HOUS E LIGHTS 10TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE WWW.JAZZHOUSEKIDS.ORG Now in its 10th year Jazz House Kids is a community-based organization that provides IT’S OFFICIAL! JAZZ HOUSE KIDS TURNS 10 year-round musical, educational and cultural programs to students K-12, teachers, adults and families from diverse backgrounds. It’s official! Jazz House Kids is 10 years old! Over the past decade, you have Internationally renowned jazz performers teach entrusted us with your children and made alongside our professional staff, offering students generous donations to support our work a wide range of creative programming that in communities across New Jersey. Using develops musical potential, enhances leadership the great American art form of jazz to skills, and strengthens academic performance. mentor young people, together we have witnessed firsthand our results. Jazz The "Jazz House" provides the framework for House Kids students are embracing students to cultivate the talent, discipline, skills lifelong learning and becoming excellent and principles they need to play, sing, and appre- communicators with the ability to impro- ciate America's original musical art form. Through vise and cultivate their creativity. music, mentoring, education and apprenticeship Jazz House Kids cultivates tomorrow’s global As we celebrate our big birthday, I look citizens so they may build vibrant communities back with pride on an amazing decade. where they live. What started as a one-time workshop for Jazz House Kids has come a long way from its first program for WBGO became the foundation for doing WBGO’s Children’s Jazz Series 10 years ago great things. Jazz House Kids helps close the gap in schools where arts programming does not exist or has been severely cut. We provide daily music programs in underserved schools, place instruments in the hands of kids whose families cannot afford them, and conduct a jazz choir for children with special needs. Jazz House Kids is equally active outside of the classroom. Our Jazz House music studio serves students ages 8 to 18 from more than 30 school districts, providing scholarship support to one in every three students of the diverse student body. From big bands to small groups, to our community youth choir singing with a small ensemble, you can find our top-notch facility making a difference in the lives of young people. Please join us for an unforgettable evening as we celebrate our 10th anniversary at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center on October 17th. Your support will ensure that Jazz House Kids thrives as a world-class initiative in your own backyard! Thank you for being part of our growing and thriving musical family. Founder & President JOIN THE PARTY! JAZZ HOUSE KIDS’ BIG BIRTHDAY We guarantee a funky good time at our 10th anniversary celebration, “Hitting the High Notes,” and offer several ways for you to join in. The WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2012 night includes an early-evening VIP cocktail party with copious hors TABLE TICKETS NJPAC VICTORIA THEATER d’oeuvres, a truly star-jammed concert and a celebration dinner with • $25,000 LEAD SPONSOR COCKTAIL PARTY, STAR-STUDDED CONCERT, • $15,000 PRESENTING SPONSOR JAZZ LUMINARY DINNER & LIVE AUCTION more great music and a live auction. Funky music, a fantastic party, • $10,000 EXECUTIVE SPONSOR and support for young musicians – attend our celebration and get it • $5,000 ARTIST AND REPERTOIRE TEAM all! A $5,000 table, for example, provides a full year of instru- ment rental for a student who otherwise might be sitting on the PATRON & INDIVIDUAL TICKETS HONORARY CO-CHAIRS sidelines of her school band. • $1,000 Leader Rose Cali • $500 Special Guest Bobbi Brown & Steven D. Plofker To buy tickets and see the full range of benefits, please go to • $350 Sideman www.jazzhousekids.org or call us at 908-322-1100. Funky music, a • $175 Reception Christian McBride and Angelique Kidjo • $75 Concert Only have the moves and grooves fantastic party, and support for young musicians--attend our celebra- MISTRESS AND MASTER ready for October 17. tion and get it all! OF CEREMONIES S. Epatha Merkerson and Jesse L. Martin A GREAT NIGHT IN NEWARK EVENING HIGHLIGHTS With Rose Cali, Bobbi Brown and Steven Plofker as honorary co-chairs, Hitting the GRAMMY Award-winning High Notes – Jazz House Kids Turns 10, plays double duty celebrating ten years of Christian McBride Big Band excellence and opening NJPAC’s inaugural James Moody Democracy of Jazz with Melissa Walker Festival. Here’s a look at what the night will bring: Jazz House Kids artistic chair Christian McBride--who is also serving as artistic adviser to the Moody festival--will VERY SPECIAL GUESTS be the musical director of the centerpiece concert to be held in NJPAC’s beautiful Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley Victoria Theater. Christian has assembled some impressive top talents: Former James Brown and George Clinton alumni Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley; the Angelique Kidjo, George Duke GRAMMY Award-winning Christian McBride Big Band featuring vocalist Melissa and surprise guests Walker; GRAMMY Award-winning singer Angelique Kidjo; jazz fusion pioneer George Jazz works: Arts students make better citizens Duke; and surprise guests (Christian has been dropping hints about some “power- While much has been written about what happens inside the EMERGING MUSICIANS house” music pals). Also performing that evening are students from the Jazz House brains of children who study music, we thought that election Jazz House Kids Student Ensembles Kids music studio in Montclair and our school-based programs in Newark. season would be a good time to explore a different angle the The soul-powered evening will be emceed by actors S. Epatha Merkerson and Jesse impact these children have on their communities. According JAZZ LUMINARY HONOREES L. Martin, of the long-running Emmy Award-record-breaking TV show “Law & Order.” to a report issued by the National Endowment for the Arts Harry Belafonte At a dinner following the concert, we’ll fete our Jazz Luminary Honorees: Harry earlier this year (“The Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Wayne Shorter Belafonte, the award-winning iconic singer, songwriter, actor and tireless civil rights Youth”), young adults from low socio-economic backgrounds John J. Cali advocate; long-time arts philanthropist, (low SES) who are deeply engaged in the arts in high school Jazz House Kids signature donor and vote more, volunteer more, and are more likely to become Ticket Packages on Sale Now real estate visionary John Cali; and involved in local or school politics than their “low arts” peers. jazz’s greatest living composer, Low SES eighth-graders who participated in arts programs at www.jazzhousekids.org Newark’s own son, saxophonist Wayne were nearly twice as likely to read a newspaper at least once 908-322-1100 Shorter. “It is a thrill to be doing double a week than low-arts, low-SES students, and more likely to duty in October – ushering in a new do so than low-arts youngsters overall. Said NEA Chairman www.jazzhousekids.org House Lights Staff: or call 973-744-2273 Susan Gifford/Editor tradition at NJPAC with the James Rocco Landesman, “This report shows that arts education Nancy Klein has strong links with other positive educational outcomes.” Ryan Maloney Moody Democracy of Jazz Festival as GET CONNECTED WITH The message is clear: Arts education enhances Founder & President: well as curating Jazz House Kids’ big JAZZ HOUSE KIDS— Melissa Walker birthday celebration,” said Christian communities by creating more involved citizens. Jazz BECOME OUR FAN ON FACEBOOK McBride. “Get ready for some funk, House Kids is proud to contribute to this outcome Jazz House Kids! We are going to through our work in Newark and throughout northern www.jazzhousekids.org bring the house down!” New Jersey. N & JES SO SE L ER . M RK A 10TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT ALL-STAR LINE-UP E R M T I A N Our Emcees: H T Actress S. Epatha Merkerson perhaps best known for her role as Lieutenant Anita Van Buren on TV’s “Law and Order” has won an Emmy, a Golden A P E Globe, a SAG award, and two NAACP Image awards, among many others, for her acting on stage, television, and in film. She recently co-directed “The . S Contradictions of Fair Hope,” a documentary about one of the last remaining African-American benevolent societies. Christian McBride composed the score for the award-winning feature. Actor and singer Jesse L. Martin originated the role of Collins in the Broadway musical “Rent” in 1996, launching a career that most notably, included several incarnations of “Law and Order,” on which he played Detective Ed Green. Martin reprised his “Rent” role in the 2005 film, and joined the 2010 casts of the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park productions of “The Winter’s Tale” and “The Merchant of Venice;” He recently took a recurring role in the NBC musical drama series “Smash.” Our very own Jazz House Kids’ artistic chair, renowned bassist Christian McBride, reached into the musical stratosphere to create a line-up even we can’t believe. We’re thrilled these jazz greats have come on board and will play alongside Christian, vocalist and Jazz House Kids president/founder Melissa Walker, the Grammy Award-winning Christian McBride Big Band, and some surprise guests. c B R I D E M Maceo Parker: The saxophonist who helped invent funk, Parker played with James Brown, George Clinton, Parliament/Funkadelic, and Prince. He has N A collaborated over the years with Ray Charles, Ani DiFranco, James Taylor, De La Soul, the Dave Matthews Band, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, his I T timeless sound garnering him a fresh young fan base. Over the past two decades he has enjoyed a blistering solo career.