The JAS Academy, the renowned summer jazz program run by the Frost School of Music and music presenter Jazz Aspen Snowmass (JAS) in Aspen, Colorado, offers fantastic musical enrichment to its elite college-age students: full scholarships, performance opportunities, and the invaluable Frost School practice of teaching career as well as musical skills.
Last summer, the JAS Academy began offering another unique opportunity—the study of Afro-Caribbean jazz. Led by Frost School professor Etienne Charles, a Guggenheim Fellowship-winning Trinidadian native acclaimed for his explorations of Caribbean and African diaspora music and American jazz, the Afro-Caribbean Big Band session immerses young musicians in a rich musical arena largely absent from traditional conservatory settings.
“This was to create a greater understanding of Afro-Caribbean music and its place in the jazz idiom,” said Charles. “There is a big void in not just jazz education, but modern music education, that leaves out the Caribbean.
“This is a program that’s not just geared to playing and improvising and composing, but to finding new avenues for your musical exploration so you can deepen the experience for your audience and your bandmates.”
JAS Academy program director Charles Bergeron, a bassist and jazz studies professor at the Frost School, echoes Charles’s assessment.
“The importance of studying [Afro-Caribbean] styles is equally as important as the study of swing and be-bop,” Bergeron said. “These styles have had a significant impact on the evolution of jazz music.”
Bergeron’s roots in New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz that was also a nexus for Latin and Caribbean music, contribute to his understanding. “Etienne Charles prefers “Afro-Caribbean” because that term encompasses the music and culture of ALL Caribbean nations, and also the environment of New Orleans, where many of those cultures came together to form a unique new style of music,” Bergeron said.
Jazz Aspen CEO Jim Horowitz suggested adding a Latin jazz session to the JAS Academy’s regular Big Band session a couple of years ago. Bergeron, Dean Shelton G. Berg, and JAS Academy artistic director Christian McBride enthusiastically assented, and it kicked off last summer. The program runs from July 28 to August 11 and offers an intensive, immersive experience to 23 students from the Frost School and across the country. It includes hearing acclaimed artists like Cimafunk, an electrifying Cuban-funk act, and Jamaican jazz pioneer Monty Alexander’s Harlem Kingston Express.
“You’re not just learning the notes on the page and the rhythms on the drum,” said Charles. “You’re also learning the history behind [the music], the migrations behind it, the food that goes with it, the dance that accompanies it, the energies that create it.”
Charles organized an opening night get-to-know-you dinner for students to showcase the traditional Caribbean merging of culture and food. Bergeron made Creole and Cajun dishes, fellow Frost School professor Reynaldo Sanchez made a Cuban dish, and another team member made Argentine empanadas. Bergeron said students bonded during the event, leading to a stellar first jam session a day and a half later.
Bergeron said the JAS Academy Afro-Caribbean session is another example of the Frost School’s innovative approach.
“In an expanding world of artists and stylistic influences, this is an extremely valuable educational platform,” Bergeron said. “Presenting this program as a featured part of the Jazz Aspen Academy is a great example of the Frost School’s commitment to exploring the rich and diverse cultural history of America’s indigenous music and respecting the contributions of all cultures.”
The Frost School of Music at Festival Napa Valley, in California’s famous wine country, is a classical music counterpart to the JAS Academy that takes place in July. Led by Frost School professor Jennifer Grim, it features Frost School faculty and leading orchestral and chamber musicians teaching and performing with top classical music students.
Two Frost School faculty members gave additional presentations at the festival this summer, demonstrating the school’s breadth. Professor Carlos Rafael Rivera, a multi-Emmy-winning television and film composer, taught the masterclass From Scene to Screen—Inside the Art of Screen Scoring. Presented as part of the Television Academy Foundation’s professional development program Access: Behind the Screens, it featured Rivera, chair of the Frost School’s Media Scoring and Production program, leading an interactive session on the art and craft of musical storytelling and navigating Hollywood, drawing on his history of working on hit shows like “Dept. Q” and “The Queen’s Gambit.”
Meanwhile, Shannon de L’Etoile, a professor of music therapy who is also Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, gave an enthusiastically received presentation at Festival Napa Valley’s new Music and Wellness Symposium. It was led by Daniel J. Levitin, an award-winning neuroscientist, musician, and bestselling author—and longtime friend of Dean Berg.
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