News

Alumni Happenings

July 6 – 19, 2022

2014 Vail Jazz Workshop alum Anthony Hervey (trumpet) was scheduled to return to Vail as a member of the Vail Jazz Alumni Sextet performing at the Vail Jazz Party this Labor Day weekend. His trumpet-playing, though, attracted the attention of vocalist and international recording artist Michael Buble, who invited Hervey to join his upcoming worldwide tour. Though Hervey accepted the opportunity and will not make it to Vail this summer, he will be replaced in the Sextet by trumpeter Kyle Athayde (2005). Athayde’s alumni colleagues in the Sextet will be: Isaiah Thompson (2014 piano), David Wong (1999 bass), Patrick Bartley Jr. (2010 saxophone), Ryan Porter (1996 trombone), and Christian McGhee (2014 drums).

This summer’s 12 talented Workshop students – who upon completion will be Vail Jazz’s next crop of Workshop alumni – have been announced and will arrive in Vail at the end of August. Get a peek at who they are!

Drummer Obed Calvaire (1998) performs with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis at the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank NY on July 7.

1999 saxophone alum Greg Ward performs at the Hungry Brain in Chicago on July 7 and July 14.

Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah (2001 trumpet) performs at Jimmy’s Jazz & Blues Club in Portsmouth NH on July 8.

Saxophonist Grace Kelly (2008) performs at the Festival of Arts & Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach CA on July 9 and with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra in Concerts on the Square at Capitol Square South in Madison WI on July 13.

2007 saxophone alum Chad Lefkowitz-Brown is artistic director of the Sierra Nevada University Brubeck Jazz Summit July 10-16 in Incline Village NE.

Drummer Mike Mitchell (2011), aka Blaque Dynamite, performs July 11 at the Blue Note in NYC and again there on July 18.

Gerald Clayton (2002 piano) and Katie Thiroux (2005 bass) perform and mentor young jazz musicians at the Monterey Jazz Festival’s Summer Jazz Camp at the Stevenson School in Pebble Beach CA, July 11-15.

Jeremy Siskind (2003 piano) embarks on a West Coast tour with his band the Housewarming Project, marking the release of Songs of Rebirth, with gigs on July 13 at Sam First in Los Angeles, and July 15 at Amsterdam Piano Bar in Paso Robles CA.

Moonshine, the new release by the band Nightlands, features a guest appearance by 2001 piano alum Frank LoCrasto. Here’s a video of the title track.

Chloe Rowlands (2009 trumpet) performs July 17-23 with The Westerlies at the Bravo Festival in Vail CO.

Canadian drummer Anthony Fung’s new album, What Does it Mean to be Free?, features Luca Mendoza (2015) on piano (listen to “El Paso”) and Braxton Cook (2009) on saxophone (listen to “Defiance”).

2001 saxophone alum Rex Gregory is featured on bassist James Singleton’s recently-released Malabar; listen to his flute work on “Black Sheep Squared.”

National Public Radio has included 1997 piano alum Robert Glasper’s “Why We Speak,” featuring Q-Tip and bassist/vocalist Esperanza Spalding, in its list of 36 Favorite Songs of 2022 (So Far); listen to it here.