Cookin' with Jazz: Tips from Top Jazz Educators
Clinic Synopsis:
A panel of experienced jazz educators from the high school, collegiate, and professional fields will present teaching techniques that focus on three important areas of jazz pedagogy. The panel includes contributing authors to “The Jazzer’s Cookbook” (Meredith Music Publications). Clinic topics will include Combo Coaching Tips, Trombone Performance Techniques, and Advanced Improvisation Skills.
David Fodor
- Biographical Information
Dr. Fodor taught courses in Instrumental Music, Jazz Bands & Combos, Percussion, Seminar in American Music, and Electronic Music at Evanston Township HS from 1990-2013. Prior to teaching at ETHS, he was Asst. Director of Bands at Western Illinois University from 1984-88. He began his teaching career in Herscher, Illinois teaching 5-12 instrumental music from 1976-82.
Dr. Fodor is currently the Coordinator of the Student Composer Showcase sponsored by the Jazz Education Network, as well as a Reviewer of new jazz music and materials for The Instrumentalist Magazine. He is the conductor of the Wilmette Community Band, and is a published author, clinician and performer.
Dr. Fodor holds a Ph. D. in Music Education from Northwestern University (1998), an M. A. in Percussion Performance from Western Illinois University (1984), and a B. S. in Music Education from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana (1976).
Mary Jo Papich - Biographical Information
Mary Jo Papich is known for her avid support and leadership in jazz education. She is Past President and Co-Founder of the Jazz Education Network (June 1, 2008). Serving public school education for 30+ years, she is currently Interim Director of Fine Arts Curriculum for the Niles District 219 (Niles North and Niles West High Schools) in Skokie, Illinois. District 219 has been recognized as one of the most outstanding Fine Arts programs in the nation winning the prestigious Kennedy Center Award.
Her leadership positions in addition to JEN include: Founder of the Puerto Vallarta Jazz Festival via HP Sister Cities Foundation, serving on the Artistic Access to Excellence Panel for the National Endowment for the Arts and as a member of the Quincy Jones Consortium, Chicago Jazz Philharmonic Advisory Board, past Illinois Music Educators Association state board, International Association for Jazz Education Executive Board of Directors, and Highland Park Cultural Arts Commission.
Jamey Aebersold - Biographical Information
Jamey Abersold is the recipient of the 2014 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Award, the nation's highest honor in jazz. He is the recipient of the 2014 A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy, which is bestowed upon an individual who has contributed significantly to the appreciation, knowledge, and advancement of the art form of jazz. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music by Indiana University in 1992. In 1989, the International Association of Jazz Educators inducted Jamey into their Hall of Fame. Jamey is a internationally-known saxophonist and authority on jazz education and improvisation, and has developed a series of Play-A-Longs as well as various other supplemental aids for the development of improvisational skills. Jamey has been a driving force in America's native art form, Jazz, and continues to kindle the fires of musical imagination in those with whom he comes in contact.
Steve Wiest - Biographical Information
Steve Wiest is an Associate Professor in the Jazz Studies and Commercial Music program at The Lamont School of Music at The University of Denver. Along with a wide range of duties at Lamont, Steve is the Coordinator of the 21st Century Music Initiative which is an all-inclusive program being developed that will explore all aspects of what it means to be an artist in the ever-changing landscape of the 21st Century. A three-time Grammy nominee, Steve is a multiple-discipline artist with activities as a composer, trombonist, educator, cartoonist and science fiction author all to his credit. Steve’s most recent project “Concerto for Folded Space” ( a modern jazz composition programmatically informed by his novel The Dover Stone) was just released via ArtistShare® and is available on their site, iTunes, Amazon, etc.
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