DSOABANDBEAT February 20, 2013

Guest artist Marcus Printup of the Jazz Orchestra at Lincoln Center works with Jazz Ensemble I trumpeter Benedetto Salvia.

Brian Ross

interpretations of the chart in front of them gave the tune that swing sound. With the band made up largely of
Ali Jackson with drummers Murphy Aucamp and Tyson Jackson.

sound, that thumbprint on what you play that makes a musician unique. Printup and Jackson spent a good part of the session talking about their own discoveries in the music, the rare air of a career in Jazz, and the hours of dedication and unrelenting practice needed to be one of the top players in the world. Ive been really fortunate, Jackson told the band. Ive been able to make my living playing music my whole life, since I was eight years old. Jackson, the son of professional musicians, is a third generation musician from Detroit. His father was a bassist who played during the heyday of the Bop era with some of the top bands of the day.

WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. 02.20.13 - Modern Jazz masters trumpeter Marcus Printup and drummer Ali Jackson, members of the worlds finest Big Band, the Jazz Orchestra at Lincoln Center, gave a full day of amazing master classes to the students of DSOA Jazz at the A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts last Wednesday. In the morning the pair met with the 0 Hour Jazz Band, and primarily worked on how to feel swing. 0 Hour players put down their instruments, and started singing the charts in front of them. Then Ali Jackson took to the drums and showed them how a few changes in not just the rhythm, but in their

freshman and sophomores, they spent time talking about how to go about finding the musicians own personal

Trumpeters worked on long tones and other elements of technique that could be applied to the instrument for classical, concert, or Jazz. They were invited to ask questions about specifics of technique that they wanted to improve. Taking advantage of modern technology, Marcus encouraged them to use their video on the cell phones of those who had them to get some of the lesson down. Drummers worked with Ali. 0 Hour bassist Amy Nickler sat in. Our newest artist-in-residence, percussion instructor Eric Rucker, also came for the afternoon breakout. Students showed Mr. Jackson what they could bring to the drums, and in turn, he showed them new techniques, and suggested ways to improve their performance. He spent a bit of time on the theory behind the rhythm sections interaction with the brass and woodwinds. A few students remarked at how effortless and easy Jacksons playing looked, even though the things that come naturally to him are much harder for musicians with a decade or two less experience under their belts. Ali emphasized how to make more of great sound with less effort.

DSOABANDBEAT February 20, 2013

Alis mom was a pianist, and, as we found out throughout the day, Ali himself knows his way around the piano. Working with his father anywhere he could, by the time Jackson was a teenager, he was already doing major professional gigs with artists like Aretha Franklin. Jackson attended Detroit's prestigious Cass Technical High School. A math whiz, he was offered a scholarship to go to college for math, but chose to go to The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, where he earned a BA in composition. Ali privately studied with masters of the music like Elvin Jones and Max Roach. For his part, Marcus Printup spoke to a very different pathway to the top of the jazz world. Marcus was born and raised in Conyers, Georgia. He didnt really begin playing the trumpet until he was 18 years old. He began his college in Georgia, then transferred to the University of North Florida (UNF) on a music scholarship. While at UNF he won the International Trumpet Guild Jazz Trumpet Competition. Then in 1991 he met the great pianist Marcus Roberts, who became his mentor. He in turn introduced Printup to Wynton Marsalis. Marcus told the students the story of being called out to play with Marsalis on stage at a show that he thought he came to watch. I guess it was my audition, he said, being thrown into the mix with some of the best jazz musicians in the world. During the day, the pair split up and held master classes for trumpeters and drummers of both bands in the large studio practice rooms.

Our guests took time out to sit down to a lunch provided by Band Parents Association President Mrs. Sheila Aucamp with DSOA band director Evan Rogovin, and jazz bands director Pedro Hernandez. In the afternoon, Printup and Jackson met with DSOA Jazz elite big band, the Jazz Ensemble I (JE1). An audience of other music students came to sit on on the upper bands session.

They worked up a chart being used for the upcoming Spring jazz concert with the JE1, then spent time talking about the music, what the future as a musician in professional jazz was really like: They didnt sugar coat the long hours, the road trips, and the importance of great people in your life who love and support you in your musical achievement. They spoke very personally about what keeps it real for them. Marcus talked about the work ethic that he learned from his father, who he shared had just passed away a few days earlier. He worked his whole life making batteries at a plant near his home town, and only missed a day of work once in all those years. He takes that approach to improving himself in his music. The final bell of the day sounded, but that didnt end the pairs visit to Dreyfoos. They stayed, talked, and jammed with students who stuck around until after 5pm. Marcus and Ali brought decades of music experience along with them, but it was their spirit, their generosity and the down-

to-earth way that they were with everyone at Dreyfoos that impressed both students and faculty the most. As big as the careers of these two masters of jazz are, they made everyone whom they met feel comfortable, at-ease, and heard. What DSOA Jazz students experienced is the apex of the perfect musicians career: Hard-working, extremely talented people who are the best at what they do because they truly love what they do, and they continue to learn and grow in their art as they give back and teach. Disciples of their band leader, the great Wynton Marsalis, theyget that educating the rising artists of the next generation of the music pays it forward, enriches the lives of all, and, most importantly, keeps the art of jazz living and vibrant for years to come. DSOA Band and the School of the Arts Foundation thank both Marcus Printup and Ali Jackson for coming down to West Palm Beach and sharing their time, talent, and wisdom with our kids.