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The Jazz Knights Composers Forum is a two-day workshop intended to encourage new music composition for large jazz ensemble and to offer experienced writers the chance to explore their craft with the guidance of a revered jazz composer/arranger and the resources of a live rehearsal band.

Four Participants were selected by application to attend the forum with one or more recently composed, unpublished works for large jazz ensemble. Each participant will have time to rehearse their music with the Jazz Knights, receive comments from Jim McNeely (both with the band and in a private lesson setting), attend a masterclass and Q&A session with Mr. McNeely, and hear their work performed in the forum's closing concert. The Jazz Knights Forum Committee and Jim McNeely will select one participant for a $2,000 Commission for a follow-up original composition for the Jazz Knights.

An unlimited number of Auditors are encouraged to attend all forum events. Applicants not chosen as participants are particularly encouraged to attend the forum as auditors. The finale concert is free and open to the public. Transportation and lodging for the Jazz Knights Composers Forum is at the expense of the participant/auditor.

 

PARTICIPANTS

Stephen Anderson is a recording artist for Summit Records.  His Nation Degeneration (2010) and Forget Not (2008) trio CDs each received 4½ stars (out of 5) from the All Music Guide—Forget Not was nominated best jazz “Debut CD” (3rd Annual Village Voice Jazz Critics Poll 2008), and each have been widely performed on radio nationally.  Anderson served as pianist with the Lynn Seaton Trio, appearing on two recordings for Nagel Heyer Records, Puttin’ On the Ritz (2005) and Ballads 2006.  He performed with the North Texas One O’clock Lab Band (Lab 2001) and Two O’clock Lab Band (Translucent Two), was winner of the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival piano competition (1997), and was the keyboardist for gold-recording (country) artist, Kevin Sharp (1996-1997).  His compositions have been performed by the Dallas Chamber Orchestra, the Crested Butte Chamber Orchestra, UNC Symphony Orchestra, the West Point Band, UNC Wind Ensemble, North Carolina Central University Percussion Ensemble, UNC-Charlotte Percussion Ensemble, Duo XXI, and a film score broadcast nationally on PBS.  His works for big band have been performed and recorded by jazz ensembles across the country.  Anderson has received two commissions from the Barlow Endowment and a number of awards for his compositional and artistic work.  He is currently Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Jazz Studies and Composition.

Though rooted in jazz, composer, arranger, trombonist, and educator Adam Bartczak reaches into many walks of music. Adam grew up playing in jazz, rock, reggae, Afro-Cuban, and Dixieland bands, to name a few. In addition to jazz, blues, and soul, his music and playing are influenced by various popular and world musics, particularly those of Africa and Latin America.
He holds a BM from the University of Colorado, a MM from the New England Conservatory in Boston, and is currently pursuing a DA at the University of Northern Colorado.  His music has been performed by the New England Conservatory Jazz Composers' Workshop Orchestra and Jazz Composers' Ensemble, Denver's 9th and Lincoln Jazz Orchestra, the Metropolitan State College of Denver Jazz Band, and the University of Northern Colorado Jazz Lab I, among other groups.  Adam currently teaches and performs with several groups in the Denver area.

Jeff Fairbanks has won national awards including the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award, the BMI Foundation Charlie Parker Award, and Honorable Mention for the IAJE Gil Evans Fellowship.  His debut recording Mulberry Street, to be released in 2011, showcases his original compositions for big band augmented with Asian traditional instruments.  This project won a competitive Recording Grant from the American Music Center.  Jeff has also won two AMC Composer Assistance grants, and two grants from the Queens Council on the Arts, including the Individual Artist Initiative.  Also an active trombonist, Jeff has performed in Asia, Europe, Latin America, and throughout the U.S. with various groups including the Glenn Miller
Orchestra.  He holds a Master's degree in Composition from the University of South Florida.  Fairbanks attended the BMI Jazz Composer Workshop 2005-2008 and now leads the Jeff Fairbanks Jazz Orchestra.

Steve Haines (double bass) has played with Wycliffe Gordon, Paul Bollenback, Joel Frahm, Ralph Bowen, Joe Chambers, Dick Oatts, Fred Wesley, Adam Nussbaum, Bob Berg, and Joe Williams.  His first album as a leader, The Steve Haines Quintet: Beginner's Mind (Artists House Records) received international critical acclaim and was hailed as "one of the best
inside/outside records of the year."  His newest album as a leader, The Steve Haines Quintet with Jimmy Cobb: Stickadiboom (Zoho records) is available at www.amazon.com or itunes.  His most recent recording as a sideman is Chad Eby s Broken Shadows (Cellar Live records), with Doug Wamble, and Jason and Branford Marsalis.    He is an associate professor and directs the Miles Davis Program in Jazz Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.  Haines holds a B.M. in Jazz Performance from St. Francis Xavier University in Canada and a M.M. in Music (Jazz Studies) from the University of North Texas.  Haines' music is published at the University of Northern Colorado Press.  Steve orchestrated and arranged the musical Ella: The Life and Music of Ella Fitzgerald.  Most recently, he orchestrated Chopin’s piano Mazurka in A minor for full orchestra and jazz quartet.  He is a recipient of the North Carolina Jazz Fellowship.

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For more information regarding the seminar, please contact:
Staff Sgt. Dan Pierce
daniel.pierce@usma.edu
845-938-5359