2021 Jazz Festival

Free to Middle, High School, & Adult Students

2021 Jazz Festival

Register today for this free online festival

Middle school, high school, college, & adult jazz students are invited to develop their skill alongside nationally recognized jazz artists & WCM Jazz & Contemporary Music faculty members during this free, online festival.

Spots are limited, so be sure to secure yours today!

LATE REGISTRATION – Email KESTY@WCMUSIC.ORG MEET OUR GUEST ARTISTS & FACULTY

 

Workshops & activity topics include:

  • Beginner and Advanced Jazz Improvisation
  • World Music, Afro-Caribbean, Brazilian, and Indian Rhythm Styles
  • Panel Discussion of Women in Jazz
  • Jazz Theory, Ear Training, and Nomenclature
  • Digital Music Production and Songwriting
  • AND MORE!

 

Ages: Middle, High School, College & Adult Students
Dates: Friday, April 30 from 1:00pm – 8:30pm | Saturday, May 1 from 10:00am-7:00pm. All festival times are listed in Central Standard Time (CST).
Location: The entire festival will be conducted over Zoom.
Costs: FREE
Application Deadline: Friday, April 28, 2021
Contact: Please email Krystal Esty at kesty@wcmusic.org with any questions or concerns.

 

VIEW FULL SCHEDULE  VIEW WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS



Meet our Jazz Festival Guest Artists

Jamie Breiwick

Jazz Trumpeter | Band Director, Prairie School, Racine, WI | Founder of Milwaukee Jazz Vision

Background

Trumpeter-composer-bandleader-educator-designer Jamie Breiwick dwells in that nether region of America called the heartland. His native Racine is a Warm Valley nestled among several urban musical scenes, which makes him valuable to each of them – Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison and Minneapolis. At times he’ll think of that nether region as Dreamland, the imaginative name of the Thelonious Monk repertory band that he founded and leads. It’s named for an obscure Monk tune which, like so much of the legacy of that great and eccentric musician, needs dusting off and raising to the light of day. Breiwick is just beginning to reach his prime and, as a man gifted in enterprise as well as artistry, you can find him performing at any one of those cities in a myriad of musical groups and collaborations.

Katie Ernst

Bassist and Vocalist

Background

Bassist/vocalist Katie Ernst is described by the Chicago Tribune as “a versatile young bassist who plays in far-flung bands and sings with uncommon delicacy and authenticity.” She is co-leader of the adventurous Chicago-based jazz trio Twin Talk and has received widespread critical acclaim for her Dorothy Parker poetry song cycle Little Words, which premiered at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC in 2015.

Some recent notable performances and awards include performing in Mexico City, MX for a Chicago/CDMX Improvised Music Exchange in 2020; multiple performances at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival and Chicago Jazz Festival; performing with MacArthur Fellow and renown pianist/composer Jason Moran at the Chicago Symphony Center and the Kennedy Center; receiving a composing residency at the Ragdale Foundation; representing the USA as bassist and vocalist for the 2018 EuroRadio Jazz Orchestra in Riga, Latvia; and being named a Luminarts Fellow in Jazz in 2013.

Katie is an active sidewoman in the jazz and improvised music communities of Chicago, and travels throughout the US as a guest artist/clinician for young musicians. She is the director of the jazz ensemble at Wheaton College and teaches at Birch Creek Music Academy for the Jazz I summer program.

Katie holds a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies & Contemporary Media and a Bachelor of Musical Arts from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY.

Kevin Farinelli

Music Therapist, Ovation/Chai Point, Milwaukee WI

Background

Kevin Farinelli is a music therapist working in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In his position at the Jewish Home and Care Center, Kevin engages with older adults and their families through music to enhance their well-being.
His role entails using performance, song-writing, improvisation, teaching, and psychological and counseling techniques. Depending on the clinical situation, Kevin uses this skill-set to promote social and emotional health, validate reality perception, address medical needs non-pharmacologically, provide sensory stimulation, facilitate cultural expression, and support end-of-life processes. Kevin has presented in a panel at the 2017 National Music Therapy Conference, received the Maurice Surlow Award for Employee Excellence, is partnered with Israeli company 2gether to pilot an emotion-based music A.I. app in the United States, and recently collaborated with Jewish Home residents to write “We Have A Dream”, a song expressing their perspectives on inequality in the U.S.

Kevin is originally from the Pittsburgh area where he studied music therapy and trumpet. He is currently enrolled in advanced graduate coursework for music therapy while pursuing an interest in original song-writing.

Taylor Haun

Education Specialist | Soundtrap by Spotify

Background

Taylor taught percussion in 2 Grammy Award-winning districts – Plano ISD and Austin ISD, before shifting to a creative music teaching approach. He founded Odo Sound, a music ed organization devoted to teaching the creative side of music. Taylor now works for Spotify and trains teachers around the world to use Soundtrap to amplify musical creativity.

Klassik

Background

“More than nearly any other musician in the Milwaukee scene, Klassik wears many hats: rapper, soul man, producer, collaborator, mentor, keeper of the American songbook. His modernist, jazz-saturated compositions are unlike anything else coming out of the city, but he has a gift for more traditional styles as well, as he demonstrated on American Klassiks, his recently recorded live album with SistaStrings and Nickel&Rose. Regardless of which side of the booth he’s on, he’s a force.” (Evan Rytlewski, Shepherd Express, citation on winning the 2018 Shepherd Express’ Best Of Milwaukee Rap-Hip Hop Producer for the third consecutive year) 

This is the sonic realm of Klassik, the multi-instrumentalist producer and performer. He is as dexterous a rapper as he is an impassioned and soulful singer, often highlighted by his intense and incisive falsetto.  All of this is intertwined with his own unique, personal and unbridled storytelling.  With a penchant for curation and collaboration, which he likens to that of one of his biggest inspirations, Quincy Jones, Klassik’s production is crafted with intent, beauty and depth of musicality.   

 At the age of 10, he began studying saxophone with the Milwaukee jazz legend Berkeley Fudge, whose teachings provided the musical foundation that informs his work to this day. Klassik’s development continued through years of public arts schools, a (very) brief collegiate trip, and throughout all of this, an evolution from jazz saxophonist to producer, emcee, singer and all-around entertainer.  His debut EP, DEATH OF A BEATMAKER, established him within the local scene, and his subsequent full-length, IN THE MAKING, introduced him to a national audience.  Quickly garnering numerous awards over the next few years, Klassik took advantage of his growing acclaim by stepping up to huge opening performance opportunities for highly-acclaimed and established artists, including Ludacris, Talib Kweli, Kendrick Lamar, Banks, DJ Premier, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Rakim. 

 Since his last full length, the critically acclaimed SEASONS, Klassik has spent time continuing to broaden and refine his production skills.  In 2017, he curated TRIBE UNCOVERED at Turner Hall, where he led 20+ of the city’s most exciting musicians in a re-imagining of the work of Tribe Called Quest.  He followed this in 2018 with curating, recording, and releasing his first live album, AMERICAN KLASSIKS, a reinterpretation of classic hymns, anthems and spirituals, re-imagined with deep 808s, lush strings, and deft lyrical and musical improvisation, delivered as both social commentaries and declarations of hope and resilience.  His most recent album (QUIET, 2019) was named the #1 album of 2019 by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and garnered awards for Best Solo Artist and Critic’s Choice for Album of the Year at the 2019 Radio Milwaukee Music Awards.  A true class act, Klassik works to stir the souls of listeners into action with empathy, passion, and purpose through his own self-reflective sonic art.     

Sam Neufeld

Trumpet

Background

Sam Neufeld is the creator of the #1 online practice tool dedicated to helping trumpet players improve their technique. Through trumpetwarmup.com, Sam is helping trumpet players of all ages and experience levels to reduce their struggles with the trumpet.

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Sam has worked with top-tier Milwaukee based trumpet players Matthew Ernst, Principal Trumpet of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Don Sipe, Principal Trumpet of Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra. They are featured on trumpetwarmup.com alongside other talented professional players.

Sam has played trumpet for 18+ years. In 2015, he was recipient of the 1st place award at the National Trumpet Competition – Jazz Division. He has performed, studied, and taught around the world. From the Bern Jazz Festival in Switzerland to the Montreal Jazz Festival in Canada to teaching and performing at the Jalisco Jazz Festival in Mexico, Sam has also studied under the wing of greats like bassist for the late-John Coltrane, Reggie Workman and two-time Grammy Award winner, Brian Lynch. Sam has had a wealth of experiences that he now brings to online education.

Wendel Patrick

Music Producer | Turntablist

Background

Wendel Patrick has been referred to as “David Foster Wallace reincarnated as a sound engineer” by Urbanite Magazine and as “wildly talented” by the Baltimore Sun. He has been referred to by XLR8R magazine as “a hip-hop producer that could easily make any fan of Squarepusher, Boards of Canada, or Madlib flip out.” The alter-ego of classical and jazz pianist Kevin Gift, Wendel Patrick has made a name for himself internationally as a music producer of remarkable vision, skill and talent. His five albums: Sound, Forthcoming, JDWP, Passage, and Travel were all produced without the use of sampling, with Patrick playing every note of every instrument. What is perhaps most astounding and perplexing to listeners is that there are actually no instruments…he crafts all of the instruments, and plays every note, electronically.

Equally at home performing on stage with his band, behind two turntables, beatboxing, improvising, or playing a Mozart Concerto on stage with orchestra, Wendel Patrick has toured Europe on several occasions and performed throughout the world with renowned spoken word artist and poet Ursula Rucker (The Roots, 4 Hero). In 2014, Wendel Patrick traveled to Australia as a guest lecturer, speaking about music production and entrepreneurship in the arts at The Australian Institute of Music in both Sydney and Melbourne. In 2011, Wendel Patrick co- founded the Baltimore Boom Bap Society, with Erik Spangler (DJ Dubble8) that performs monthly improvised hip hop shows with hand picked musicians and emcees. The group’s collaborative performance with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra of Igor Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale was recently named “Best Mesmerizing Performance of 2016” by Baltimore Magazine. Wendel Patrick’s music has also been heard across the country on NPR stations, most notably on Out of the Blocks, an award winning radio documentary program he co-produces with radio producer Aaron Henkin for NPR affiliate WYPR that has been featured by the Third Coast International Audio Festival and Hearing Voices as well as on the BBC. Recent performances included a new collaboration between the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Baltimore Boom Bap Society, on which Patrick’s orchestral compositions were performed. An avid photographer and videographer, his photography has been exhibited in several art galleries including the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Ralph Arnold Gallery in Chicago. Patrick shoots all of the accompanying documentary photography and videography for Out of the Blocks.

Wendel Patrick/Kevin Gift majored in both music and political science at Emory University and earned his M.M. in Piano Performance as a scholarship student at the Northwestern University School of Music in Evanston Illinois. Patrick is a winner of the 2015 Baker Artist Awards’ Mary Sawyers Baker grand prize and was a member of the faculty at Loyola University in Baltimore, Maryland from 2001 to 2013 teaching piano, introduction to music theory, music history and electronic music production. He has taught at the Maryland Institute College of Art and at Loyola University Chicago where he was Department of Fine and Performing Arts Guest Artist- in-Residence for 2019.

Wendel Patrick is currently a professor at The Peabody Music Conservatory – Johns Hopkins University where he teaches “Hip Hop Music Production: History and Practice”, the first course of its kind to be taught at a major traditional music conservatory anywhere in the United States. He has recently been named as the new host of “Artworks” on Maryland Public Television/PBS.

Lenard Simpson

Saxophonist

Background

Lenard Simpson is a saxophonist, composer and educator from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Lenard was mostly self-taught through high school, but his natural ability and musicianship earned him accolades such as membership in the esteemed Grammy Camp Jazz Session, and an outstanding soloist award at the Mingus Jazz Competition in New York City. Lenard has had the opportunity to play with artists such as pianist and composer-Billy Childs, Clayton Cameron, Kurt Elling and Marquis Hill. Lenard received a B.M in Jazz performance at Northern Illinois University and as a core member of the legendary jazz program’s many award winning ensembles. While studying at NIU, Lenard was awarded first place in Chicago’s esteemed Luminarts Jazz Competition. Upon graduation, Lenard moved to Chicago and soon became one of the city’s top call saxophonists playing sideman to legendary local drummers, George Fludas and Charles Heath. Lenard’s trio has appeared at premier clubs and jazz festivals throughout the Chicago and Milwaukee area.​

In 2018, Lenard was selected by a panel of Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, James Newton and Ambrose Akinmusire to be a member of the Thelonious Monk Institute Fellowship, which has since been renamed to the Herbie Hancock Institute. After graduating from the prestigious institute, Lenard moved back to Chicago, Illinois where he accepted a Fellowship award to teach and perform through the Jazz Institute of Chicago. Lenard remains active as a performer and educator in the jazz community. ​In addition to maintaining an active performing schedule as a leader and sideman, Lenard is also an educator and has taught at several high profile jazz camps including the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, Northern Illinois University, and Birch Creek. Additionally, Lenard has taught masterclasses for international Jazz Day in Melbourne, Australia and at the Sitka Jazz Festival in Sitka, Alaska.

Meet WCM’s Jazz & Contemporary Music Faculty

Hannah Johnson

Education

  • Bachelor of Music, Jazz Studies | Indiana University Jacobs School of Music

Background

  • Joined the Conservatory faculty in January 2019.
  • Teaches and plays various styles of music on the drum set, specializing in jazz.
  • Plays with her modern jazz quartet in the Milwaukee area.
  • Featured as an instructor for the Vic Firth video series “Inside the Teaching Studio” entitled How to Sound Like Elvin Jones.
  • Has played with musicians such as Leni Stern, Ingrid Jensen, and Jamie Baum.
  • Enjoys teaching the bucket drumming and world percussion classes through the Conservatory Connections program, as well as private percussion lessons.

Aaron Van Oudenallen

Education

  • Berklee College of Music

Background

  • WCM faculty member since 2005.
  • Moved back to his roots in Milwaukee after 10 years of living in New York and touring and recording with the band ulu.
  • Has played and recorded with many bands and artists, including De La Buena, Choir Fight, Jamie Breiwick, Steve Peplin, The Static Chicken, Tristan Royalty Squad, The Extra Crispy Brass Band, The Soul Trio, The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and Eric Bennet.

Johnny Padilla

Education

  • Miami Central High School

Background

Why did you choose to work at WCM?

Job Offer from WCM.

What year did you start working at WCM?

2018

Describe a musical experience or teacher that had a positive impact on you.

Making the All-State Band in Florida.

http://www.johnnypadilla.com

Mitchell Shiner

Chair, Jazz & Contemporary Music

Education

  • Bachelor of Music, Emphasis in Jazz Studies | Indiana University Jacobs School of Music
  • Performer’s Certificate for Senior Recital

Background

  • WCM faculty member since 2016.
  • Began playing drums at age eight and has been studying percussion since age nine.
  • Co-leads tour-de-force fusion group, “Match Stick,” which released a self-titled album in 2019.
  • Released his debut CD, “FLY!”, in 2014, which invites listeners on a musical journey of original compositions and out-of-the-box arrangements for 20-piece big band.
  • Featured clinician for the 2015 Summerfest Big Band Camp, along with Curt Hanrahan and Mike Steinel.
  • Conducted masterclasses at UW-Parkside, University of Indianapolis, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Park Tudor School, and Nicolet High School.
  • Teaches percussion at several Milwaukee public schools through the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music’s Conservatory Connections program.

Rosemary McGee Walzer

Education

  • Master of Music, Instrumental Conducting – University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
  • Bachelor of Music, Music Education – Heidelberg University

Background

Why did you choose to work at WCM?

WCM has a long-standing tradition of nurturing musical talent and promoting artistic excellence. I wanted to be surrounded by students and faculty who share my love for music and also want to create an inspiring and dynamic learning environment.

What year did you start working at WCM?

2019

Describe a musical experience or teacher that had a positive impact on you.

One of my favorite teachers always encouraged me to step outside of my comfort zone and open up to new musical experiences.