Jazz
Rufus Reid Masterclass – November 2023
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There is a strong tradition of high-caliber jazz performance at UNC in Chapel Hill. The Jazz Studies area provides opportunities for students to perform in the UNC Jazz Band, UNC jazz combos, and Charanga Carolina. Course offerings include private lessons, jazz theory, jazz improvisation I and II, jazz history, jazz arranging, and the UNC Summer Jazz Workshop. The Jazz Band and the jazz combos provide concerts on campus at least twice each semester, often together with guest artists who are in residency for a period of days while giving masterclasses and performing with the students. In recent years, clinicians have included Andre Hayward, Sara Caswell, Alphonso Horne, Patrick Bartley, Jr., Carl Allen, the Marcus Roberts Trio, Wycliffe Gordon, Jamey Aebersold, Etienne Charles, Rodney Whitaker, Walter Smith III, Mark Whitfield, and many others. Carolina Performing Arts has hosted many legendary jazz artists over the years, including The Chick Corea Trio (featuring Christian McBride and Brian Blade), Sonny Rollins, the McCoy Tyner Quartet, Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Kenny Garrett Quartet, Nicholas Payton Quartet, Joshua Redman and Brad Meldau, The San Francisco Jazz Collective, The Mariah Schneider Jazz Orchestra, The Village Vangaurd Jazz Orchestra, Jack DeJohnette, Joe Lovano, and many others.
Information regarding jazz courses, jazz ensembles, and how to prepare for jazz auditions, as well as jazz faculty contact information is posted at the tabs to the left. For further assistance with any inquiries that may not be answered by reading this page, please Dr. Stephen Anderson, Director of Jazz Studies.
NEWS – NEW UNC FACULTY AND STUDENT CD RELEASE ON SUMMIT RECORDS (July 2022)
The 360ᵒ Jazz Initiative is in an interactive ensemble comprising faculty and talented students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who collaborate with guest performers and composers through live performances, composer “call for scores” competitions, and through publishing recordings together. The aim of 360ᵒ Jazz Initiative is to promote compositional activity and performances that exhibit a deep awareness of the rich history of jazz while at the same time producing creative new works that demonstrate jazz as a living art form which looks towards the future of the music.
Ramunė Marcinkevičiūtė – voice (disc 1, track 3)
Emma Gonzalez – voice (disc 2, track 4)
Rachel Therrien – trumpet
Alex Upton – alto sax (disc 1, tracks 1 and 3 | disc 2 tracks 1 and 5)
Rahsaan Barber – alto, tenor, baritone
Roland Barber – trombone (disc 1, track 4 | disc 2, track 2)
Juan Álamo – marimba, percussion
Baron Tymas – guitar
Stephen Anderson – piano
Jason Foureman – bass
Christopher Law – bass (disc 1, track 4)
Dan Davis – drums
Michael Shekwoaga Ode – drums (disc 1, tracks 2 and 4)