One question was how much the new student-run Cafe 939 would be an educational tool for Berklee College of Music and how much it would simply become another mostly student performance space, albeit with coffee and cookies. The school is always dancing on the line between classroom and public performance, and when it's successful, it's often because working professionals don't treat the students as students but as fellow musicians. That sort of collaboration 
is on the menu when the Marsalis Berklee Jams series kicks off programming at the club April 2-3. Marsalis Music recording artists the Miguel Zenon Quartet will perform short sets, followed by jam sessions open to participation by all Berklee students. Tix are $15. The complete press release is after the jump. Berklee alum Zenon, not coincidentally, has a new album, "Awake," out April 1. Zenon podcast here.
MARSALIS MUSIC AND BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC
JOIN FORCES FOR INNOVATIVE PERFORMANCE / EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP
MARSALIS BERKLEE JAMS TO LAUNCH WITH
MIGUEL ZENÓN QUARTET AT BERKLEE’S CAFE 939, APRIL 2-3
BOSTON, March 18, 2008 – Marsalis Music, the Cambridge, MA-based record label founded by Branford Marsalis, has joined forces with Berklee College of Music to bring Marsalis Jams to Cafe 939, Berklee’s student-run, all-ages, music venue and coffee house. The program, an innovative combination of concert performance, jam session, and classroom interaction will be presented periodically during the college’s academic semesters as Marsalis Berklee Jams. Launching the initiative will be the quartet of Berklee alumnus and Marsalis Music artist Miguel Zenòn on April 2-3. These will be the initial concerts in the Cafe 939 space. Tickets for the evening programs are $15.00, and are on sale now on ticketmaster.com, and at the Berklee Performance Center box office, 136 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston.
The Miguel Zenón Quartet will launch Marsalis Berklee Jams with two public events featuring brief sets by the quartet that will segue into jam sessions, on Wednesday April 2, and Thursday, April 3, at 8:00 p.m. Participation in the jam sessions will be open to all Berklee students. During the day, April 2-3, the quartet will present two master classes open to Berklee students only.
“This is 180 degrees from the typical jazz residency,” notes Marsalis Music Creative Consultant and Marsalis Jams Director Bob Blumenthal. “Instead of having established individual musicians perform with student ensembles, Marsalis Berklee Jams allows music students to perform with and learn from working bands. While the program is a proven success in a wide range of high school and college settings, the degree of student and faculty talent and commitment at Berklee will allow us to take both the educational and performance components of the Jams to another level.”
Marsalis Jams was conceived by Branford Marsalis as an initiative to provide meaningful interaction between established musical ensembles and dedicated student musicians at the high school and college levels. These consist of mini-residencies that include classroom interaction and culminate in performance/jam sessions in which the visiting band follows an opening set of its own music by inviting student musicians on stage to play. Marsalis Jams provides a rare opportunity for students to play with working groups and opens a window into the music’s creative process for members of the audience. Since 2003, the program has been successfully presented in colleges and high schools in Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Texas.
The Miguel Zenòn Quartet, which won raves from students, educators, and listeners when it brought Marsalis Jams to two Miami high schools in 2006, is one of the most impressive ensembles to emerge in the jazz world in the past decade. It is led by award-winning alto saxophonist/composer Miguel Zenòn, voted Best New Artist of 2006 in the JazzTimes Critics Poll and a multiple winner of the Rising Star award for alto saxophonists in the Down Beat Critics Poll. Zenón’s Quartet also features pianist Luis Perdomo, bassist Hans Glawischnig, and drummer Henry Cole. The Quartet’s visit to Zenón’s alma mater coincides with the April 1 release of his third Marsalis Music album, Awake, in which his band is augmented on some tracks by a string quartet and three horns.
The Miguel Zenón Quartet will return to Boston for a full concert performance of the music from Awake on Thursday, May 1 at the Jorge Hernandez Cultural Center, 85 West Newton Street, South End, Boston. Ticket information is available at www.ciaboston.org and/or 617-92701707
Comments