Jazz Studies
The KU Jazz Studies program has both performance and academic components, including three big bands, two vocal jazz ensembles, seven combos, and classes in arranging, improvisation, jazz history, and American popular music.
On the performance side, both Jazz Ensemble I and the Jazz Singers won the 1992 Down Beat Student Music Awards for outstanding performance in the Best College Big Band and Vocal Jazz Ensemble categories. The Jazz Singers won again in 1993, Jazz Ensemble I and the Jazz Fusion Combo won again in 1994, and Jazz Ensemble I was the college co-winner in 1997. These groups travel extensively and are widely recognized for their accomplishments. The Jazz Singers have performed at the Montreaux Jazz Festival, the North Sea Jazz Festival, and IAJE conferences in New Orleans (1990) and Miami (1992). Jazz Ensemble I also performed at the Montreaux and North Sea Festivals, the Mid-West International Band and Orchestra Clinic (1992), and IAJE conferences in Detroit (1988), Boston (1994), Atlanta (1996), and New York City (1998).
With the generous support of the Gregory Harding Memorial Jazz Fund, the Jazz Studies Program also sponsors clinics and master classes during the academic year. Past artists include Jerry Bergonzi, Hal Galper, Dr. Billy Taylor, Wynton Marsalis, Jim McNeely, Ray Anderson, Maria Schneider, Mark Whitfield Trio, John Fedchock, Don Shelton, Gary Foster, Kenny Werner, Vince Mendoza, Bob Sheppard, and many others.
The Director
Dan Gailey is director of jazz studies at KU. Under his leadership the program has received eight Down Beat Student Music Awards, and groups have been invited to perform at the IAJE conferences in New York, Boston, Miami, and Atlanta, The Midwest Clinic in Chicago, and on the UNC/Greeley and Wichita Jazz Festivals. His groups at KU have made two CDs, Guarabe and Wyrgly. He directs Jazz Ensemble I, the Jazz Singers, and Jazz Combo I.
Gailey is a saxophonist, composer, and arranger. He has been active as a player in Seattle, Denver, and Kansas City; has appeared as an artist and clinician throughout the U.S. and Sweden; and is on the faculty of the Britt Arts Festival Jazz Workshop in Oregon. His compositions and arrangements can be heard on numerous recordings and are published exclusively through UNC Jazz Press. Gailey won the 1996 Gil Evans Fellowship Award for Jazz Composition given by the IAJE.
Jazz Festival
The KU Jazz Festival also features the finest performers, from the traditional to the adventurous, including Dave Brubeck, Michael Brecker, Ingrid Jensen, Clark Terry, Louie Bellson, Peter Erskine, Bob Mintzer, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Jim McNeely, Frank Mantooth, Rick Margitza, Bill Watrous, Maria Schneider, Jiggs Whigham, Gary Foster, Dianne Reeves, Kevin Mahogany, Take 6, Bobby McFerrin, David Liebman, Dave Douglas, Eddie Daniels, Yellowjackets, Mike Stern Trio, Joe Lovano Quartet, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, M-PACT, Marian McPartland, Dick Oatts, John Abercrombie, and many others.
For more informaton, visit the Jazz Festival home page.
Jazz Workshop
The KU Jazz Workshop is a week-long summer program of instruction in all aspects of jazz. The camp is open to those in high school and college, with a special teacher's track dealing with jazz pedagogy and rehearsal techniques available for college credit.
The faculty includes performers and educators offering instruction in improvisation, combos, big bands, history, theory, and more. Dan Gailey is the workshop director. For information on dates, faculty, and application process, call 785.864.4730 or 785.864.4389.
Archive of Recorded Sound
The Archive of Recorded Sound is an exceptional collection of sound recordings of great historical significance. It contains over 75,000 items, including the Wright Jazz Collection, the Berg Jazz Collection, the Seaver Opera Collection, and Bierley Early Band Collection. The Wright Jazz Collection and the Berg Jazz Collection are tremendously valuable resources for jazz performers and historians alike.
For more information, click here.
