MY EXPERIENCES AT THE JEN CONFERENCE 2012

Hi,


This is my first blog and would like to share my experiences at the JEN (Jazz Education Network) Conference, about a week ago.
Of course it was great to be there to premiere my piece "Heads or Tails," winner of the JEN Student Composition Contest (there were 5 more pieces selected including one from my friend from UNC Kate Skinner, who sang wonderfully). My piece was performed on Saturday by musicians from the extraordinary Alan Baylock Jazz Orchestra, conducted by yours truly. It was a blast!
Alan was so much fun to work with, very professional. He directs a great ensemble. Check them out!! My thanks go to Mr. Paris Rutherford for putting this part of the event together.
 It was also great to meet so many like-minded people. You could feel the love for jazz music in the air. Every day there were many, and I mean MANY, great musicians and bands to enjoy. There were so many that I had to miss a bunch of them, but you know... you can't be in two places at the same time, at least not yet.
It was great meeting with old friends after years apart, such as the guitarist extraordinaire Dr. Shawn Purcell and his lovely wife and great singer, Darden Purcell, and the great composer and jazz trumpet player Jamey Simmons, who was my teacher at MTSU. There was a really cool moment when I was talking to both Jamey, former teacher, and Mr. David Caffey, current teacher, that was so cool!!
Well, back to the great musicians and bands: I loved to see The Afro-Bop Alliance, directed by Joe McCarthy, great Latin-jazz ensemble!! Went to a clinic by a great Serbian guitarist based in Chicago named Zvonimir Tod, that was a real treat!! Later I met him and he was very nice, even giving me, as a gift, a couple of his CDs. Look him up, he is great!!
Among other concerts I really enjoyed were Jack Wilkins and the Blue Green Project, the Miami Saxophone Quartet, with the great composer Gary Lindsay, the Dan Haerle trio, the Danny Gottlieb Collective,Victor Wooten and Steve Bailey, Alan Baylock Jazz Orchestra, and many others.
It was great seeing the Ken Peplowski/Shelly Berg quartet. Shelly is an amazing player (also Dean of the Frost School of Music, UM) and so fun to watch!!
Among other people I met and had a blast with are Shelly Berg, Stephen Guerra (also from UM) a great jazz composer, and Dr. Ariel Alexander, great saxophonist and educator. Also I had the chance to spend some time with Latin-jazz greats Bobby Sanabria and Ruben Alvarez. Both were really nice!


Concluding, it was a great experience, my only regret as I said, is that I missed a lot of stuff due to time conflicts, but it's great to be in the position of having to decide among 5 different great jazz events!!


Talk to you next time. For now keep it on a high note (I personally like Bb these days)


Blessings to all,


SG