New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz) The Thelonious Monk
Institute of Jazz, in conjunction with Newark Public Schools, will present high school jazz combos from Arts High, Barringer, East Side, and Science Park in concert with internationally acclaimed jazz artists Jon Faddis and Tim Green on June 21 at Newark's Horizon Theater located in NJPAC's Center for Arts Education. The free concert, featuring three generations of jazz artists, is made possible by The Prudential Foundation, which funds the Institute's year-round jazz education programs at the four schools. Faddis and Green will serve as artists-in-residence during the three days leading up to the concert. The event marks the culmination of the Institute's 2012-2013 Jazz in the Classroom program, which provides students with free in-school and after-school music instruction plus training in improvisation, theory, composition, sight reading, and other elements essential to the development of young musicians.
"Thanks to the Monk Institute, we get to work with Mr. Green again, as well as the great Jon Faddis. Incredible."
Thelonious Monk, Jr., Chairman of the Institute's Board of Trustees and son of legendary jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk, will be on hand to introduce the concert and talk about the program. "The concert will feature some of the very best music students in Newark," he said. "Seeing and hearing these extraordinary teenagers play this music at a level that so belies their years is heartening; they've come a long way since we introduced our program in the city a year and a half ago."
The Barringer Sextet, under the direction of trumpeter Greg Sneed, is composed of trumpeters Risardo Lupi, 18, and
Hector Umpieere, 16; alto saxophonist Jaileen Santiago, 14; pianist Marquise Wilson, 18; bassist Kristina Sanchez-Cartagena, 16; and drummer Abner Santiago, 18.
The East Side Quintet, under the direction of saxophonist Ariel Ocasio, is composed of trombonist Kelsey Rodriguez, 17; guitarist Emmanuel Torres, 16; pianist Joe Mattina, 17; bassist
David Barbosa, 18; and drummer
Lucas Oliveira, 16.
The Science Park Septet, under the direction of saxophonist
Mario McMiller, is composed of trumpeter Taheir Barnes, 16; alto saxophonist Bryan Sosa, 17; bass clarinetist Jaysen Bazile, 17; tenor saxophonist Jacob Martinez 17; pianist Luis Medina, 13; bassist Khaliah Peterson, 18; and drummers Adriana Freitas, 13, and Jonathan Isaacs, 18.
The Arts High Sextet, under the direction of flutist Lawrence Liggins and saxophonist Mike Lee, is composed of trumpeter Keivon Hemmings, 18; saxophonist Kimberley Garcia, 18; guitarist Rahsaan Pickett, 17; pianist Galo Inga, 16; bassist Joseph Quiles, 17; and drummer Sabrina Dias, 18. Students at Arts High, the country's oldest public performing arts high school, participate in the Institute's
National Performing Arts High School Jazz Program, which helps prepare talented music students in nine cities across the nation to become jazz's next generation. "We've had a great year," said Pickett who with band mates Quiles and Dias recently performed at an
Institute concert at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. along with guest artist Tim Green. "Thanks to the Monk Institute, we get to work with Mr. Green again, as well as the great Jon Faddis. Incredible."
The concert will be held on Friday, June 21st, beginning at 7:30 PM at Newark's Horizon Theater located in NJPAC's Center for Arts Education (24 Rector St.). Free and open to the public, the concert will feature an evening of standards, jazz classics, and contemporary jazz, programmed for an audience of all ages, including the young performers' peers.
"As young people are so influenced by kids their own age, who better to expose them to this great American art form than those of their own generation?" added Monk. "And with Jon Faddis and Tim Green performing alongside them, it's truly an extraordinary and rare opportunity for everyone to see and hear the torch being passed down among three generations."
