By Niall Fulghum
The artistry of the faculty:
For me, the best part of the workshop has been the evening faculty performances. As an amateur jazz pianist, I particularly enjoyed watching Dr. Stephen Anderson. The talent at the workshop was incredible, and it has been a pleasure to watch the faculty perform nightly.
The people who attend a jazz workshop:
The workshop brings together a diverse group of people who share an interest in jazz music. Many of the participants are overwhelmingly talented and it was fun to watch them play.
I was also really impressed by what the students in my journalism section came up with. Reading what they had written made me want to produce work that was on their level.
The history of jazz:
In the mornings we studied the history of jazz with Dan Davis. He introduced me to some new artists, including Sarah Vaughn, Cecil Taylor, Jaco Pastorious, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, and Pat Metheny. We talked about how Miles Davis changed the course of jazz history with three pivotal albums – Birth of the Cool, Kind of Blue, and Bitches Brew. We also talked about the social and political context behind the history of jazz.
The subtleties of being exposed to an intense amount of jazz for one week:
The workshop begins at 9:30 a.m. and goes until nearly 9:00 p.m. daily. The music was initially overwhelming to me. On day one I went home utterly exhausted. As the week progressed, the music became easier to digest. Like how initially the language in a Shakespeare play is hard to understand but after a few hours they might as well be speaking normal modern English.