Last year a number of professional jazz musicians established the Jazz Mentors Foundation based in Salt Lake City. The purpose of this new non-profit is to encourage jr. high, high school, and university band students to appreciate and learn to play jazz music, to encourage the appreciation of jazz music in the community, and to provide student musicians with opportunities to participate in free clinics so they can learn from a variety of nationally recognized jazz musicians. After each clinic, there is a concert held and students who participate can attend the concert free of charge. There have been a number of clinics held throughout the school year and Matthew has attended all of them, finding some more helpful than others depending on who the visiting clinician is and what instrument is their specialty.
This evening’s clinic and concert is one Matthew has long anticipated as the visiting musician was Benny Benack, a trumpet player and vocalist who happens to be Matthew’s favorite jazz musician at this point. He was extra excited because his jazz band was invited to provide the lobby music for the event. Not only did Matthew get to show off his skills a bit, but he also participated in the clinic, got to meet Benny and got to play with him. He was super excited about the whole thing and came home grinning from ear to ear!
No comments:
Post a Comment