Jazzing Up America

Sasha Stone

Mirror contributing writer

   For the second year in a row, Jazz America, The Los Angeles Jazz Society, Bill Green Mentor Program and the Skirball Cultural Center join hands to host a free master class for promising young students in hopes of preserving the American art form of Jazz. These classes culminate in what promises to be a lively concert featuring students and the masters alike, at the Skirball Cultural Center on August 7.

   Jazz America was created under the supervision and artistic direction of Jazz veteran and educator Buddy Collette to provide opportunities for gifted musicians. Its Master Class curriculum was developed with direct input from school music teachers and administrators who identified the specific areas most in need of development in their students, such as improvisational skills, ensemble leadership and a better overall understanding of the Jazz idiom.

   The Los Angeles Jazz Society, dedicated to promoting, honoring, and celebrating the American Jazz tradition, offers up the Bill Green Mentor program, in which selected high school music students each receives private instruction and group workshops with renowned jazz musicians/educators.

   Together, these organization expose young people to an art form that is both vibrantly alive and uniquely American.