Introduction to Latin Jazz: A Performance Workshop

Posted by on June 24, 2005

AMLA opens its 2005-06 Cultural Treasures Season with an Introduction to Latin Jazz: A Performance Workshop presented by Marlon Simon and his Latin Jazz Ensemble Co-sponsored by Strings for Schools and funded by the Knight Foundation.

WHEN: Tuesday, June 28, 2005 — 7 pm
WHERE: AMLA, 2726 N. 6th Street, Philadelphia, PA
COST: $5.00

Latin rhythms combined with Jazz harmonies and improvisations are fused together to create Latin Jazz Music. Mr. Simon and the Latin Jazz ensemble will explore the origins of both Latin and Jazz music genres, and the great musicians who experimented with fusing the two different styles of music. The Latin Jazz Ensemble will demonstrate and explain Jazz tune structures and basic Latin rhythms such as the cha cha cha and Rumba from Cuba, and The Bomba y plena from Puerto Rico, to name a few. Finally, Mr. Simon and the Latin Jazz ensemble will perform some popular Latin Jazz tunes and will explain how the fusion of the two styles works.

Strings for Schools and AMLA have partnered in an initiative called Immersion in Latino Music and Culture, which is generously funded by The Knight Foundation. Marlon Simon is the music and artistic director for this project, and will be giving performance seminars on Latin Jazz for students and adults at AMLA over the next 3 years. Mr. Simon and his Latin Jazz Quartet are currently doing residencies in schools throughout the Central East Region, teaching students how to play and listen to Latin Jazz. The end goal is to form a regional Latin Jazz Band for musically talented students in North Philadelphia. AMLA and Strings for Schools will work together on teacher training, using AMLA’s teachers as teaching artists. The teaching artists will teach Philadelphia School district teachers about the rhythms, elements, and origins of Latin Jazz Music in America so that they can teach their students to carry on this wonderful musical tradition.

Strings for Schools’ mission is to inspire students toward a lifelong involvement in music through interactive, one-hour concerts and workshops given by professional musicians, featuring classical, jazz, classic popular and/or multicultural music. Programs are designed to fill major voids in music education (due to budget restrictions, music teacher shortages, socio-economic conditions) in countless numbers of schools or dramatically advance the efforts of music educators where music instruction is available. Additionally, they connect schools with their local communities, enlisting parent and community leader support for quality music education, through community concerts that highlight the musical achievements of the students. SfS has become the largest outside resource for music education on the East Coast, providing 711 concerts with an outreach to 104,000 students and families during the 2003-04 school year – both up approximately 7-fold in the past five years.

Located in the heart of Philadelphia’s Puerto Rican/Latino community, the Asociacion de Musicos Latino Americanos (AMLA) is an arts organization dedicated to promoting the development, dissemination, and understanding of Latin music in the Philadelphia/Delaware Valley region with an emphasis on youth. Its organizational goals are to encourage excellence with a system of opportunities for exposure and recognition in artists of all caliber; from young students and emerging artists to those local performers who have multiple recordings; maintain and advance Latino culture by educating youth and the greater community about its richness; utilize the arts to bring diverse racial and ethnic communities from the Delaware Valley region together; and to utilize arts programs to explore creative ways to involve the community and address its social and economic concerns.

Please forward this message to anyone that might be interested.

Best wishes from.. saludos cordiales desde AMLA.

Asociaci?n de M?sicos Latino Americanos
2726 N. 6th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19133
(215) 223-3060 E-mail: amla@amla.org