DSOABANDBEAT January 10, 2013

Jazz Masters Printup, Jackson to Come to DSOA

Printup's contemporary attitude and grounding in the small-group jazz of 1960s Blue Note combine in his playing and his compositions...his personality is too strong and his style by now too mature to be dominated by someone else's conception.
Doug Ramsey, JazzTimes

Marcus Printup and Ali Jackson of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra hold February master classes with Dreyfoos Jazz students.
By Brian Ross

Photo: Frank Stewart

Marcus Printup
Photo: Frank Stewart

A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts DSOA Jazz program is one of the top high school Jazz programs in the nation. The revised program, in its third year, has turned out three Florida All_State musicians a year for the last two years under the direction of Pedro Hernandez-Ibarra. Their current Saxophone line in the Jazz Ensemble is the best in the state, with three All-State musicians playing. DSOA Jazz students have appeared with the Grammy Student Band, the Jazz Band of America. Winner of the Palm Beach County Battle of the Bands in 2012, DSOA Jazz graduates some of the nest new Jazz artists in the nation. They have landed millions in scholarships at universities, colleges and conservatories nationwide.

WEST PALM BEACH, FL., 01.10.13 - Two of modern Jazz best artists, trumpeter Marcus Printup and drummer Ali Jackson who spend the majority of their playing time as members of Wynton Marsalis Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, will be coming to the A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts in West Palm Beach, Florida on February 13th to hold master classes for students in the DSOA Jazz program. Marcus Printup was born and raised in Conyers, Georgia, where the gospel music of his parents church infused him with his grounding in one of the foundational forms of American music and the roots of Jazz. He attended University of North Florida on a music scholarship,

Ali Jackson

where he won the International Trumpet Guild Jazz Trumpet competition. In 1991, Printup met his mentor, the great pianist Marcus Roberts. Roberts then introduced Printup to trumpet legend Wynton Marsalis. Marsalis was so impresed with him that he extended an invitation to join the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra in 1993. Printup has recorded with some of the modern legends of Jazz, including Betty Carter, Dianne Reeves, Eric Reed, Madeline Peyroux, Ted Nash, Cyrus Chestnut, Wycliffe Gordon, and Roberts, among others. His records as a leader include Song for the Beautiful Woman,

Unveiled, Hub Songs,Nocturnal Traces, The New Boogaloo, Peace in the Abstract, Bird of Paradise, London Lullaby, Ballads All Night, and A Time for Love. Printup has several albums to his credit including, Homage, released in 2011. His screen debut was in the indy movie Playing by Heart.

DSOABANDBEAT January 10, 2013

Printup, Jackson to Come to DSOA (Cont.d)

Marcus Printup and Ali Jackson of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra hold February master classes with Dreyfoos Jazz students.

Ali Jackson graduated from Cass Tech High School in Detroit in 1993. He went to the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York. By 1998 he received Michigans prestigious Artserv Emerging Artist award. He was also selected as the soloist for the Beacons Of Jazz concert honoring legend Max Roach at The New School. He graduated with a degree in music composition and then studied with jazz drumming legends Elvin Jones and Max Roach. Jackson, a modern legend, drums for dozens of the worlds best musicians, including the Jazz Orchestra at Lincoln Center, Wynton Marsalis, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Aretha Franklin, George Benson, Harry Connick, Jr., KRS-1, Marcus Roberts, Joshua Redman, Vinx, Seito Kinen Orchestra conductor Seiji Ozawa, Diana Krall, and the New York City Ballet. Most recently, his production skills can be heard on George Bensons GRP release Irreplaceable. Jackson is also featured on the Wynton Marsalis Quartets The Magic Hour (Blue Note, 2004), and on Marsalis 2007 album From the Plantation to the Penitentiary. He collaborated with jazz greats Cyrus Chestnut, Reginald Veal and James Carter on Gold Sounds (Brown Brothers, 2005), a project that transformed the alternative rock band Pavements songs into unique virtuosic interpretations, with the attitude of the church and the juke joint. A member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra since 2005, Jackson currently performs with the Wynton Marsalis Quintet, Horns in the Hood, and leads his own Ali Jackson Quartet. He also hosted Jammin with Jackson, a series for young musicians at Jazz at Lincoln Centers Dizzys Club CocaCola. He voiced Duck Ellington, a character in the Penguin book and music series Baby Loves Jazz, released in 2006.

The visit will also be a reunion of sorts. Printup and DSOA Band Director Evan Rogovin played together in college. The visit came about last year when the Jazz Orchestra at Lincoln Center came to the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, and both the Center and the JOLC opened their rehearsal to DSOA Jazz students and invited a few students back stage. A.W. Dreyfoos is one of the top performing arts and academic high schools in the nation, ranked 37th by Newsweek/The Daily Beast out of more than 21,000 public high schools. DSOA Jazz graduates some of the nest young Jazz performers in the nation. Contact Brian Ross info@therossgroupft.com for more.

New Age of Jazz Trumpeter Marcus Printup and drummer Ali Jackson are at the vanguard of the new Jazz age. They will bring their unique perspectives to master classes for DSOA Jazz students at Dreyfoos School of the Arts this February.