IAJE
The primary jazz education
event has come to be the annual IAJE Conference, held in a different
city on alternating coasts each January.
IAJE, the International
Association of Jazz Educators is a strong and active jazz organization.
It produces a bi-monthly magazine and it's annual convention
attracts about 7000 exhibitors, educators, performers, and participants from around the world.
In addition to performances, there are many high-quality seminars and
clinics offered by industry experts for the jazz educator, musician and student.
According to Jason West writing for All About Jazz, "Established in
1968, the IAJE has roots in Seattle, in fact. That spring, the Music
Educators National Conference-whose members were, at that time,
primarily interested in classical music education-convened at the
Seattle Opera House. MENC staffers had scheduled the North Texas State
big band to perform, and, legend has it, when that top-flight jazz
outfit was announced, many of the classical cats rose to leave. That is
until the first chord hit-and the band's energy planted everyone firmly
back into their seats. It took about a minute for the MENC board members
to realize that jazz, like classical, was not only legitimate music, but
was riding a wave of academic enthusiasm thanks in part to expert
composers, arrangers and performers.. Thus, the National Association of
Jazz Educators came to be, adopting its international title in 1989."
Jazzoids
has been participating in IAJE since the 26th Annual IAJE
Conference held at Anaheim, CA. in 1999. Dave Brubeck,
Kevin Mahogany, and Nicholas Payton, were some of the
headline performers. The NEA Jazz Masters Awards were presented to
Dave Brubeck, Art Farmer, and Joe Henderson.
Read
Jack Bowers review of this conference
reprinted from All About Jazz.
Here is another AAJ commentary
on the 1999 IAJE Conference.
New Orleans hosted the
27th Annual IAJE Conference in 2000, themed,
New Orleans and All That
Jazz. The Russell Malone, Benny
Green, Christian McBride Trio performance was one of the real
showstoppers.
Read a review by
Jack Bowers from All About Jazz. And,
here is CDNOW's 2000 IAJE conference
perspective, by Drew Wheeler.
At the 28th Annual IAJE Convention in New York City, Pat Metheny gave
the
keynote
address. Documentary film producer Ken Burns was the recipient of the 2001
IAJE President's Award. Seattle's keyboardist Jovino Santos Neto
and
bassist Chuck Deardorf
performed in a quartet with guitarist Richard Boukas, and
Brazilian drummer Paulo Braga.
Neto was
commissioned by ASCAP and IAJE to create a large- ensemble composition
for the opening of the conference. Neto conducted
"Billyissimo", a tribute to jazz educator, Billy Taylor. Dr.
Taylor, having days earlier suffered a stroke was hospitalized and
unable to attend the conference. Former Seattle pianist, Aaron Parks
was named a Cole Porter Fellow.
Seattle high school
student and acoustic bassist Andrew Peete, received a Clifford
Brown/Stan Getz Fellowship.
John Lewis, Jackie McLean, and Randy Weston were awarded NEA
Jazz Masters awards for 2001.
The
29th Annual IAJE Conference, Uniting the Global Jazz Community
took place January 9-12, 2002 in Long Beach, California. The 2nd Annual IAJE Gala Dinner
was held on Wednesday, January 9th during which the IAJE President's Award, which honors an individual for
extraordinary contributions to the field of jazz education, was
presented to Quincy Jones. NEA Jazz Masters awards went to
Percy Heath, McCoy Tyner, and Frank Foster. Two special
highlights were performances by Shelley Berg with Frank
Potenza, and Al Dimeola with his World Symphonia Grande
Passion performance.
View pictures of the Berg/Potenza
performance and The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra from the
2002 IAJE.
The
30th Annual IAJE
Conference took place
in a very cold Toronto in January, 2003. The theme, Crossing
All Borders signaled the incorporation of a broader international
range of musicians, including Canadians and Cubans...Read
Jazzoids' highlights of the
30th Annual
IAJE Conference in Toronto, January
2003.
The 31st
Annual
Conference of the International Association of
Jazz Educators (IAJE), was held January 21–24 at
the New York Hilton and Sheraton Hotels, as well
as at other area clubs. More than 8000 educators, musicians, students,
industry participants, and fans, including over 150 musicians and
clinicians, attended the largest ever number of concerts, clinics,
workshops, industry track events, and panel discussions.
Read
Jazzoids' highlights of the
31st Annual IAJE Conference in
New York City, January
2004.
The
32nd Annual IAJE
Conference was held in
Long Beach, California..Jazzoids
review here.
January 10-14, 2006 was the 33rd Annual IAJE Conference
once again in New York City.
Read Jazzoids' review.
