“Unlocking the Mystery of Jazz Improvisation” Workshop - Florida
Price: $75.00
Date: January 18, 2020
Jazz pianist and saxophonist Fred Haas will guide you in learning how to play and sing what you hear in your head and feel in your heart, develop fluency with the jazz language and get into the groove. And, most importantly, have fun making music together.
The workshop is open to all instrumentalists and vocalists who want to learn more about using their voice as an instrument. All age and experience levels welcomed, although a certain level of skill in reading music would be very helpful!
Date: Saturday, January 18, 2020
Time: 10 AM to 4 PM
Location: West Palm Beach, Florida
Cost is $75 per person.
Meet Your Instructor Fred Haas
Fred has performed with the likes of Oscar Peterson, Ray Charles, Sheila Jordan and Clark Terry, who said, “You won‘t find a more capable jazz player and teacher than Fred Haas, and that‘s a fact!” Thomas Herrick, former publisher of Downbeat said, “Fred Haas is a consummate musician with a brilliant chordal sense and great execution...he has a definite identifiable style of his own.” Pat Metheny called Fred “a totally world-class saxophone player.”
From 1996 to 2019, Fred taught jazz history, sax, jazz piano, music theory and jazz combos at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH. Fred also taught for several years at Middlebury College and the Vermont Jazz Center. He has conducted workshops at many regional high schools, UNH and UVM.
Interplay Jazz & Arts, a non-profit educational organization founded by Haas in 1996 provides opportunities for musicians of all ages to participate in a holistic, relaxed, supportive and fun learning environment with an experienced faculty that focuses on key aspects of the improvisational art of jazz. Yoga, meditation and natural foods are an integral part of Interplay’s unique approach to teaching jazz. Interplay Jazz & Arts sponsors workshops, performances and jam sessions throughout the year.
Fred has produced several CDs for his own JazzToons label, including Interplay, I Thought About You, Strike Up The Band and Friends. Telling Stories, is a collection of original compositions featuring Haas on sax and piano with Gene Bertoncini on guitar and Michael Moore on bass. Dr. Judith Schlesinger wrote, “Haas is a talented composer who writes from the heart. He’s thoroughly accomplished on both sax and piano, playing with subtlety and taste. Bertoncini and Moore are in top form - it’s an elegant, expressive threesome. This is real jazz, with style, substance and soul - highly recommended!”
“Fred communicates...he consistently displays not merely a knowledge of his craft, but a sincere dedication to sharing those ideas and ideals with others. As a musician, he is an intelligent and fiery improviser, a harmonic wizard: one who plays music, not just the saxophone (or piano), and all with warmth, wit, and sincerity.” (Peter Bodge – Jazz Historian)
Available Spaces: Unlimited
Sing It & Swing It - A Cappella Jazz Choral Workshop - March 14
Price: $51.50
Date: March 14, 2020
Date: Saturday March 14, 2020
Time: 1:00-5:00 (4 hours), with a break for coffee or tea and snacks
Location: Upper Valley Music Center, 8 South Park St., Lebanon, New Hampshire
Cost: $50
This a cappella jazz workshop will focus on:
- Reviewing how to sing with syncopation and swing as a group
- Reviewing what makes it jazz harmonically, and holding your own with a little dissonance
- Singing guide tones over jazz blues changes
- Singing some classic jazz tunes in harmony
The ability to read music is not required, but it will definitely help. You do need to be able to accurately sing back what is sung to you. We will do a lot of singing by rote, but we’ll have scores for the songs we learn. While we want to be challenged, we also want to have fun!
John Harrison is a composer, choral director, and singer who has been performing professionally since he was a lad. He performs and teaches in a variety of styles that reflect his eclectic background in music. Raised in the church, he sang from age 7 in professional men and boys’ choirs. Following school, he spent 13 years in New York City, where he led his own bands, and performed with Otis Rush, Buster Poindexter, The Uptown Horns, and Bobby Radcliff, among others, before moving to Vermont in 1992. Currently he directs the Montpelier Community Gospel Choir; Rock City!, Vermont’s rock and soul chorus; Reelin’ & Rockin’, a senior rock chorus; and several after-school World Music choruses for kids. He has worked for the last 18 years teaching music to teenagers and adults through Village Harmony (Marshfield VT), Interplay Jazz Camp, Turtle Dove Harmony (Brattleboro VT), and Songways (UK). He lives with his wife Scottie in Plainfield, VT.
Available Spaces: Unlimited
