Ravinia 2023 Issue 1

RAVINIA JAZZ MENTOR PROGRAM Founded in with the help of the late Ramsey Lewis and Penny Tyler, then the leaders of jazz programming at Ravinia, and former Chicago Public Schools music admin- istrator William Johnson, the Jazz Mentor Program provides talented high school mu- sicians the opportunity to develop their skills, deepen their connection to music, and create pathways for continued success. e program was the very rst CPS initiative of Ravinia’s Reach Teach Play® programs. e Jazz Mentors, a teaching and perform- ing ensemble consisting of eight of Chicago’s finest jazz musicians, give performances and master classes in Chicago Public High Schools. e Jazz Mentors share their enthu- siasm with music students and build on con- cepts taught by school band directors. A cen- tral component of the Jazz Mentor Program is the selection (through audition) of the Ra- vinia Jazz Scholars, a group of Chicago’s most talented student musicians. e Jazz Scholars receive intensive, year- round training by the Jazz Mentors, as well as scholarships and opportunities to perform. Many Jazz Scholars alums go on to study mu- sic in college, and several have become pro- fessional musicians, including Calvin Rogers, a drummer who was sought out early in his career by Ramsey Lewis for a recording ses- sion, and Franklin Vanderbilt, a drummer who performs with Lenny Kravitz. Former Jazz Scholars Marquis Hill, Michael Piolet, Kyle Swan, Alexis Lombre, and Carmani Ed- wards have been participants in the Ravinia Steans Music Institute Program for Jazz. In , Hill won the elonious Monk Inter- national Jazz Trumpet Competition, the most prestigious of its kind. Ravinia gratefully acknowledges Latham & Watkins LLP and the Ralph S. Ho man Foundation for their generous support of the Ravinia Jazz Scholars. One of the original Ravinia Jazz Mentors, drummer Ernie Ad- ams studied jazz at the University of North Texas and the Univer- sity of Wisconsin–Mil- waukee. In his career, he has toured, record- ed, or performed with Joe Williams, Nancy Wilson, Al Jarreau, Dianne Reeves, Stanley Turrentine (including a concert with Dizzy Gillespie), James Moody, Pharaoh Sanders, Benny Golson, Houston Person, Clark Ter- ry, Tom Harrell, Arturo Sandoval, Randy Brecker, Slide Hampton, Wycliffe Gordon, Ramsey Lewis, Ahmad Jamal, Joe Zawinul, Jack McDu and Joey DeFrancesco, Al DiM- eola, Mike Stern, Bucky and John Pizzarelli, Russell Malone, Buster Williams, Anthony Jackson, Jimmy Haslip, John Clayton, Pon- cho Sanchez, and Glen Velez, among many others. He has played on over recordings, including numerous television, radio, and movie soundtracks. Adams is a jazz instruc- tor at the Music Institute of Chicago. Born in Harlem and raised on the Upper West Side of New York City, Bobby Broom took up guitar at , and five years later made his rst appear- ance with Sonny Rollins at Carnegie Hall. He later toured and recorded with Rollins during – and – . Broom currently per- forms with the Bobby Broom Trio and the Bobby Broom Organi-Sation, and he was also co-leader of the Deep Blue Organ Trio from to . He has released over a dozen albums as a band leader, most recently Soul Fingers in , and four with the Deep Blue Organ Trio. roughout his career Broom has also been active as a jazz educator. He continues to conduct lectures, clinics, and master classes for colleges, universities, and jazz organizations nationally and sometimes abroad. Broom is an associate professor of jazz guitar and jazz studies at Northern Illi- nois University. Dennis Carroll has been playing bass pro- fessionally for over years. Originally from Poplar Grove, IL, he has become a nationally sought-a er bassist with deep roots in the Chicago jazz scene. For decades he has been a member of the Bobby Broom Trio, the Ron Perrillo Trio, and the Chicago Jazz Orchestra. Carroll has been featured on several recordings by fel- low Jazz Mentors, including Bobby Broom’s Plays for Monk and Pharez Whitted’s Tran- sient Journey , both of which reached the top of the jazz charts and received critical ac- claim. Also an accomplished composer and arranger, his work was recently featured on Soul Message and Hinda Ho man’s album People . Carroll has worked extensively with the next generation of musicians, including teaching students privately, conducting clin- ics, instructing combos, and serving as jazz bass professor at DePaul University. Eric Hines is an ac- complished perform- er of classical, jazz, Caribbean, Brazilian, Mexican, and popular percussion, maintain- ing an active interna- tional touring schedule alongside his work as a core faculty member of The People’s Music School, directing the wind ensemble and teaching percussion and music theory. As a bandleader, Hines appears regularly on the Chicago music scene directing his steel pan–driven Caribbean jazz ensemble Eric Hines & Pan Dulce. He is also the drum- mer and percussionist for Sones de México, a two-time Grammy-nominated Mexican folk music ensemble. Specializing in Cuban folkloric music, Hines has studied in Havana and Matanzas with master rumba musicians Maximino Duquesne Martinez, Francisco “Minini” Zamora Chirino, Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, and Los Rumberos de Cuba. His dissertation “Recipe for a Guaguancó Sabro- so: Understanding Quinto Improvisation in Cuban Rumba” was published in . Pat Mallinger was born and raised in Saint Paul, MN, where he began playing the saxophone at age . He earned his jazz studies degree in from North Texas State University and held regular gigs while residing in Los Ange- les, Dallas, Boston, and Japan before laying roots in Chicago in . Mallinger co-led the Sabertooth quartet on Saturday nights at the Green Mill from to , and he continued to lead the late-night band as Pat Mallinger’s Late Night Jazz Party. Mallinger is also heard around town performing with the Bobby Lewis Quintet, Model Citizens Big Band, Eric Schneider/Pat Mallinger Quintet, and his own quartet. He has made six record- ings under his name, most recently Perspec- tives in a trio with Brent Gri n Jr. and Lenard Simpson. e lead mentor and coordinator of the Ravinia Jazz Mentor Program, Mallinger has been a member of the group since its inception. Audrey Morrison has been director of jazz studies at the Music Institute of Chicago and on its jazz trom- bone faculty since . A performer and educator in both classical and jazz styles, she received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Eastman School of Music. Morri- son has been a member of the Clark Terry and Barrett Deems big bands, the DIVA band in New York, and the Chicago Jazz Ensem- ble, where she was lead trombonist for over years, and she was previously principal trombone of the Elgin Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, and National Arts Centre Or- chestra. She currently plays with the jazz sex- tet SHE and the Lake Forest Symphony. She is also on the faculty of North Park University and was a longtime summer instructor at the Birch Creek Music Center. Morrison is a fre- quent jazz festival clinician and adjudicator. Born in Pittsburgh, Richard Johnson has strong territorial jazz roots. He was rst in- troduced to the piano at age by his father, a gospel pianist in the church. A er graduating from the Berklee School of Music, Johnson entered the Bos- ton Conservatory, where he earned a master’s degree in jazz pedagogy, and completed an Artist Performance Diploma at the eloni- ous Monk Institute. He became a member of Wynton Marsalis’s septet and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra between and , and he has also played in the Russell Malone and Bobby Watson Quartets and the Delfeayo Marsalis Quintet. An accomplished composer and arranger, Johnson has four al- bums under his name, most recently Two of a Kind with Gregory Generet. He is currently the head jazz piano faculty professor at the Peabody Conservatory while also teaching and living in Chicagoland. Pharez Whitted has performed through- out the United States and overseas, includ- ing gigs at the Presidential Inaugura- tion, e Arsenio Hall Show , the Billboard Music Awards, Carnegie Hall, and the MoTown Music Showcase. He has performed with such notable jazz giants and popular musicians as Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, George Duke, Kirk Wh- alum, Elvin Jones, Slide Hampton, John Mel- lencamp, e Temptations, Roy Meriwether, e O’Jays, Lou Rawls, Ramsey Lewis, and former Tonight Show bassist and classmate Bob Hurst. Whitted has recorded ve albums as a bandleader, most recently Tree of Life , For the People , and the acclaimed Transient Jour- ney . In the Chicago Tribune named him a Chicagoan of the Year. He directs the jazz program at Chicago State University and was recently named jazz director of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. RAVINIA.ORG • RAVINIA MAGAZINE