Jazz Big Band Intensive Workshop

(2012 Big Band Workshop leader Bill Cunliffe)

We’re pleased to announce Centrum’s 2012 Big Band Intensive Workshop, November 1-4, 2012, marking the workshop’s fourth year. Bill Cunliffe taught at our 2011 Jazz Port Townsend workshop and was an immediate hit. Now he is returning to lead the 2012 Big Band Intensive.

You’ll find Bill’s deep musicianship and high standards coupled with his warm and supportive approach to be inspiring and enjoyable. He’s a highly talented composer and arranger, as well as the leader of his own professional big band in Los Angeles.

Who should attend the Big Band Intensive Workshop?

This workshop is designed for experienced players looking for concentrated experience playing in a big band. You may be a player whose primary connection to jazz is through big band playing, and you’re looking for a way to improve your chops as a soloist. Or you may be someone who plays mostly in small groups, and who would like to be in the middle of the incredible intensity a big band can create. Either way, you’ll be in a band with 17 other musicians playing great jazz.

The workshop will highlight Bill’s exceptional talents as a composer and arranger, drawing extensively from his own repertoire. You’ll get the chance to work directly with the person who created the charts as you prepare for your performance.

We’ll have just one band this year, and will be accepting only enough players to fill it. Be sure to get your application and audition as soon as you can for the best chance of acceptance. Applications are due September 20^th, 2012, and notification of acceptance will be given within two weeks, or by October 11^th at the latest.

Who are the faculty?

Jazz pianist, composer and arranger Bill Cunliffe is widely known for his swinging and lyrical pianism and his creativity and invention as a composer and arranger of jazz. His first major jazz gig was as pianist and arranger with Buddy Rich, touring Europe with Frank Sinatra. He later performed with Ray Brown, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Benny Golson, Woody Shaw and James Moody.

Bill has released more than a dozen CDs as a leader. His latest album is “That Time of Year” (Metre Records, 2011), his solo-piano take on traditional Christmas tunes. Bill received a Grammy for Best Instrumental Arrangement for his 2009 “West Side Story Medley,” on the CD Resonance Big Band Plays Tribute to Oscar Peterson. The most recent of his four Grammy nominations was for his concerto for trumpet and orchestra, “fourth stream … La Banda,” performed by trumpeter Terell Stafford and the Temple University Symphony Orchestra (BCM+D Records, 2010).

Bill teaches at the Vail Jazz Workshop and the Skidmore Jazz Institute and is Professor of Music at Cal State Fullerton.

What will the schedule be?

Thursday, 11/1