Monterey Jazz Festival's 2014 Next Generation Program Seeks Applicants; Deadline 1/17

Monterey Jazz Festival, a leader in jazz education since its inception in 1958, has announced the 10th Annual Next Generation Jazz Festival Presented by Monterey Jazz Festival, featuring the nation's most talented middle school, high school, conglomerate school, and college jazz musicians and vocalists. The Next Generation Jazz Festival will take place in historic downtown Monterey from March 28-30, 2014.

Now in its 10th year in downtown Monterey, the Next Generation Jazz Festival began in 1971, evolving from Monterey Jazz Festival's California High School Jazz Competition on the Monterey County Fairgrounds. Now named the Next Generation Jazz Festival Presented by Monterey Jazz Festival, the weekend salute to the future of jazz has expanded to include middle school, conglomerate school, and college-level musicians and vocalists.

The Next Generation Jazz Festival is now accepting applications from middle school, high school, and college big bands; from high school combos and high school and college vocal jazz ensembles; high school conglomerate big bands; and open combos (now expanded to include college combos and high school conglomerate combos separately) through January 17, 2014. Application forms may be downloaded at the Monterey Jazz Festival's website, montereyjazzfestival.org. The application process is free of charge, as is participation in the prestigious event.

Next Generation Jazz Festival finalists are selected through recorded auditions reviewed and ranked by faculty from the Berklee College of Music, and will include 12 big bands, six combos, and eight vocal ensembles in the High School Division. Six college-level big bands and six college vocal ensembles will also be selected, in addition to four high school conglomerate combos and four college combos in the Open Combo Division, and six middle school big bands. In addition, specially-invited groups will also perform. In 2013, 75 groups from across the United States and Japan attended the Next Generation Jazz Festival.

The high school, conglomerate school, and college divisions of the Next Generation Jazz Festival are open to superior rated big bands, combos, and vocal ensembles. The top big bands, combo, and vocal ensemble will win cash awards and be invited to perform at the 57th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival, September 19-21, 2014.

Auditions for Monterey Jazz Festival's Next Generation Jazz Orchestra will also be held during the Next Generation Jazz Festival. As Monterey Jazz Festival's premier touring ensemble, this group performs at jazz venues and festivals, both domestically and internationally, and will be a featured Sunday Arena performance at the 57th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival.

The Next Generation Jazz Festival Presented by Monterey Jazz Festival also includes a big band composition competition, open to high school composers. Judged by college faculty from leading music schools across the country, the winning composer will receive the Gerald Wilson Award and a cash prize, with the winning composition to be performed by the Next Generation Jazz Orchestra on the final day of the 57th Annual Monterey Jazz Festival, on Sunday, September 21, 2014, on the Jimmy Lyons Stage in the Arena.

All Next Generation Jazz Festival events and activities, from Friday night's Kick-Off Concert, featuring drummer and composer, Eric Harland, Monterey Jazz Festival's 2014 Artist-In-Residence, through Saturday and Sunday's High School Jazz Competition, are free of charge and open to the public. The Festival will also conduct clinics, workshops, jam sessions, and auditions in the heart of historic Monterey, with music to be performed at the Monterey Conference Center, as well as on auxiliary stages at the host Portola Hotel, Fisherman's Wharf and the Museum of Monterey.

Interested schools and students should visit montereyjazzfestival.org for instructions on how to apply to the Next Generation Jazz Festival. Monterey Jazz Festival celebrates the legacy of jazz and expands the boundaries of and opportunities to experience jazz through the creative production of performances and educational programs.

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