News

Alumni Happenings

Sept. 14 – 20, 2022

The 12 graduates of this summer’s Vail Jazz Workshop are now among its more than 320 alumni. After intensive study with the Workshop’s master mentors – John Clayton, Dick Oatts, Terell Stafford, Wycliffe Gordon, Bill Cunliffe, and Lewis Nash – they gave stellar performances throughout this year’s Vail Jazz Party, helping to make it one to remember! The new group of Workshop alumni is comprised of: Aidan Farrell (tenor sax, and an occasional treat on clarinet), Alex Heidelbaugh (trombone), Ben Schwartz (drums), Cosmo Lieberman (alto saxophone), Levi Rozek (trumpet), Lorenzo Wolczko (bass), Lucas Perry (piano), Luke Ramee (trombone), Noah Buckner (drums), Ruby Farmer (bass), William Schwartzman (piano), and Zeb Jewell-Alibhai (trumpet, and a surprise detour on the saxophone). Congrats to the VJW’s newest alumni!  

The Steve Turre Sextet’s Generations CD release performance, with Isaiah Thompson (2014) on piano, is September 14 at Smoke Jazz Club in NYC.

2008 trumpet alum Benny Benack III performs with his quartet and in a late-night jam session at Smalls in NYC on September 14.

Trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire (2000) performs at Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River, MA on September 15. Akinmusire’s quartet then performs with VJW alum colleague Russell Hall (2010 bass) on September 17 at the Vermont Jazz Center in Brattleboro VT. And on September 18, Akinmusire is featured in an all-star memorial concert, “Remembering Tomasz Stanko,” (one of Europe’s most original and beloved jazz musicians, who passed away in 2018), at Roulette Intermedium in Brooklyn, NY.

Saxophonist Grace Kelly (2008) is a headliner at JazzFest White Plains, White Plains Plaza NY, on September 15. 

Bassist Jakob Dreyer releases Songs, Hymns & Ballads Volume 1 on September 16, featuring drummer Jimmy Macbride (2008); here’s a preview.

The Pam Tanowitz Dance Company performs a world premiere set to the music of Alice Coltrane in “Alice & John: A Coltrane Festival” as part of Penn Live Arts at the Annenberg Center in Philadelphia September 16-17, featuring Lakecia Benjamin (1999 saxophone) as Artistic Advisor. 

Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah (2001 trumpet) appears at Highmark Stadium during the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival on September 18.

Pianist Jeremy Siskind (2003) takes the stage with the Luther Hughes Group at the Orchard in Newport Beach CA in a performance of Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue on September 18.

2012 piano alum James Francies performs two shows at the Blue Note (NYC) on September 19.