Our 2009 Jazz Big Band Intensive was an amazing experience. We had 17 motivated musicians who came to Fort Worden to spend a few, intense days with Artistic Director John Clayton, Jay Thomas, and Bill Ramsay, digging deep into the Jazz Big Band world.

Reviews from the experience were superlative and you asked for more…and we heard you! This year, John has asked the noted Big Band condutor Fred Sturm to lead the intensive along with Bill.

Fred Sturm is the Director of Jazz and Improvisational Music at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Appleton, Wisconsin. He is a frequent guest conductor/ arranger for several European  professional jazz ensembles including the HR (Frankfurt Radio) Big Band and the NDR (North German Radio) Big Band in Germany. Under Fred’s direction, the HR Big Band recorded his Libertango: Hommage an Astor Piazzolla and Do It Again: Three Decades of Steely Dan. 

Fred also is the Artistic Director, composer, and arranger for The Baseball Music Project, a concert program collaboration with the Baseball Hall of Fame that has been performed by the Boston Pops and symphony orchestras of Chicago, Seattle, Houston, Miami, Detroit, Indianapolis, Phoenix, and San Diego.

We're excited to welcome Fred to Centrum. Registration for the October Jazz Big Band Intensive is now open, and space is extremely limited. We hope you can join us for this experience. If you have any questions, please contact us.