coaching tomorrow’s jazz stars : NPR

For over 20 years, Montclair, N.J.’s Jazz Home Children has constructed a repute for excellence in music training. Promising younger musicians stroll by its doorways and obtain the sort of coaching that may set them on the trail to jazz stardom. Artists like Isaiah J. Thompson, Julian Lee, Immanuel Wilkins and Matthew Whitaker all benefited from the one-of-a-kind expertise Jazz Home provides.

However simply as necessary because the prodigies are the scholars who arrive having by no means heard jazz earlier than. Some is probably not musical virtuosos or pursue music past highschool. Not like different comparable applications, Jazz Home Children welcomes all college students, no matter ability degree. As founder and president Melissa Walker advised Jazz Evening, “Jazz Home would have its door swinging broad open to everybody.” That philosophy has at all times been central to her imaginative and prescient. Her dedication to inclusivity has led not solely to dozens of standout musicians, but additionally to tons of of alumni who discovered what it means to be individual by the values of jazz.

I am one in every of them.

After I joined Jazz Home Children at 14, I wasn’t simply hesitant — I used to be fully resistant. I could not have imagined that 11 years later, I would be working in jazz journalism, impressed by a program that reshaped how I take into consideration music, folks and myself. Producing this episode of Jazz Evening in America seems like coming full circle.

SET LIST

• “Chinoiserie” (Duke Ellington) carried out by the Jazz Home Massive Band from the album Swinging with the Jazz Home Massive Band 
• “The Extra I See You” (Harry Warren) carried out by the Jazz Home Massive Band that includes Melissa Walker from the album Swinging with the Jazz Home Massive Band 
• “Gettin’ to It” (Christian McBride) carried out by the Jazz Home Massive Band that includes Christian McBride from the album Swinging with the Jazz Home Massive Band 
• “Blue Rondo à la Turk” (Dave Brubeck) carried out by Matthew Whitaker dwell from the 2022 Montclair Jazz Pageant 
• “Enjoyable” (Nat Adderley) carried out by the Jazz Home Legacy Band* dwell from the 2024 Montclair Jazz Pageant 
• “Yessaah” (Matthew Whitaker) carried out by Matthew Whitaker from the album On Their Shoulders: An Organ Tribute
• “Clementine” (Julian Lee) carried out by Julian Lee from the EP Clementine 
• “The Prophet” (Isaiah J. Thompson) carried out by Isaiah J. Thompson from the album The E-book of Isaiah: Trendy Jazz Ministry
• “Spring Flower, Sprung Flower” (Isaiah J. Thompson) carried out by Isaiah J. Thompson  from the album The E-book of Isaiah: Trendy Jazz Ministry

*Jazz Home Legacy Band: Caelan Cardello, piano; Wallace Roney Jr., trumpet; Julian Lee, tenor saxophone; Zoe Obadia, alto saxophone; Coleman Hughes, trombone; Lex Warshawsky, bass; Zach Adelman, drums.

Credit: Emily Springer and Sarah Geledi, writers and producers; Simon Rentner, consulting senior producer; Michel Martin, visitor host; Ron Scalzo, episode combine; Steven A. Williams, government producer; Suraya Mohamed, government producer at NPR Music.