Monterey Jazz Festival On Tour - University Musical Society

Monterey JazzFestival on TourfeaturingCécile McLorin Salvant / VocalsBria Skonberg / TrumpetMelissa Aldana / Tenor SaxophoneChristian Sands / Piano and Music DirectorYasushi Nakamura / BassJamison Ross / DrumsSunday Afternoon, April 14, 2019 at 4:00Michigan TheaterAnn Arbor47th Performance of the 140th Annual Season25th Annual Jazz Series

This afternoon’s performance is supported by Louise Taylor.Funded in part by the JazzNet Endowment Fund.Media partnership provided by WEMU 89.1 FM, WRCJ 90.9 FM, WDET 101.9 FM, Ann Arbor’s 107one, andMetro Times.Special thanks to Brendan Asante, Seema Jolly, and the Ann Arbor Public Schools Community Educationand Recreation (Rec & Ed) for their participation in events surrounding this afternoon’s performance.Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour appears by arrangement with The Kurland Agency.In consideration of the artists and the audience, please refrain from the use of electronic devices duringthe performance.The photography, sound recording, or videotaping of this performance is prohibited.

PROGRAMThis afternoon’s program will be announced by the artists from the stage and isperformed without intermission.3

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ARTISTSThe Monterey Jazz Festival (MJF), thelongest continuously running jazz festivalin the world, is pleased to present itsfifth national tour this spring, featuringsome of the most critically acclaimedGrammy-winning and Grammy-nominatedjazz artists of their generation, includingthree winners of the Thelonious MonkInternational Jazz Competition. The MJF onTour 60th Anniversary Celebration featuresa top roster of diverse and internationalmillennial talent and the leaders of jazz’sfuture. In addition to having three uniqueand talented vocalists on the tour, andan equal balance of men and women,this afternoon’s performance will featurerenditions of classic jazz standards,along with originals penned by themembers. Each musician is an outstandingrepresentative of the next generationof jazz artists and educators, each witha close relationship with Monterey thatrepresents both its musical excellenceand its jazz education activities — corecomponents of the Monterey JazzFestival’s mission statement.To celebrate the Festival’s 60thanniversary of its inception in 2018, artisticdirector Tim Jackson put together an allstar band that represents the future ofjazz in a nationwide tour. World-renownedfor its artistic excellence, sophisticatedinformality, and longstanding missionto create and support year-round jazzeducation and performance programs inlocal, regional, national, and internationalvenues, the Monterey Jazz Festival hasstayed true to expanding live performancesof jazz around the country since 2008by presenting national tours that havereached over 100,000 fans in 135 showsacross the US and Canada.The Monterey Jazz Festival haspresented nearly every major jazz star —from Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrongto Esperanza Spalding and TromboneShorty — since it was founded in 1958.Held every third full weekend in Septemberon the Monterey County Fairgrounds, theMonterey Jazz Festival is a three-daycelebration of music, commissioned jazzcompositions, in-depth conversationswith artists, panel discussions, workshops,exhibitions, clinics, and an internationalarray of food, shopping, and festivitiesspread throughout 20 acres.A nonprofit organization, the MontereyJazz Festival now budgets more than 500,000 annually for jazz education.Cutting-edge educational componentsinclude the Jazz in the Schools program;the Festival’s Summer Jazz Camp; theInstrument and Sheet Music Library;the Digital Education Music Project; theMonterey County High School All-StarBands; the national Next Generation JazzOrchestra; and the Next Generation JazzFestival — which draws thousands ofthe most talented young musicians fromacross the country and around the world toMonterey each spring.The Artist-In-Residence Program, akey component of the Monterey JazzFestival’s philosophy of bringing leadingjazz performers to work with studentsthroughout the year, includes theirappearance at the Next GenerationJazz Festival, the Summer Jazz Camp,and the Monterey Jazz Festival, in bothperformance and instruction.A leader in jazz education, the Festivalhas also presented the winning bands fromits high school competition since 1971, andhas showcased talented young musiciansin its all-star student big band, the Next5

Generation Jazz Orchestra. Throughoutthe years, many legendary and influentialartists — including Ray Brown, Ron Carter,Max Roach, Dizzy Gillespie, and BennyGolson — have mentored and performedwith the all-star students, often premieringoriginal works written for the band. Someof the alumni of the group include AmbroseAkinmusire, Joshua Redman, PatriceRushen, Donny McCaslin, Ted Nash, DaveKoz, Eric Marienthal, Gordon Goodwin, LarryGrenadier, and Benny Green.The MJF on Tour 60th AnniversaryCelebration is produced by Danny Melnickfor Absolutely Live Entertainment (ALE),which also produced two previous MJFtours, in 2013 and 2016.One of the most acclaimed vocalists of hergeneration, Cécile McLorin Salvant (vocals)is the winner of the 2010 Thelonious MonkInternational Jazz Competition. Otherhonors include selection for “Jazz Albumof the Year” by the DownBeat InternationalCritics Poll and NPR, as well as “Up-andComing Jazz Artist of the Year” and “TopFemale Vocalist” from the Jazz JournalistsAssociation. Ms. Salvant grew up in abilingual household in Miami, and traveledto Aix-en-Provence to pursue a degree inFrench law while training as a classicaland baroque singer before switching tojazz. “If anyone can extend the lineageof the Big Three — Billie Holiday, SarahVaughan, and Ella Fitzgerald — it is [her],”wrote the New York Times. Her three MackAvenue releases, For One to Love, Dreamsand Daggers, and The Window, each wonGrammy Awards for “Best Jazz VocalAlbum.” Rolling Stone describes her as“.one of the greatest jazz singers of hergeneration, but that label sells her short.”Canadian singer, trumpeter, and songwriterBria Skonberg (trumpet) has been6described as one of the “most versatileand imposing musicians of her generation”by the Wall Street Journal, recognized asone of “25 for the Future” by DownBeatmagazine, and cited as a millennial“shaking up the jazz world” by VanityFair. Signed to Sony Music Masterworks’OKeh Records, Ms. Skonberg releasedher eponymous major label debut in2016, winning a Canadian JUNO Awardand making the Top Five on Billboard jazzcharts. Her many accolades include “BestVocal” and “Best Trumpet” awards fromHot House Jazz magazine, “OutstandingJazz Artist” at the New York BistroAwards, and DownBeat’s Rising Staraward. In addition to performing at jazzfestivals around the world, she is an avideducator and supporter of public schoolopportunities, giving numerous workshopsand concerts for students of all ages.Melissa Aldana (tenor saxophone) was bornin Santiago, Chile, and in 2013, she becamethe first female instrumentalist and the firstSouth American ever to win the TheloniousMonk Competition. Ms. Aldana attendedthe Berklee College of Music, studying withGeorge Garzone, Danilo Pérez, and PatriciaZarate, while hitting the clubs with artistsincluding Greg Osby and George Coleman.She is also a recipient of the Martin E. SegalAward from Jazz at Lincoln Center anda double recipient of the Altazor Award,Chile’s highly prestigious national artsprize. She has released four albums as aleader, including her latest, Back Home, onConcord. Ms. Aldana “ balances technicalbravura with musical depth, a hallmark ofher playing,” writes the Chicago Tribune.Christian Sands (piano and music director)is a five-time Grammy nominee. As achild in New Haven, Connecticut, hebegan music classes at age four, started

playing professionally at the age of 10,and received his bachelor’s and master’sdegrees from the Manhattan School ofMusic. A protégé of Dr. Billy Taylor, Mr.Sands began a six-year association withbassist Christian McBride in 2009, touringjazz festivals and clubs worldwide. Mr.Sands has followed in Dr. Taylor’s footstepsby encouraging, inspiring, and advocatingfor the preservation and history of jazz,teaching young people as well as adultaudiences. In 2015, he started the JazzKids of Montmartre in Copenhagen,Denmark; he also teaches at Jazz in July,where he is an alumnus. His debut for MackAvenue, Reach, “showcases his significanttalents as an imaginative composer, aclever arranger, and a skillful technicianwith a fluid style,” wrote DownBeat. Hisnew Mack Avenue release, Facing Dragons,was released on September 21, 2018,and was reviewed by NPR as a “.crisplyassured new album.that expresses newideas without abandoning the old.”Yasushi Nakamura (bass) is one of themost commanding voices on bass today.Born in Tokyo, Mr. Nakamura moved toSeattle, Washington, eventually receivinghis bachelor’s degree in jazz performancefrom Berklee College of Music, and anartist diploma from The Juilliard School.He has recorded or performed aroundthe world with Wynton Marsalis, WycliffeGordon, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Hank Jones, DaveDouglas, and many others. As an educator,Mr. Nakamura has led master classes andsummer intensive courses at Juilliard, TheNew School, Koyo Conservatory, OsakaGeidai, and Savannah Swing Central. Hemade his highly anticipated album debutas leader in late 2016 with A LifetimeTreasure, followed by Hometown in 2017.Grammy-nominated drummer and vocalistJamison Ross (drums) won the TheloniousMonk International Jazz Competition in2012. A Jacksonville, Florida native, Mr.Ross received his BA in jazz studies fromFlorida State University and his master’sfrom the University of New Orleans. He hastoured internationally and recorded with avariety of esteemed jazz artists, includingCécile McLorin Salvant, Jonathan Batiste,Dr. John, Jon Cleary, Christian McBride, andCarmen Lundy. His debut album, Jamison,was released on Concord Records and wasnominated for a “Best Jazz Vocal Album”Grammy Award in 2015. He released hislatest album, All for One, in January 2018.UMS ARCHIVESThis afternoon’s performance marks Cécile McLorin Salvant’s secondappearance under UMS auspices, following her UMS debut in February 2017 atthe Michigan Theater in Jelly and George with pianists Aaron Diehl and AdamBirnbaum. UMS welcomes Christian Sands, Bria Skonberg, Melissa Aldana,Yasushi Nakamura, and Jamison Ross, who make their UMS debuts today.7

THIS AFTERNOON’S VICTORS FOR UMS:Louise Taylor—JazzNet Endowment FundSupporters of this afternoon’s performance of Monterey Jazz Festivalon Tour.M AY W E A L S O R E C O M M E N D . . .4/254/26–27Paul LewisMartha Graham Dance CompanyTickets available at www.ums.org.O N T H E E D U C AT I O N H O R I Z O N . . .4/26Post-Performance Q&A: Martha Graham Dance Company(Power Center)Must have a ticket to that evening’s performance bythe Martha Graham Dance Company to attend.4/27You Can Dance: Martha Graham Dance Company(Ann Arbor Y, 400 W. Washington Street, 1:30 pm)Educational events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.Explore the 2019/20 UMS season online at www.ums.org.

Jazz Festival, the Summer Jazz Camp, and the Monterey Jazz Festival, in both performance and instruction. A leader in jazz education, the Festival has also presented the winning bands from its high school competition since 1971, and . Grammy Awards for “Best Jazz Vocal