"It's Not About the Music" - The International Jazz Meeting

"...a documentary film about jazz education that's not about the music. It's a film about collaboration, creativity, and community; a film about sharing ideas across cultures, a film about the legacy that passes from generation to generation; a respect for the elders, and the hope that the younger generation will take that knowledge and pass it forward. David Liebman, who won the NEA Jazz Masters award in 2011, founded the IASJ [International Association of Schools of Jazz] about twenty years ago with the sole purpose of creating a forum for cross-cultural communication." - Leon Segal, filmmaker and psychologist.

If you're new to the A-JAM program and haven't yet seen the teaser for Leon Segal's documentary film on the IASJ's annual international jazz meeting, take five minutes to watch it now.

 Learn how this intercultural conference affect the lives, careers, and curricula of students, teachers, and schools; and the impact they have on local and global communities. Very inspiring! Could be YOU next year...

The International Jazz Meeting, a "Pearl Beyond Price" - Perspectives from Ronan Guilfoyle

"It's remarkable that jazz, as a means of human communication between people from different cultures, brings people together for a week in tremendous camaraderie and friendship. I think that's really a pearl beyond price..."

Watch this short and personal history of the International Association of Schools of Jazz (IASJ) from founding member artist-teacher and bassist Ronan Guilfoyle, head of the Newpark Music Centre in Dublin, Ireland. IASJ presents the annual intercultural and intergenerational jazz meeting that is the jewel in the crown of the A-JAM program.

"In twenty-three meetings, I've brought twenty-three students, and every one of those will tell you--have told me--that this was really a life-changing experience for them." 

A-JAM prepares young San Antonio musicians to enter the global jazz community, right at the top of the field. The international jazz meeting introduces our best students to their peers from all over the globe.  It's a game changer. Learn why and how it works...

As a founding member, Ronan has been to some twenty-three of the meetings. "In twenty-three meetings, I've brought twenty-three students, and every one of those will tell you--have told me--that this was really a life-changing experience for them." 

Speaking of memorable moments, "It's terribly difficult to pick just one moment, because there are so many moments...I remember particularly being in the United Nations building when the meeting was in New York, the Brazilian music we heard when it was in Sao Paulo, the South African music we heard...and, of course, tremendous performances..."

"It's incredible every year when you go to the meeting and you see the concerts by the students and you realize that--literally from all over the world--the music that they play after only four or five days of rehearsal is really extraordinary."

 

A-JAM and the IASJ: It could be you next year!

 

Where is Odie Wallace?

This summer, bassist-drummer-guitarist Odie Wallace, a multi-talented Northwest Vista college music student, spent a week in Denmark, participating in the IASJ (International Association of School’s of Jazz) jazz meeting. The IASJ selected Odie to be the 2013 “super star” delegate from our A-JAM (Alamo Jazz Allstars Mentorship) program. Each year, a limited number of music students from all over the world are chosen by the IASJ to form no more than six student combos, small collaborative performing groups. 

Each group is coached by two teachers from the organization, all from top jazz programs in different corners of the world. The students spend an action-packed seven days learning together: rehearsing, performing, composing, attending concerts and workshops, participating in late night student jam sessions, and—yes—even doing some sightseeing. We call it “playing” music, but there is a lot of hard work involved! Odie Wallace will remember his experience with the IASJ for a long time. “Mind-blowing, enlightening, and inspiring” are a few of the words he used to describe it. 

How did Odie Wallace find his way to Denmark? A-JAM. Launched in 2010, A-JAM was created to provide opportunities for Alamo College students to succeed both locally and internationally in the world of jazz. An intercollegiate and intercultural project, it is open--by audition--to music majors from any of the five Alamo Colleges and Trinity University. Auditions are held each year in November (the week before Thanksgiving), at which time finalists are selected to form the A-JAM combo for that year. Contact Katchie Cartwright for more information. 

A-JAM prepares serious music students like Odie Wallace for high-level pre-professional experiences like the IASJ meeting. During the spring semester, The A-JAM combo meets for weekly rehearsals, performs locally, and is coached by top regional professionals and visiting artists. Among other events, they are the subject of a one-hour radio broadcast on KRTU’s South Texas Jazz Project, hosted by JJ Lopez, and a follow-up interview on KRTU’s Planet Jazz, hosted by A-JAM program director Katchie Cartwright. The 2013 A-JAM group featured student soloists Bianca Johnson (voice) from St. Phillip's College, Odie Wallace (bass) from Northwest Vista College, and Ben Whitehead from Trinity University.

Odie is the third student from San Antonio to participate in the international jazz meeting. Singer Jeané Gaines went to Brazil in 2011 as the first A-JAM super star; Stephen Bennett went to Austria in 2012 as the second. The experience of this yearly jazz meeting is the subject of a new documentary. You can watch the inspiring trailer to see the program’s vision in action. As Israeli filmmaker Leon Segal said, “It’s not just about the music.” All participants go back to their schools with energy and ideas that they share with their friends and colleagues back home. It’s not hard to see how these one-on-one experiences widen the local horizons exponentially over a very short period of time.

The A-JAM program gives San Antonio students a chance to learn their craft at home and to collaborate with a small select group of students and teachers abroad. It serves as a launching pad for serious students who want to make their way into the field, and gives them an opportunity to learn from high level teachers and to collaborate with the finest students in the jazz world.  Both at home and abroad, the program is sustainable, precisely because it is based on small-scale grassroots one-on-one experiences.

The 2014 jazz meeting will be held in Cape Town, South Africa in July. Auditions are the week before Thanksgiving. Listen up, jazz students. It could be YOU next year!

 

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Contact Program Director Katchie Cartwright, 210-486-4828.

Education Through Jazz: Individuality and Collaboration

Brand new clip from Israeli innovation psychologist and film maker Leon Segal's documentary on the International Association of Jazz (IASJ).  Check it out. It really shows our mission in action. Very inspiring.

If you look closely, you can see a bit of Alamo Colleges representation in the group performance of John Coltrane's "Peace" at the end of the clip.

Here's the trailer for EDUCATION THROUGH JAZZ:  INDIVIDUALITY & COLLABORATION. Happy viewing...





International Association of Schools of Jazz members convene in the hills above Graz, Austria. June 2012.