The Friends of the Englewood Library will present a concert featuring the Teen Town Jazz Big Band and the Jazz Faculty Quintet of the JCC Thurnauer School of Music on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014 at 5 p.m. at the Englewood Public Library.
This is the first of a series of concerts that will showcase a partnership between the Thurnauer School and the Englewood Public School District and will highlight the Friends' commitment to bringing cultural programs to the youngest members of the community.
A free early childhood music class, led by Emma Brondolo, Director of Early Childhood Music, will be offered at 4:30 p.m. at the library.
Children between ages 3-5 are welcome to attend.
The concert features JCC staff and students in an exciting repertoire of Jazz favorites. The Faculty Quintet is comprised of Debbie Keefe Johns on saxophone, Michael Cochrane on piano, Steve Johns on drums, and special guest artists Kenny Berger on baritone saxophone and Daryl Johns on bass.
Co-directors Debbie Keefe Johns and Steve Johns founded the Teen Town Big Band in January 2013. It offers young musicians an opportunity to study and perform various styles of jazz big band repertoire and improvisation including swing, blues, bebop, Latin and jazz rock.
Kenny Berger has performed with the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the national Jazz Ensemble, the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band, and the Dave Brubeck Big Band, among others. Berger is an Englewood resident.
Guest pianist Michael Cochrane is currently on the faculty of Princeton University and Arts, Culture and Media on the Newark campus of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and he has performed and/or recorded with Sonny Fortune, Hannibal, Jack Walrath, Eddie Gomez, Valery Ponomorev, Paul Nash, John Clark, and many more.
The JCC Thurnauer School of Music has been New Jersey's leading community music school since 1984, reaching over 6,000 audience members annually. It has received government grant support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
Thurnauer students have performed with Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Wynton Marsalis, Joshua Bell, Paquito D'Rivera, David Finckel, David Broza and other music luminaries at venues such as Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Sesame Street, Bergen Performing Arts Center, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
For the last sixteen years, the JCC Thurnauer School of Music has collaborated with the Englewood Public School District to form the Music Discovery Partnership, an affordable after school program available to students in the Englewood Public Schools. This partnership has enabled over 1,600 students to make their dreams of studying music a reality.
"I see the tremendous growth in the children over just a few months. At the beginning of their studies they are novices, and already by mid-year, they are focused and confident. I think even they are surprised by their progress," said Partnership Coordinator Pamela Jones.
Taught by an outstanding artist faculty, MDP provides enrichment that is exciting and stimulating. The classes provide music instruction that helps students mature into well-rounded musicians and develop skills that translate to other areas of life and learning. The program offers individual and group lessons in clarinet, flute, saxophone, musicianship, including World Music, and chorus with the renowned Young People’s Chorus at Thurnauer.
The public is invited to enjoy this free concert at the Englewood Library, 31 Engle St., Englewood. For more information visit www.jccotp.org or contact: JCC Thurnauer School of Music at 201-569-7900 x1465 thurnauer@jccotp.org
Submitted by Irmari Nacht
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