February has been a month of many firsts for us! We've successfully held our first faculty meeting and were able to plan a general outline of our direction in educational and community outreach programs. Stay tuned about these programs via our social networks or by subscribing to our mailing list!
One of our new community outreach programs is a semi-professional community big band that will perform classic and modern jazz repertoire from swing to fusion, SoCal Jazz Academy Big Band (SJABB).
The idea behind this project was to create a platform for our own faculty, seasoned pros and amateur musicians from our community to communicate, learn from each other, and most importantly perform great big band music from swing to fusion and beyond!
We are holding an open house rehearsal on Monday, March 4, 7-9PM at the Lyceum Village and are excited to see such a great response from the community members. So far we've almost filled all sections, but would love to have more trumpets, trombones and saxes. You can RSVP to this rehearsal on our page at Meetup.
SJABB is set to debut on Tuesday, April 30, 7-9PM at the Campus JAX in Newport Beach alongside SoCal Jazz Academy Faculty and Friends in a performance that celebrates International Jazz Day. You can purchase presale tickets at $5 on our Events page until 12PM on April 30. Cover at the door is $10.
After successful launch of our podcast Sketches in Blue on Apple iTunes and Google Podcasts with the help of our sponsor, Tectonic Coffee Company, we held a designer contest that was won by Kostis Pavlou who has designed our new cover! Thank you, Kostis and congratulations again!
Our inaugural episode featured Jazz Chair at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, my alma mater, Grammy-winning jazz tenor saxophonist, Chip McNeill. Our second, and most recent, episode features jazz pianist Chris Reyman, prolific composer, improviser, and Assistant Professor at University of Texas at El Paso. You can check out both episodes on our website at socaljazz.com/pod or by subscribing on Apple iTunes or Google Podcasts. We look forward to getting your feedback and will be happy to consider any sponsorship or guest opportunities. Feel free to send your inquiries to info@socaljazz.com.