The Bovard Auditorium has been nicely remodeled. It has been some time since I have been here. I think the last time was to see Wayne Shorter. The show opened with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Band. Six hand selected players who received a full scholarship for the jazz studies program at USC headed by Terence Blanchard.
Terence, as well Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter, who all hold positions as Artistic Director, Institute Chairman and Former Artist Director respectively, were directly responsible for choosing these six talented individuals.
Piano: Arpad Olah - Budapest Hungary
Bass: Alan Hampton - Houston Texas
Drums: James Alsanders - New Orleans Louisiana
Sax: Gilad Ronen - Falsaba Israel
Vibes: James Westfall - Houston Texas
Trumpet: Dontae Winslow - Baltimore Maryland
These players have the opportunity to be mastered by some of the finest in jazz. Besides those I mentioned previously, The TMJI band has also studied with the likes of Kenny Barron, Clark Terry, Charlie Haden, Lewis Nash and others.
Their sound spans from all over the globe and they are encouraged to seek out and develop their own individual sound. Each of the five pieces that were performed was composed by one of the players. Their sound is wonderful together and you can hear the direction of Terence on some of their pieces. Terence introduced the band and also came out on stage to perform on a few of the compositions.
There have been many waves of the jazz futures. These cats in the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Band are the present and future Tsunami. Right in time with the modern sounds of jazz music. These cats will certainly excel and continue to ride the jazz train into our future!
Wayne Shorter's encore performance was also enhanced by the USC Thornton Jazz Orchestra who performed two student compositions, "The Tiger" and "Prometheus Unbound"
LeRoy Downs
Article comments
1 - Jim Carruthers
One of the intimidating things about getting into jazz after the fact is crossing the jazz police tape line.
So, given Thelonious Monk, what is the single, must-have Monk record?
One record which you could give to almost anybody who has a brain in their head, and you say "you need to hear this".
2 - Eric Olsen
yes, always an excellent question.
Thanks for all of these very fine reviews LeRoy, you are obviously very knowledgeable and passionate, and a great addition to the site!
3 - godoggo
Well I'll jump in with a response if not an answer to the question: I dunno what the best Monk record is, but I know he always sounded best when he had Blakey on drums.
4 - godoggo
ps Thank you Mr Downs for helping to make those loooong LA commutes a little more tolerable.