Santa Barbara City College Teams Up with Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra

Next summer, the Santa Barbara City College campus will host aspiring jazz musicians from across the nation for an intensive six-week program taught by some of modern music’s best. The program, which is an exclusive partnership with New York’s prestigious Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, is led by Santa Barbara music instructor Winnie Swalley, Grammy-nominated jazz musician Ted Nash, and Pulitzer prize and multiple Grammy-award winning jazz legend Wynton Marsalis.

On Monday morning, Nash, Swalley, and other program administrators formally announced the program to potential contributors and the press at the Santa Barbara Club. Over the next academic year, Swalley said she hopes to secure full funding for the program through grants and contributions from local and national donors, eventually making scholarships available for talented students unable to afford the course’s enrollment fees, which will range from $5,000 to $8,000, depending on whether the student pays for room and board. While the price tag may look steep, JALC-SBCC offers more for the money than other summer institution programs like Interlochen and Stanford. In addition to the full-time, six-week program, local students will be able to audit the course for a one-time fee of $1,200.

The course spans six weeks, during which students from across the nation will eat, sleep, and breath jazz music, either commuting to the campus daily or housed in an apartment complex adjacent to the school. Roughly 90 students will be chosen through a highly competitive application process. 30 of the program’s spots, however, will be reserved for local musicians commuting to the campus from their homes in the area.

JALC-SBCC, as the new institute has been dubbed, will offer an advanced, individualized curriculum devised by Marsalis and Nash, two musicians at the forefront of jazz education. As opposed to other traditional jazz schools, Nash said JALC-SBCC’s curriculum will focus on each musician’s individual style, allowing young artists the freedom to develop their voice on their instrument. In addition to a rotating list of professional instructors, members of SBCC’s music department faculty will teach courses, including classes in music business management and career development. JALC-SBCC is geared toward young adult musicians over the age of 18 at the beginning of their careers.

The 90-odd JALC-SBCC students will comprise two full “big band” jazz ensembles, which will perform a show for public audiences each week of the six week program. Swalley said students will also be encouraged to participate in lunchtime “jam sessions” outdoors on the SBCC campus, which will be open to the public each day. Though the program itself will not begin until June of 2013, the JALC-SBCC website will be live and accepting applications on October 31. The application deadline is January 31, 2013. For more information on the program, call 965-0581 ext. 2379.