When Mercer Ellington decided to keep his father’s orchestra alive, after Duke Ellington’s demise, he chose the word ‘Continuum’ for the title of the outfit’s first post-Duke recording. This is the word that constantly comes to mind, when I think of Vincent Gardner and Belinda Munro, who are touring Australia these days.
“Due to [JMI’s] small size, every student is known by each and every faculty member and receives continuous personal mentorship – which is not possible at a large institution. The JMI classroom and performance space ‘incubator’ reminds me of my days on Woody Herman’s band, traveling every day on the bus, surrounded by great, more experienced musicians, seriously listening, discussing and playing music night and day. JMI is that kind of growth environment and it shows in the competency of your graduates” – John Riley, Internationally acclaimed drummer, publisher, educator, lecturer at Manhattan School of Music (NY).
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JMI has received endorsements from significant jazz figures, including trumpeter Wynton Marsalis who has performed with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins and Sarah Vaughn, and founded one of New York’s finest jazz education facilities Jazz at Lincoln Centre. Marsalis commends JMI for developing “one of the first jazz curriculums that addresses the entire fundamental range of jazz styles… a template that should be followed by schools who are serious about the study and performance of jazz music”.
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“Charlotte Mclean is one of the best emerging vocal talents on the Australian jazz scene. A beautiful tone, great expressive range and an adventurous improviser”.
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“It will be great to reunite with one of my earliest musical collaborators, Steve Newcomb. On that night, the performance will be like two old pals catching up after a few years, each one filling the other in on what they’ve been up to (in this case, musically) in the intervening time.”
