The 5-year gift from Philanthropists Sasha & Ed Bass supports the expansion of flagship all-scholarship JAS Academy!
Plans were officially launched during the Academy this past summer with Frost School of Music Dean Shelly Berg and JAS President and CEO Jim Horowitz. The JAS Academy Artistic Director for over ten years, Christian McBride will work in tandem with Frost’s Dean Berg and newly-appointed JAS Academy Program Director Chuck Bergeron of the Frost faculty. In addition to performing in
In commenting Frost School of Music Dean, Shelly G. Berg stated: “For almost three decades Jazz Aspen Snowmass has been a great presenter of concerts and educational programs. The JAS Academy will incorporate the Frost School’s innovative teaching and educational strategies, and serve as a boot camp to launch the career of the world’s most talented emerging jazz artists.”
In commenting JAS President and CEO Jim Horowitz stated: “This collaboration between an acclaimed university education program and an internationally recognized presenter of world-class artists both iconic and emerging is a dream come true for the family of JAS. The newly formatted JAS Academy is a game changer that will spur a new era of growth and permanence for JAS. The Bass’ Pace Setting Gift adds great momentum as JAS builds up to its 30th Anniversary season in 2020 and continues planning for its new home in the core, The JAS Center at the Red Onion.”
Artistic Director Christian McBride stated: “It is a very exciting time in the world of jazz as evidenced by the joining of forces of two powerhouses to create the JAS Academy. As the Artistic Director, I am thrilled to be at the center of this partnership and look forward to the wealth of possibilities this new association brings to further jazz music education and the promising future for so many talented and aspiring young musicians.”
More about JAS
Founded in 1991 and entering its 29th season, Jazz Aspen Snowmass (JAS) is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization which has generated over $7.5million of support for its music education programs since 1996. The Mission of JAS is to present and preserve jazz and related forms of music through world-class events, performances, and education programs. JAS launched its acclaimed music education programs in 1996 with the launch of the Thelonious Monk Institute Jazz Colony, which became the JAS Academy Summer Sessions in 2000-2008, the nation’s only all-scholarship summer training program for gifted young emerging jazz artists. The Academy paired these young artists with acknowledged jazz masters such as Herbie Hancock, Dianne Reeves, Russell Malone, Monty Alexander, Benny Green, and many others in an intensive series of workshops, seminars
In addition to the JAS Academy, JAS funds and operates a wide range of education initiatives that complement existing public school music programs in the Roaring Fork Valley and replace programs where schools suffer losses in music education. Programs ranging from providing faculty assistance to music instructors, instrument donations, annual Summer Camps, Scholarship to Berklee 5-Week Summer Program and hosting performances and more.
At JAS’ two large events, JAS has collectively presented a roster of iconic Artists ranging from Tony Bennett, BB King, Ray Charles, Harry Connick, Jr., Herbie Hancock, Diana Krall, Natalie Cole, at the JAS June Experience and Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Keith Urban, Maroon 5 at the JAS Labor Day Experience and countless others. JAS has historically presented both established and iconic Artists as well as emerging stars and has been there at the outset of many Artists’ growing careers since its inception.
Another Mission-driven initiative, The JAS Café, launched by JAS in 2011, has exploded in popularity in recent years presenting stellar artists in both winter and summer who embrace jazz and related diverse music in the “Jazz Spoken Globally” series at intimate venues in Aspen. Artists featured have hailed from France, Italy, England, Japan, Cuba, Brazil, the Caribbean, and the USA.
For further information, visit www.jazzaspensnowmass.org.
Philanthropists Sasha and Ed Bass have pledged to underwrite the operating budget of the JAS Academy for the first five (5) years. “The JAS Academy will bring together two of our passions – jazz and education – in the inspiring town of Aspen, where the Arts are in full bloom all summer long,” says Sasha Bass. “We have tremendous confidence in both organizations,” adds Ed Bass, “and we believe the stellar young pros that come out of this program will impact the world of jazz immeasurably.”
The JAS Academy will take place August 4 – 18, 2019 and will reside at the Gant Condominium Campus in Aspen until the recently announced new JAS Center officially opens in the 2020-2021 Season. Befittingly, at the heart of the new JAS Center, which will establish a permanent home for JAS in Aspen’s core, is the historic Red Onion building which hosted performances by such iconic jazz artists as Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Oscar Peterson in the 1950s. The JAS Academy expands to two weeks (from the current one week), with 23 student artists of the highest caliber who will be selected via an intensive application process to receive full scholarships. The JAS Academy will incorporate many of the teachings of the Frost School of Music whose mission is to provide musicians with the artistic, technological and entrepreneurial skills to thrive in the 21st century. The application process officially began on January 15, and the admission deadline is March 15, 2019.
At last summer’s JAS Academy, Frost School of Music’s Dean Shelly Berg and Associate Professor of Strategic Initiatives and Innovation Rey Sanchez were in attendance and conducted master classes with the student artists. “The caliber of college-aged young musicians participating is as high as it gets,” states Dean Berg. “They are hungry for this kind of information and instruction and we are thrilled to be joining forces with JAS to create this extraordinary opportunity.”
