{"id":4973,"date":"2011-09-22T12:32:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-22T12:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/jazz-angels-boplicity-features-jeff-kashiwa-saturday\/"},"modified":"2011-09-22T12:32:00","modified_gmt":"2011-09-22T12:32:00","slug":"jazz-angels-boplicity-features-jeff-kashiwa-saturday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/jazz-angels-boplicity-features-jeff-kashiwa-saturday","title":{"rendered":"Jazz Angels’ Boplicity Features Jeff Kashiwa Saturday"},"content":{"rendered":"

11:40am | <\/strong>The Jazz Angels<\/a> is a local non-profit organization created by several musicians who were concerned with the reduction, and in some cases, elimination of music programs in schools. This Saturday, they are presenting Boplicity 2011<\/a>, a concert featuring world renowned Jazz saxophonist Jeff Kashiwa<\/a> and an all star band. The concert, which takes place at CSULB’s beautiful, intimate Gerald Daniel Recital Hall<\/a>, will open with a VIP reception, and also includes an auction and dessert. The concert will help pay for expanded programs and scholarships. <\/p>\n

Jazz Angels’ co-founder and Director of Programs Barry Cogert took time to talk about the organization, the event, and his own career. <\/p>\n

Barry<\/strong>: Jazz Angels is a non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring young musicians to learn about and play jazz, in addition to preserving jazz as an American music. Along with a friend, we started 6 years ago when I received a performing artist grant from the Arts Council for Long Beach. The idea came up as a result of professional musicians talking, on breaks or after gigs, about the decline of music education and the need to inspire young musicians (ages 10-17) via music mentoring. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: How does the program work?<\/em> <\/p>\n

Barry<\/strong>: We put together bands of ten to twelve musicians with similar personalities and abilities. Typically we’ll have 5 or 6 bands per session. We have 8 one hour rehearsals and at least 2 gigs per session. We arrange the sheet music based upon each musician’s abilities, so it is challenging but not overwhelming. This allows them to musically reach beyond their perceived goals. <\/p>\n

We have 4 sessions (Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer) as well as a summer jazz camp. It’s a fee based program, but we fund-raise to offer scholarships, and no one is ever turned away for financial reasons. We also have professionals sit in with the band at rehearsals and gigs. This is the key to confidence building and mentoring. <\/p>\n

We provide a drum set and keyboard which makes it easier in transitioning from band to band during rehearsals. Right now, young musicians need to have at least one semester’s experience and either take private lessons and\/or be in a school band program. So, they’ll either have their own instrument or borrow one from school. That being said, we do have some donated instruments and those are made available to musicians who are in the program. At some point in the future, we plan on launching a beginning program where all instruments will be provided. It is part of our strategic plan, to be implemented in a year or two. <\/p>\n

Also, we are going to start up an adult band this fall. It will be slightly different as far as rehearsals go (probably every other week) but promises to be inspiring to those adults who use to play and want to dust off their instruments and get in a group with some instruction. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: Since you started the program, how many students have participated?<\/em> <\/p>\n

Barry<\/strong>: The first band had 10 musicians. Since then we have had over 150 young musicians from 135 families. Many siblings join the band once they realize participation in the program improves their musical skills and is very fun. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: Jazz these days encompasses quite a few different styles. In working with the students, is there a specific style you focus on?<\/em> <\/p>\n

Barry<\/strong>: Each session includes new songs so our musicians normally don’t wind up playing repeating tunes unless they really want to. We’ll play mainstream jazz, Latin jazz, contemporary jazz, and jazz arrangements of popular tunes too. We’ve been know to include arrangements of Santana, Smoke on the Water, Lady Gaga and current movie themes. My co-director and main arranger Albert Alva is open to suggestions and dedicated to making the program exciting to today’s youth. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: Tell me about the event on Saturday.<\/em> <\/p>\n

Barry<\/strong>: This Saturday is our annual fundraiser, Boplicity, featuring saxophonist Jeff Kashiwa. The purpose of the event is to provide more scholarship opportunities and expand our programming. Around 35% of our musicians are on some type of scholarship. We are also concerned about so many schools losing their music programs. We want to offer a supplemental or alternative course of study until school music funding returns. <\/p>\n

The event includes a really cool silent auction. One item being offered is a 4 hour tour by a Rock Star Tour bus company. Another is a VIP dinner with Jeff Kashiwa and the all-star band. After that, we’ll have the concert, followed by dessert. <\/p>\n

This year we were able to offer two ticket options: The $50 VIP dinner, and the $25 dessert\/concert. So many young musicians want to see the Jazz Angels staff play with Jeff that we thought it would be cool to offer a concert only package. <\/p>\n

Sander<\/strong>: Outside of your work with the Jazz Angels, what do you get up to?<\/em> <\/p>\n

Barry<\/strong>: I am a professional bassist and play for a variety of events all over Southern California. My background has made it possible for me to play in a variety of musical settings: religious, rock, funk, orchestral, just about anything. <\/p>\n

I have produced some local CD’s and also arrange and orchestrate music when asked to do so. I also have a private music teaching business. I teach piano and bass to around 25-30 students. I have developed my own curriculum that really works in musical development. So, I’m pretty busy but it’s always something new, exciting and musically rewarding. <\/p>\n

— <\/p>\n

The next Jazz Angels’ session begins on Sunday, October 2nd. To learn more, visit JazzAngel.org<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Learn more about Jeff at JeffKashiwa.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Celebrated Jazz sax player Jeff Kashiwa performs this Saturday at CSULB’s Gerald Daniel Recital Hall in support of Jazz Angels, a local organization that connects students to America’s musical heritage through professional mentoring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-4973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hi-lo","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4973\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4973"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=4973"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=4973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}