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Taiwan International Summer Jazz Academy Debut
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Ron Nethercutt, charter member of the Jazz Society of the Philippines, recently returned from Taipei where he was a faculty member for the Taiwan International Summer Jazz Academy. Ron said, "It was a great, but very busy seven days." Classes began daily at 10 a.m. and continued until midnight. The schedule included individual lessons, improvisation, classes in jazz history, music theory, jazz arranging, combos and a big band. "We auditioned 72 students in June and chose 59 between the ages eighteen and thirty-two for the August 21-28 academy," concluded Nethercutt. Those selected were provided jazz fake books that contained 50 songs selected for use during the academy. Each faculty member contributed a list of selections to be used in the compilation of jazz tunes.
In addition to Nethercutt, the faculty included Fabien Degryse of Denmark, John Ruocco of Belgium, Mike Del Ferrio, Roy Dackus, and Franz van der Hoeven from the Netherlands, and Chi-pin Hsieh and Kai-ya Chang of Taiwan. The program was organized by American Voices headed by John Ferguson formerly of Texas in the US, and now based in Bangkok.
The venue was Shih Chien University in Taipei where not only the instruction took place but also one of the two concerts. The group traveled to Taichung in southern Taiwan for the final program, which was televised for broadcast throughout the country.
"All of the staff were grateful to the sponsors of the event. It was a massive effort to obtain the finances and housing for such an endeavor," said Ron. All of the 7 major rooms included DVD and VHS players with TV and sound systems. Additionally seven guitar and bass amplifiers, five drum sets, five powered mixers, and twenty microphones were available.
Ron concluded by saying, "It will difficult to forget that week for not only the great musical experience, but also the fact that on Wednesday, typhoon Aere with 165 kph winds and 36 inches of rain passed directly over Taipei"
Later this fall Ron will participate in a similar endeavor in Vietnam.
More photos can seen at this link: http://www.americanvoices.org/taiwan2004/TISJA2004-PhotosS1.html
The Taiwan Jazz Workshop story was picked up by the International Trombone Association, courtesy of Prof.
Ron Nethercutt:
http://www.trombone.net/news/news.asp?ID=411
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