Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) and JMI are teaming up again to present a series of concerts at primary schools in Sydney and Melbourne as part of JALC’s Let Freedom Swing program.
JMI’s Nick Quigley (CEO and bassist) and Dan Quigley (Head of School and trumpeter) will be joining musicians Justin Poindexter (guitar), Roxy Coss (saxophone) and Shirazette Tinnin (drums) from New York City to perform concerts at 5 primary schools in both cities throughout May 2018.
We’re incredibly excited to be able to help deliver this amazing program to young people in Australia.
Here’s some information regarding the Let Freedom Swing program:
Let Freedom Swing brings outstanding jazz artists and performances to school audiences. Based on Wynton Marsalis and Sandra Day O’Connor’s conversations on jazz and democracy, Let Freedom Swing includes three in-schools jazz concerts throughout the year: What is Jazz?, Jazz and the Great Migration, and Jazz and Civil Rights.
Professional jazz ensembles go into the schools to present hour-long performances, three times per year. These innovative concerts introduce young audiences to the sounds of jazz and connect them to its rich cultural heritage. We believe jazz can be a metaphor for a healthy community, and teaches lessons of leadership and empathy.
Jazz is improvisational, it celebrates personal freedom and encourages individual expression.
Jazz is swinging, it dictates the freedom to finding and maintaining common ground with others.
Jazz is rooted in the blues, it inspires us to face adversity with optimism.
JALC works with local musicians to bring diverse bands to schools. Over the course of three visits to the school, this gives the students an opportunity to develop a relationship with well-dressed, skilled, professional men and women.
Included in the delivery of LFS:
- Participating teachers will receive access to digital resource guides and videos to help them introduce as well as reinforce the concert content during regular classroom sessions.
- Each school or community partner receives three performances across the course of an academic year.
- Each of the three themed concerts is performed for the same cohort of 150 students, allowing them to develop a relationship not only with the music but also with the musicians themselves, deepening the experience. The 150 student maximum is enforced to keep the concerts intimate and focused.