This 10th year we have moved the event to the Paramount Theatre to accommodate everyone who would like to attend.  Get your tickets early and reserve your seat here:  www.mlktribute.com

Sunday, January 15, 2012 at 7pm

Featuring:

Mavis Staples

Poplyfe

Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir

Youth Speaks

Oakland Children’s Community Choir

Oakland Jazz Workshops

Telll a friend, help us sell out this event, the biggest musical tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Bay Area!

more info:

call:  510-287-8880

email:  info@livingjazz.org

Save-the-date NEXT JAZZ CAMP WEST:  June 23 – June 30 2012

an amazing year of growth and change with you!

Piedmont Piano Co., 1728 San Pablo Ave., Oakland • www.piedmontpiano.com

This will be an evening of celebration, dancing, enjoying great friends, eating yummy food
and toasting to the future of Living Jazz

Our Entire Living Jazz Community is invited • All Ages are Welcome!

$45 per person (includes dance lesson, food and wine)

This Living Jazz fundraising event will help us fulfill our mission of building community, cultivating creativity, and enriching lives through the love of jazz.

TIX: Brown Paper Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ 800-838-3006
For more info: 510-287-8880

Save-the-date NEXT JAZZ CAMP WEST:  June 23 – June 30 2012

It seems that lots of folks I know
are busy rushing to and fro
This being in a constant hurry
can lead to anxiousness and worry
Never slow and always quick
might even make a person sick
The stresses that this pace is causing
could be decreased by merely…pausing

(These thoughts may not apply to you
you’ll sense if they are ringing true
If you’ve no trouble saying “halt”
you’ll take them with a grain of salt)

In these next lines I’d like to make
a case for stopping for a break
It doesn’t have to be that long
you could just stop to sing a song
One slow breath in, one slow breath out
might help to turn your mood about
(You’re getting skeptical, I fear
stop and take a deep breath here)

We all get angry, that’s a fact
stop. Count to ten before you act
To sense your life and the beauty in it
you’ll need to pause at least a minute
A longer pause has greater power
what if you stopped for one full hour?
Our ancestors were wise, I’d say
they paused upon the Sabbath day

Nature’s wonder can be seen
while pausing from your day’s routine
Like buds in spring and leaves in fall
while pausing from your cell phone call
And chirping birds amidst the trees
while pausing from your DVDs
Or ocean tides that flow and ebb
while pausing from the world wide web

If interactions cause frustration
take some time for contemplation
If your life’s a complex mess
and every choice you second guess
a time out for a short retreat
may make things seem more clear and sweet
You might attempt a break quite radical
your pause could be a year’s sabbatical

You know, it actually is quite healing
to stop and feel what you are feeling
To live within a deeper layer
try using pausing time for prayer
A short break from an urgent goal
might reconnect you to your soul
Can you still sense the inspiration
you tasted on your last vacation?

Ahhh, to stop and smell the rose
and bliss, when tired, to stop and doze
There is so much that you can glean
from all the space that’s in between
When margins in your life are wide
you take its challenges in stride
When margins in your life are tight
each challenge makes you want to fight

I hereby grant you full permission
to schedule in an intermission!

Save-the-date NEXT JAZZ CAMP WEST:  June 23 – June 30 2012

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My personal story by Kyle Blase

I have always felt my journey as a musician started at Jazz Camp West.  Since 2002, where I received a scholarship to attend, I haven’t missed a single one. When I first arrived I thought I knew what music was, that I owned the music and was in control of it. I was quickly broken down with positive and honest critiques and learned, with some hard lessons, that it was about the sound first and not always about me.  Then teachers like Faye Carol and Kellye Gray picked me up out of the dis pare of my first Jazz Camp Wednesday and told me I could sing.  I realized that this was the first time anyone had ever said this to me. I felt the love and I was hooked.

Jazz Camp is so intense and hands on that a week at camp is like a year of practice. If you allow yourself to grow in that week the growth is often astronomical. The connections with the jazz community I have made are priceless and I treasure them so much. Almost all my friendships in life have been forged at Jazz Camp and I always find myself counting the months and days until I can go back. For me Jazz Camp is real life and the rest of it all is waiting in a metaphorical train station just to get back.

My life has only improved since first going to Camp.  I have become a better singer, flutist, guitar player and teacher because of my timethere.  I have also picked some new things up along the way, Beat Boxing, Salsa Dancing, Hand Percussion, Vocal Percussion, Body Percussion, Looping, Steel Pans, Samba Rhythms, how to count in a band, having good stage presence,  and much much more with the countless classes I have taken over the years.

Currently I teach to thousands of little kids in dozens of schools around the Bay every week with a business I own with Denise Blase, I teach beginning and intermediate guitar and voice privately, I am Faculty and Production Manager at Jam Camp West, I am Production Manger at Jazz Camp West, I
am co-producer and founder of Jazz Search West, from time to time I produce and book shows and I have a healthy gigging life. I don’t kid myself to think I have accomplished this all on my own. I know that Jazz Camp and Living Jazz has had a profound impact on me and I wouldn’t be the person I am today with it…

Come say hi to me this Monday August 22nd at Yoshis where I am producing the “Faye, Gray and Washington” show…

In love, Kyle

Save-the-date NEXT JAZZ CAMP WEST:  June 23 – June 30 2012

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For the first time ever, Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, under the direction of the phenomenal Terrance Kelly (who has been teaching at JCW for over 26 years!) is hosting open rehearsals for the community.  Come warm up, sing and eat some home-baked goodies with the choir.  Suggested donation is $10 with all proceeds going towards the choir scholarship fund.

Mark your calendars for the 3 days scheduled so far:  Aug 15, Sept 19 & Oct 10.

This will be tons of fun, don’t miss it!

Save-the-date NEXT JAZZ CAMP WEST:  June 23 – June 30 2012

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It’s hard to put my feelings about Jazz Camp West into words, so they inevitably come out as tears every year when I thank Stacey at the end of the week – Jazz Camp West means that much to me.

It’s truly amazing how one week can have such a profound impact on the rest of my life. I don’t think a week goes by when I don’t reference JCW in a conversation. I’ve been a Jazz Camper since 2006, and the one time I missed camp I felt such a huge gap in my year that I made a vow to do everything in my power to get myself to camp from then on. I’m incredibly grateful for the generous scholarship fund, which has allowed me to attend more than once.

Not only do I always learn a ton from the classes, but being immersed in such a loving, supportive community for the week reminds me of how important my music is to me, and charges my batteries for the coming year. It can be hard to stay energized when the “regular world” is, shall we say, less than supportive. My week at JCW winds me up to keep the momentum going through the long months between camps.

Jazz Camp helped me develop the confidence to write my first songs, to produce my first CD, and to book my first comedy showcase. Every year my week at camp pushes me to a new level. And because I go every year, and the week is so branded on my memory, JCW acts an incredible marker, helping me see how far I’ve come as a performer and musician since previous years.

Thanks to Jazz Camp I’ve also developed a community of music friends outside of camp, which is a huge part of keeping the creative fires burning during the rest of the year.

I heard about Jazz Camp long before I ever registered as a camper. I remember feeling intimidated by the info on the website, afraid that the atmosphere would be competitive. It took years before I finally signed up. Now I wish I hadn’t waited. There’s no way a brochure or website can possibly communicate the family feeling at camp. It’s so much more than a place to work on your music chops – Jazz Camp West truly is a big, warm, loving family.

Thank you, Jazz Camp!

Melissa

Melissa Dinwiddie is an Artist, Musician and Inspirationalist, who helps people to live awesome, creative lives. She released her first CD, Online Dating Blues, in 2009, and is revving up for her second album of original tunes, performed with her ukulele.

To see Melissa’s art, see performance clips and learn about her coaching services, please visit melissadinwiddie.com

Save-the-date NEXT JAZZ CAMP WEST:  June 23 – June 30 2012

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The Cressman sisters, Julianna & Natalie, grew up at Jazz Camp, literally. Their parents, Jeff & Sandy, (trombonist and vocalist and also sound engineers at camp) have brought daughter to camp since they were infants. It is exciting to see how they progress every year and how they have blossomed as musicians, dancers and wonderful young women.

Below is last year’s duet by the Cressman sisters:

For more about the amazing Cressman family please visit: www.cressmanmusic.com

See you all at camp in just 1 short week!

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Jazz Camp Faculty Artist Spotlight

This week we’d like to highlight this year’s Vocal Intensive Instructor, the great jazz vocalist Anita Wardell.

Bebop pioneer, Mark Murphy, proclaimed Anita, “a gift from Australia”, adding “What hits me, is how expressive her ballad singing is. Then she has the courage to scat a ballad or two, not unlike a young lady disciple of the Ben Webster school. Singer Norma Winstone praised her “unexpected vulnerability, which makes her reading of the ballads both beautiful and touching. Her honesty shines in this well-chosen collection of songs.”

Anita Wardell’s singing is exciting and breathtaking. She is noted for her mesmerizing and captivating vocal improvisations and vocalese lyrics to instrumental solos. Anita is a musician who uses the voice as her instrument, displaying precision and agility, mixed with heartfelt emotion.

We are so thrilled to have Anita join us this year as our Vocal Intensive Instructor.

Anita LIVE at the Blue Brass:

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Jazz Camp Faculty Artist Spotlight

This week we’d like to highlight this year’s Afro-Cuban Dance Instructor, Silfredo La O Vigo.

Silfredo La O Vigo is a professional dancer in the Afro-Cuban and Haitian tradition, as well as popular Latin and modern dance. He is a graduate of the National School of Art in Havana, Cuba, where he obtained a B.A. in Modern Dance and Afro-Cuban Dance. He toured professionally with Cutumba: Ballet Folklorico Afro-Cubano for five years and with the modern dance company ODC San Francisco from 2001 to 2003. He now resides in San Diego and currently teaches at Palomar College as a Dance Professor. He is also the Musical Director of the Palomar College Drum and Dance Ensemble.

We are thrilled to have him on our Jazz Camp West 2011 Faculty roster!

In addition to being an accomplished dancer and instructor, Silfredo La O Vigo, is also an accomplished painter, a multi-faceted artist. Watch this video as he dances on a canvas on the floor and splashes paint. Incredible!

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For more videos about camp, check out these great testimonial videos that answer the question “What is Jazz Camp West“: HERE and HERE.

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