Youth Jazz Showcase

JazzY(YZ) presents the Youth Jazz Showcase

The Youth Jazz Showcase presents the next generation of great jazz musicians from here and abroad. See what the “kids these days” are up to on the jazz front!

The 2011 Youth Jazz Showcase is on Monday, June 27, 12:30-4:00 pm at The Rex Hotel. We are pleased to this year be featuring the Youth Jazz in the City Honour Combo A, the Berklee Global Jazz Institute Quartet and, from Sapporo, Japan, Yamaki Shohei and fulare_pad.

Youth Jazz in the City Honour Combo A

Youth Jazz in the City creates opportunities for talented young jazz musicians ages 14 – 18 to rehearse, perform and study with some of the finest professional jazz musicians in Canada. Students audition from across the GTA and are selected to perform with one of two GTA Honour Combos. The project provides gifted young players with stepping-stones towards national and international performance opportunities.

Honour Combo A was selected in mid-January after a highly competitive process that saw applications submitted from across the GTA. Directed by renowned saxophonist and composer Kirk MacDonald, the group will rehearse and perform at various local and national events including the Musicfest Canada Nationals, TD Toronto Jazz Festival, The Beaches Jazz Festival, the Next Generation Jazz Festival, the Rex Hotel, and Chalkers Pub in addition to various coporate and civic functions.

The members of the group are Michael Gracie, trumpet (University of Toronto School); Liam Masil-Mitro, alto sax (Forest Hill Collegiate); Andrew Marzotto, guitar (Rosedale Heights); Holt Stuart-Hitchcox, bass (Etobicoke Collegiate Institute); and Louis Baranyi-Irvine, drums (Etobicoke School of the Arts).

Youth Jazz in the City gratefully acknowledges the support of the Beaches Jazz Festival Youth Initiatives Program, the Government of Ontario through the Programs and Services Branch of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, and Humber College. For more information go to www.youthjazz.ca.

Yamaki Shohei

Born in Sapporo, Japan in 1989, Shohei grew up listening to the great rock and jazz guitar masters of the second half of the 20th century. Early on in his life, he became deeply enmeshed in the wealth of guitar tones and styles that emerged out of America and Europe and began studying the guitar as if it was his only calling. By the time he reached his twentieth birthday in 2010, he could emulate practically any guitar sound and style that existed in the world.

In 2010, Shohei was the unanimous choice of the judges for the First Prize of the Sapporo International Jazz Festival. He competed with over 150 entrants and surprised everyone, including himself, by taking first place. This year he will launch his first recording and will tour abroad for the first time.

When watching this remarkable musician play you begin to feel that his guitar is merely a natural extension of his body. He creates sounds evocative of such great guitarists as Eric Johnson and Michael Hedges with a bit of Chet Atkins and Leo Kottke thrown in for good measure. There is nothing he can’t do and no sound he can’t create. At such an early stage in his career, the musical world is in for a number of elegant surprises.

fulare_pad

fulare_pad, pronounced “Furaripaddo” in Japanese, means wanderer or traveler, and consists of Daisuke Maeda on ukulele and Hideyuki Shimizu on guitar. Both musicians began studying guitar at the age of 13. Along the way, Daisuke found that his real interest was the ukulele and once he and Hideyuki joined their musical talents, in 2005, they founded a guitar/ukulele duo and called themselves the Wanderers (fulare_pad). By 2007, they had produced their first mini-album and were able to announce their first schedule of performances. These included television appearances in Kyoto, the composition of a special song in 2008, for Shupuru Summer, an EMI recording from Music Japan, and a major concert debut. As of February 2009, their new composition "Ocean" was once again featured on the music television show CM SK-II. In May of the same year their second album Flury Trolley Tour was released. During the summer of 2010, Daisuke and Hideyuki self-produced and released a third album entitled Wind Wind Wind. The duo also won a Special Jury Prize at the Sapporo City Jazz “Pakujazuraibu” competition. At present, they are featured at cafes and music theatres around the country, and continue to actively compose and develop their energetic sound that is a fresh wind delivered to people's minds.

Berklee Global Jazz Institute

The Berklee Global Jazz Institute (BGJI) is a performance program designed to foster creativity and musicianship through various musical disciplines, with pianist and composer Danilo Pérez as its artistic director. The BGJI provides a comprehensive contemporary music environment where students are given opportunities to explore their creativity to the highest level possible, advance the power of music as a tool for the betterment of society, and connect musical creative thinking with the natural environment.

Born and raised in Toronto, Canada, Joseph Manzoli began playing guitar at age 12. While in Toronto, Manzoli was fortunate to be a part of the Humber Community Music School, where he studied with distinguished jazz musicians such as Pat LaBarbera and Kirk MacDonald throughout high school. During those years, he was chosen for the CISMF All‐Ontario Jazz Band, as well as the TD Bank National All‐Star Jazz Combo. Manzoli also won several scholarships and awards at the MusicFest Canada Jazz Competition, including the National Musician Honor Award for three consecutive years. Now attending Berklee on scholarship, he is pursuing a degree as a performance major, and he is studying with great musicians such as David Gilmore, Mick Goodrick, and Jamey Haddad, among others.

Pianist Caili O'Doherty, 18, has just completed her freshman year at Berklee, studying jazz performance on a full scholarship. She began studying classical piano when she was five, and discovered her love for jazz at age 11 when she transferred to the ACMA arts school in Beaverton, OR. While still in middle school, as part of its award-winning jazz band, she performed twice each at the Monterey Jazz Festival and at Jazz at Lincoln Center. In addition to festival soloist awards and All-State jazz band awards, Caili has won two Downbeat Student Music Awards for jazz piano performance and composition. In 2008, she was a Grammy Band finalist and was selected for the Berklee 5-week Summer Jazz Workshop band led by Terri Lyne Carrington and Rick DiMuzio Last year, Caili was selected as one of five female jazz pianists to participate in the inaugural 2010 Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Emerging Artists Workshop held at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and to perform at a showcase concert on the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival.

Isaac Haselkorn is a jazz drummer and composer currently in his sixth semester at Berklee. Growing up just outside of Boston, he got involved in Berklee early, attending the 5-Week programs in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Since then he has had the honor to perform with many established Boston musicians such as George Garzone, Shannon LeClaire, Steve Heck, Jamey Haddad, Will Silvio, Josh Rosen, The Dave Zoffer DIfferential, as well as the Grammy Award winning Paul Winter Consort. He performs regularly with The Isaac Haselkorn Quintet, and his indie rock/folk band Sun Cut Flat. Isaac has studied with Danilo Perez, Joe Lovano, Bob Gullotti, John Patitucci, David Liebman, Ben Street, George Garzone, Steve Heck, John Ramsay, Hal Crook, Bob Moses, Leo Blanco, Jamey Haddad, Mark Kohler, and Ralph Peterson, Jr. He is the 2010 recipient of Berklee’s Louie Bellson Award, and the 2011 recipient of the Terri Lyne Carrington Endowed Scholarship for Achievement in Performance.

From Tokyo Japan, Shin Sakaino started to play acoustic bass at the age of 20. In fall 2007, after receiving a scholarship, Shin moved to Boston to study at Berklee. In Fall 2010, Shin was chosen for the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, where he is studying with John Patitucci, Ben Street, Joe Lovano, and Dave Liebman. He has had the opportunity to perform with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Cobb, Benny Golson, Terri Lyne Carrington, Ralph Peterson, Jr, Carlos Garnett, Christian Scott, Jason Palmer, Phil Grenadier, Maria Schneider and Tiger Okoshi, among others. Venues include the Montreal, Nicaragua, and Panama Jazz Festivals, St. Petersburg Music Festival Summertime (Russia), The Cathedral of St. John the Divine (NY), and the Kennedy Center (Washington DC).