| LearnJazzPiano.com archives: Jazz Workshops | |
| Winsome -- 04/04/2004, 13:38:35 -- #3257 | |
| Hi: I'm considering doing a jazz workshop this summer. I know that in the Feb. threads, people discussed doing the Bud Shank Workshop in Washington. Do you think it's too late for a pianist to get into that one? What about Aebersold's camp? Also, has anyone here had any experiences with Jazz Camp West? Are there any other jazz camps that you know of? Thanks for your help. | |
| Paul -- 04/04/2004, 17:29:00 -- #3261 | |
| I'm going to the Aebersold camp. It will be my first jazz camp so I can't really tell you much about it. The Bud Shank one sounds great, but the JA camp is a lot more economical for me since I live in the south. I was was looking into one from the Univ. of North Tx and I got to see the student recitals last summer. It seemed cool but the majority of students were of high school age. I recall reading some favorable comments about the Jazz West camp in the JA forum. Good luck and let us know which camp you decide on. Paul | |
| pianogirl -- 04/05/2004, 11:18:56 -- #3286 | |
| I will be going again to the Bud Shank camp and have in the past as well. I haven't been to the Aebersold because up until recently I lived on the west coast. I have heard good things about it from others. Bud Shank has a good mix of high school/college and adults. All are pretty keen and you have a wide range of ability from beginners to pros attending. I find it motivating to see myself progress up the "ladder" so to speak while still having players who are amazing (of all instruments, not just piano) to inspire and motivate me. I know someone who attended both Bud Shank and Jazz Camp West (if that is the Stanford one) and like Bud Shank better. They are jazz musicians from Europe, quite good, and found that the Bud Shank attendees were friendlier and had less attitude than some at the other camp. YMMV and all that. Sweeping generalization alert as well. Another thing I like about the Bud Shank camp is that there is a ton of opportunity to jam with people during the day and after hours. People were very generous with their time no matter what their ability - for me this meant that I got to play with excellent rhythm section players and instrumentalists. The instructors are pretty approachable too. And the faculty perform a lot too. | |
| Scot -- 04/06/2004, 07:20:28 -- #3314 | |
| I heard the same thing about the Aebersold camp from guys who had attended both. If anyone here wants to get into that camp and hasn't signed up yet, you need to do it fairly quickly (like today?). The piano spots really fill up fast. http://www.centrum.org Look for the Bud Shank Jazz Camp | |
| pianogirl -- 04/06/2004, 07:34:16 -- #3317 | |
| I have heard that too Scot about Aebersold - that it might be more "structured" in terms of formal learning and pedagogy but that people were friendlier at Bud Shank. Not that one is necessarily better, but that they have a different vibe. I spoke to one piano player who has attended both and he thought they were quite complementary to each other. Aebersold might be the better of the two if you are a beginner at improv. Once you are more intermediate, either would probably be fine. And if you are wanting lots of playing time and jamming opportunities, from what I have heard, Bud Shank is better. Chacon a son gout as they say here in Canada (to each his own). Keep in mind as well that I am biased to the location of the Bud Shank camp! Pacific Northwest, on the ocean, historic turn of the century town........Dreaming already of a beer on the deck at Sirens. :-) | |
| smg -- 04/06/2004, 08:21:22 -- #3318 | |
| Hey Sandra what happened w/that gig? | |
| pianogirl -- 04/06/2004, 09:04:58 -- #3324 | |
| It's in a few weeks. We have a sub bass player since our regular guy has another gig that night. The regular guy is from Chile and plays in a lot of latin and Mexican bands - he is a semi pro in those venues and an intermediate jazz guy. I can report back about our quartet playing last night in a masterclass situation for Pat LaBarbera. We played Monk's Dream, Dear Lord (Coltrane tune), and Speak No Evil. One of my personal goals was to have my comping and soloing to be idiomatically true to the particular tunes (or at least to the best of my ability right now!). I was pretty happy in that regard - especially with Dear Lord and being more modal/McCoy Tynerish. We didn't have time to warm up because as soon as we arrived, we walked in to an audience of about 40 people and were "on" straight away. But we settled down during the first tune. Pat had some positive comments about our rhythm section and some things to think about too. I am also doing some duo work lately as well. This is going to sound bizarro but my jazz piano teacher is fooling around with jazz recorder and I am accompanying him. We get together once every week or so and work on swing tunes, jazz waltzes and latin tunes. He is an amazing accompanist so I get some great tips and ideas while he gets to have fun playing a wind instrument. I think I am getting more out of it than he is though! We have to play everything up a fifth so it fits in the recorder range. Thanks for asking about the coming gig. | |
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