Monterey Jazz Festival Announces 2012 Next Generation Jazz Orchestra Members

The Monterey Jazz Festival today announced the members of the 2012 Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, the Festival's internationally-renowned high school all-star big band, featuring the best high school jazz musicians in the country.

Major funding for the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra comes from the Surdna Foundation and generous individuals.

21 high school musicians from nine states comprise the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra including 10 students from California, three from New Jersey, two from Washington State; and one each from Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, and Pennsylvania.

California musicians include students from Alameda, Contra Costa, Los Angeles, Santa Clara, Riverside, and Sacramento counties.

Returning members of the 2012 Orchestra include saxophonists Jasper Dutz (Los Angeles County High School of the Arts, Los Angeles, CA) and Connor Anderson (FAME Charter School, Newark, CA); bassist Daryl Johns (Dwight-Englewood School, Englewood, NJ); trombonist Joonas Lemetyinen (West Linn High School, West Linn, OR); trumpeter Adam O’Farrill (LaGuardia High School for the Arts, New York, NY); and bass trombonist Chris Palowitch (Amador Valley High School, Pleasanton, CA) who is the band’s only three-year member.

"The 2012 Next Generation Jazz Orchestra is once again the finest assembly of top-notch high school jazz performers in the United States,” says Paul Contos, Education Director of the Monterey Jazz Festival. “The orchestra’s international tour will include a performance at Yoshi’s in San Francisco, as well as a return to Japan for the first time since 2003, where the Monterey Jazz Festival has had a long-standing relationship for many years. Japanese audiences at festivals and venues in Nanao, Nagoya, Tokyo, and Tomisato have anticipated the band’s return for quite some time. The tour performances, along with the rich cultural exchange programs make it a life-changing experience for our students.”

Created in 1971 as a part of the Monterey Jazz Festival's continuing commitment to jazz education and selected through an application process during the Festival’s Next Generation Jazz Festival each spring, former members of the Orchestra include pianists Benny Green and Patrice Rushen, bassist Larry Grenadier, drummer Chad Wackerman, saxophonists Joshua Redman, Donny McCaslin, Eric Marienthal, Dave Koz, trombonist Andy Martin, trumpeters Gilbert Castellanos, Ambrose Akinmusire, and big band leader Gordon Goodwin to name a few. In the past, the band has been under the leadership of Ladd McIntosh, Don Schamber, Benny Golson, Bill Berry, and many more. Now under the tutelage of Monterey Jazz Festival’s Education Director, Paul Contos, the renowned saxophonist and flutist who serves as the director of the Orchestra, the ensemble is dedicated to the study and performance of the most challenging big band literature available.

The 2012 Orchestra will gather in San Francisco in late July to prepare for the 15-day Japan tour. After their performance at Yoshi’s San Francisco (July 22), they will fly on July 23 to Monterey’s sister city, Nanao, on the Noto Peninsula for cultural exchange programs through home stays. The Orchestra will meet the Mayor of Nanao (July 27); appear at the 24th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival in Noto (July 28); have an exchange program with the Free Hills Jazz Orchestra in Nagoya (July 31); engage in workshops with the Mad Hatters Big Band in Tomisato (August 3); and appear at the Tomisato Jazz Festival (August 4). Making their return to the United States on August 6, the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra will make their traditional Sunday appearance at the 55th Monterey Jazz Festival on September 23, with former band alumnus and 2012 Artist-In-Residence, Ambrose Akinmusire.

The Monterey Jazz Festival is also pleased to announce that the winner of the Next Generation Jazz Festival’s Composition Competition is Christopher McCarthy, of Roosevelt High School in Seattle, Washington. His composition, “Something Small,” will be performed by the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra at the Monterey Jazz Festival on September 23. Mr. McCarthy will also receive the Gerald Wilson Award, and a cash prize.

Tickets for the 55th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival, September 21-23 in Monterey, California are available by phone at 888.248.6499 and online at montereyjazzfestival.org.