature the outstanding Carolyn Leonhart, one of the finest jazz vocalists working in NYC today and Steely Dan’s favorite backup singer for the past 14 years (she’s still catching her breath from the band’s fabulous 2009 Rent Party tour).
There will also be fresh young faces behind the drum sets at both camps. In Wisconsin, it’s a father-and-child reunion, uniting talented young Zach Harmon with daddy John in the faculty rhythm section. Zach is a graduate of USC and the Thelonious Monk Institute and is currently tearing up the LA jazz world with drums and percussion like they’ve never heard out there before. You may have caught him touring with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, or may have heard him on tabla on Terence Blanchard’s Grammy-winning A Tale of God’s Will.
In Rochester, the drum-faculty chair will be occupied by one of the hottest and most in-demand young drummers in NYC, Ted Poor, for whom the Rochester camp is kind of a homecoming as well. In 2003, Ted, who was born in nearby Honeoye Falls, graduated from the Eastman School of Music, released his first CD, and headed for NYC, where the jazz world was welcoming and work has been plentiful. He regularly accompanies Grammy-winning trumpeter Cuong Vu and monster guitarist Ben Monder, and has worked with a wide range of New York greats, including Kurt Rosenwinkel, Chris Potter, Donny McCaslin and Maria Schneider.
And never fear–camper favorites return as well. The legendary Gene Bertoncini, monster bassist-composer-teacher Ike Sturm, and jazz raconteur Tom Hampson will be holding forth in both states. Jazz at Naz faculty will feature the incredible Dariusz Terefenko on piano; the jazziest guy in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Mark Kellogg, on trombone; the incredibly busy Clay Jenkins on trumpet; Nazareth’s own Kristen Shiner-McGuire doing her inimitable Rhythming session every morning; and the incredibly underappreciated Jim Doser on sax.
In Wisconsin, University of Minnesota jazz chair Dean Sorenson will be returning on trombone, Mike Hale will once again be helping trumpeters rise to the next level and coaching the big band; and the always innovative Tom Washatka will be coaching sax players and a combo. Vocalists’ best friend and accompanist Rod Blumenau will return on piano and occasional honking sax.
And against everyone’s advice, Fred Sturm will still take that creaky old valve trombone out of its dusty case and try to blow at least a few good notes with the big band.
As always, the whole 2010 story is available here. We look forward to seeing you in July.
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