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Jazz On Campus
School Notes
New Berklee
Compilation
Disc Boasts
International Cast
Students from overseas prevail on the
recent CD Common Ground, the fifth in a
series of yearly jazz compilation albums
produced by Berklee College of Music
and its most internationally focused to
date. At least one administrator at the
Boston school believes this trend foreshadows
the future of jazz.
“It is now possible to live in a faraway
place and be as knowledgeable as some
guy going to jazz clubs in New York
every night,” said Larry Monroe,
Berklee’s associate vice president for
international programs. While innovators
throughout jazz history have come mostly
from the United States, Monroe said,
“that’s not going to be true any longer. It’s
going to be more and more international.”
The school’s student-operated imprint,
Jazz Revelation Records, released
Common Ground. Students from throughout
Europe and Asia serve as leaders on eight of the
10 tracks. After alto saxophonist Pat Carroll’s
boppish opener, “Mighty Aphrodite,” the other
groups follow a course reflecting a wider spectrum
of influences.
Jani Moder, a guitarist from Slovenia, and
South Korean bassist Hyunwoo Han duet on
“Out Of The Blue,” which features shifting tempos
and rhythms. Pianist Alejandro Carrasco’s
“JPG” imports a flamenco influence from his
native Spain, and Japanese pianist Manami
Morita assimilates gospel music on “Going
Home.”
“It’s a snapshot of what’s going on today:
What people do, what people write and what
people listen to,” said Dan Pugach, an Israeli
drummer who appears on three tracks.
“There’s European jazz, there’s Latin, there’s
everything.”
Pugach, 25, typifies the album’s melting pot.
Nominally a bop drummer, he played timbales
in a salsa band in Tel Aviv and spent three
months studying the pandeiro, a Brazilian tambourine,
in Rio de Janeiro. “Today it’s becoming
more important to be able to play other
styles really well,” he said, “and to bring your
own flavor to the music.”
While more than 20 percent of Berklee’s student
body comes from abroad, the impact on
Jazz Revelation’s catalog is recent.
“We haven’t had anything so diverse as far
as the bandleaders coming from so many different
places,” said Michael Borgida, 27, the
label’s student president since 2007.
PHIL FARNSWORTH
Dan Pugach
The absence of non-Western instruments
like the tabla or oud hardly diminishes the
album’s intent.
“It’s more about the players than the instruments,”
Borgida said. “There are so many students
from different countries that have different
things to offer that you pick up so much by listening
to other musicians and playing with other
musicians.”
Jazz Revelation received submissions from
roughly 60 students, who each recorded a demo
of three original compositions. Common
Ground was recorded over five sessions in
February at Mix One Studios in Boston. The
label celebrated the release of the album in April
at Regattabar at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge,
Mass., and the Berklee Performance Center in
Boston. The label booked promotional dates
throughout the summer.
Berklee established Jazz Revelation
Records in 2003. It followed Heavy Rotation
Records, a pop music imprint the school
founded in 1995. Projects like the record labels
and the school’s International Folk Music
Festival—an annual spring concert featuring
students and faculty from around the world—
also serve a social purpose.
“The past four years have been no joy ride
politically in the United States and around
the world,” said Kevin McCluskey, Jazz
Revelation’s faculty advisor and executive producer.
“The fact that these kids from different
countries can get together and not shoot each
other was part of our thinking, as well.”
—Eric Fine
Standing: Dominick Farinacci (left), Yasushi
Nakamura and Ron Blake; Seated: Carl Allen
(left) and Adam Birnbaum
Juilliard Tours Asia: The Juilliard Jazz
All-Stars began a tour of South Korea and
Japan on July 23. The band started its tour
with performances and workshops at
Yonsei University and Myongii College in
Seoul, South Korea, before visiting Tokyo,
Osaka and Shizuoka, Japan. It planned on
concluding the tour with a performance at
the Imperial Hotel World Jazz Festival in
Osaka on Aug. 16. Details: juilliard.edu
Golson Masters Harvard: Benny Golson
has been named the 2008 Harvard
University Jazz Master in Residence. The
saxophonist has also accepted a commission
to write a new version of his “I
Remember Clifford” for the 38-piece
Harvard Wind Ensemble.
Details: fas.harvard.edu
CalArts Records: California Institute of
the Arts released its 19th annual CD in
association with Capitol Records. CalArts
Jazz 2008 features 11 compositions from
the school’s student musicians.
Details: calarts.edu
Florida Hosts Composers: The second
annual International Jazz Composers’
Symposium was held from June 12–14 at
the University of South Florida in Tampa.
More than 80 composers hosted workshops,
concerts and panel discussions.
Michael LeBrun received the best small
group composition prize for his “Jambo”
and Lars Møller’s “Folk Song #1” was
named best big band composition.
Details: arts.usf.edu
Oberlin Breaks Ground: Oberlin Conservatory
held a groundbreaking ceremony
on June 7 to begin construction on the
Phyllis Litoff Building, which will house the
Jim and Susan Neumann Jazz Collection.
Details: oberlin.edu
Yale Scores Grant: The Yale University
library received a $294,000 grant from the
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support
Yale’s Oral History American Music project.
Details: yale.edu
92 DOWNBEAT September 2008