Jazz Seminar 2009
"A Focus on Count Basie"
"It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing" – Irving Mills said it, Duke Ellington set it to music, and DoDDS-Europe students will prove the tradition of American jazz is alive and well when DoDDS-E hosts Jazz Seminar 2009 in Heidelberg, Germany, January 11-16. The annual event highlights DoDDS-E's extensive music and arts curriculum for students at the high school level. The 2009 Seminar program will focus on the music of Count Basie.
This year the Big Band Jazz Ensemble will consist of 26 students, and the Jazz Vocal Ensemble will feature eight students from DoDDS-E schools across Europe. Over 115 students from 20 DoDDS-E high schools auditioned for the 34 positions.
Prof. Jiggs Whigham, noted jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and educator will lead the Jazz Seminar ensembles in three performances. Whigham is presently conductor of the BBC Big Band in Great Britain and artistic director of the Berlin Jazz Orchestra. He will be assisted for the five days of instruction, rehearsal and performance by a staff of DoDDS-E music educators. Jazz Seminar students will also work with members of the USAREUR Heidelberg Band, who will conduct sectional training and perform for participants.
This will be the 26th anniversary of Jazz Seminar hosted by DoDDS-E for students interested in learning about and performing the big band sounds of such classic American composers as Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and other jazz greats. Students will intensively study, read, perform and improvise jazz. Seminar activities will culminate in two concerts on military installations in the Heidelberg and Mannheim communities and a public concert at the Portland-Forum Am Herrenberg in Leimen/Heidelberg. The community is invited to attend, and admission is free of charge.
The 2009 Jazz Concert Series includes:
- Thursday, January 15
Heidelberg High School Theater, 1430 - Thursday, January 15
Community Concert at Portland-Forum, Festhallenstrasse 1, Leimen/Heidelberg, 1900 - Friday, January 16
School Concert at Mannheim High School, 1030