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Guitarist Helmut Kagerer is one of VJC founder Attila Zoller’s foremost students. Helmut is currently living in his native Germany where he is a jazz guitar instructor at the Nuremberg Conservatory.

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2009 Summer Faculty

CLAIRE ARENIUS, Drums, Vocal accompanist

Recipient of NEA award to study with Charlie Persip
Tours with Archie Shepp, Melba Liston, Attila Zoller.
Numerous recordings

HOWARD BROFSKY, Trumpet, Theory

Professor Emeritus of Music, Queens College
President, Vermont Jazz Center

Dr. Brofsky has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in Jazz Education as well as in 18th-century Italian music. His numerous accomplishments include Fulbright grants to study and teach in France (where he made his first jazz recording) and Italy. He spent the fall of 1993 teaching jazz history to university students in Oslo, Norway and is the author of the definitive music appreciation text, "The Art of Listening." A regular with Larry Rivers and the Climax Band in New York, he has played with Jimmy Heath, Donald Byrd, Dexter Gordon, and other Jazz Greats. He has a recent CD entitled "73 down: drbebop," with among others, Attila Zoller, Jimmy Heath, and Larry Willis.

JAY CLAYTON, Voice

Many recordings including those with Fred Hersch, Vocal Summit, Jerry Granelli, Gary Peacock., Muhal Richard Abrams, Steve Reich, String Trio of New York and others. Faculty of Cornish College; clinician for many Universities and Jazz Workshops. Recipient of numerous awards and grants.

Ms. Clayton stepped into New York's exhilarating jazz scene in 1963. Since then she has performed and recorded throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe with leading jazz and new music artists including Steve Reich, Muhal Richard Abrams, John Cage, Julian Priester, Jane Ira Bloom, Nana Vasconcelos, Stanley Cowell and Bobby McFerrin. She has appeared at major U.S. venues including Lincoln Center, The Kitchen, Sweet Basil, Jazz Alley and at European festivals including North Sea and Montmartre.

She is also a member of the internationally acclaimed improvisatory vocal quartet Vocal Summit, which features Urszula Dudziak, Norma Winstone and Michele Hendricks.

HARVEY DIAMOND, Piano

Pianist Harvey Diamond has been one of the unsung heroes of the Boston jazz scene since the mid-1960s. He was among Lennie Tristano's last students in the 1970s, and has done concert appearances accompanying Sheila Jordan and Art Farmer. He has been teacher and mentor to generations of Boston-area musicians.

PETER ELDRIDGE, Vocalist

Vocalist Peter Eldridge is best known as a member of the Grammy Award winning vocal ensemble “New York Voices,” with whom he has recorded six studio albums and toured internationally for almost twenty years.  But Eldridge’s career is multifaceted: he is a composer whose works have been recorded by Nancy Wilson, Paquito D’Rivera, Jane Monheit and others.

 Eldridge is a singer claimed by JazzTimes Magazine to be “perennially classy.” He has released three acclaimed solo recordings and is one of the esteemed “Four Brothers,” in the company of Kurt Elling, Jon Hendricks and Mark Murphy. As a solo jazz vocalist, Eldridge has worked with Bobby McFerrin, Michael Brecker, Meredith Monk, George Benson, David Byrne, Jim Hall, the Roches, Jonatha Brooke, Bill Charlap, Betty Buckley, Joshua Redman, among others.  Peter Eldridge has served as Faculty of Manhattan School of Music since 1993.

STEVE JOHNS, Drums

Toured with Benny Carter, Mingus Big Band, Larry Coryell, John Hicks, and others; CDs with George Russell, Thomas Chapin, Gary Bartz, Billy Taylor, and others.

Since coming to New York from Boston in 1982, drummer, Steve Johns has played with a diverse number of musicians, including John Hicks, Larry Coryell, Bobby Watson, Gary Bartz, Diane Schuur and Roy Hargrove. He has toured the U.S. with the Count Basie Orchestra under the direction of Frank Foster; and Europe with the Gil Evans Orchestra, the George Russell Living Time Orchestra, and the Mingus Epitaph Orchestra, conducted by Gunther Schuller.

Mr. Johns has recorded with Gary Bartz, George Russell, and Thomas Chapin and has played drums in WGBH Boston's television documentary, An Evening with Stanley Turrentine as well as National Public Radio's Jazzset hosted by Branford Marsalis with the Mingus Big Band.

Steve Johns studied privately with renowned drummer, Alan Dawson and received his formal education from the New England Conservatory in Boston.

SHEILA JORDAN, Voice

Eight recordings as a leader; dozens of recordings with others. Faculty of New York's City College, Jazz In July (UMass), Stanford University and elsewhere. Recipient of two NEA fellowships, International Critic's poll winner and others.

Sheila Jordan began singing in Detroit in the 1940s, where she was initially inspired by the music of Charlie Parker, her "musical guru." Moving to New York City in the '50s, she sang in clubs and at jam sessions with some of the city's jazz giants, including Charles Mingus and Herbie Nichols, and studied with Lennie Tristano. In 1962, she made her acclaimed first recordings, including "Portrait of Sheila," an album on Blue Note. After touring with trombonist Roswell Rudd in the late '70s,

Jordan became a founding member of the Steve Kuhn Quartet. Jordan travels extensively, both here and abroad, performing as soloist, with her quartet and as co-leader of the Sheila Jordan/Harvie Swartz duo.

She teaches jazz vocal workshops at the City College of New York (since 1978), is a faculty member of "Jazz in July" at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and a visiting professor at Stanford University. She has received two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships and many recording honors, including Best CD of the Year for "Lost and Found" in Wire Magazine's (UK) "1991 Critics Choice" poll. She has appeared in festivals and jazz clubs around the globe.

HELMUT KAGERER, Guitar

Guitar instructor Helmut Kagerer is one of VJC founder Attila Zoller’s foremost students. Helmut is currently living in his native Germany where he is a jazz guitar instructor at the Nuremberg Conservatory.

His guitar work has been documented on over 25 recordings and includes performances or recordings with Clark Terry, Sam Rivers, Buddy de Franco, Peter Bernstein, Peter Leitch, Keith Copeland, Dwayne Burno and others. A CD with Attila Zoller was recently released by Enja Records.

Recipient of the honored Bavarian States Prize, Kagerer has studied at the Vermont Jazz Center, the Jazz School in Munich and the Conservatory of Music and Fine Arts in Graz, Austria. Helmut’s warmth and down to earth teaching style in combination with his vast teaching credentials will enhance the experience for this year’s guitar students as well as the VJC community.

JAMIE MACDONALD, Bass, Vocal accompanist, Theory

Jamie MacDonald is a first-call musician in Northern New England. He has studied formally with Michael Formanek, and Cameron Brown and holds a BM in music performance.

MacDonald is often paired with the noted drummer, Claire Arenius in groups such as  "The Ambassadors of Light" with Eugene Uman,  "The Diamond Cosmos" with Harvey Diamond and others led by Gene Rush and Draa Hobbs.  MacDonald has performed with Sheila Jordan, Carlos Averhoff, Bobby Bradford, James Williams, Helmut Kagerer, Mitch Seidman, Scott Mullett, Bob Gullatti, Michael Ray, the VJC Big Band, The Rod Levitt orchestra, Keene Chamber Orchestra, the BMC string quartet and the Raylnmor Opera Company; he had also worked extensively with Carnival and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.

MARCUS MCLAURINE, Bass

Marcus McLaurine is a touring artist with Count Basie, McCoy Tyner, Kenny Burrell, Lou Donaldson, Cleo Laine, Abbey Lincoln, Abdullah Ibrahim and a long and current association with trumpeter Clark Terry. Co-leader of Line=of=Reason.

Gene Rush, is professor emeritus of jazz and studio music at the University of Memphis where he coordinated the graduate and undergraduate jazz studies programs for 20 years. In a music career that spans nearly four decades, he has appeared on 23 albums and has performed with many international recording artists, from John Abercrombie to Attila Zoller.

He has also arranged and conducted recording sessions for Roberta Flack, Cybill Shepherd, and other artists. A former governor of the Memphis chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), Rush served as chairman of the chapter's arranging/composing craft committee for ten years. He is also former president of the Tennessee unit of the International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE). Since 1981, Rush has directed instructional programs at the Attila Zoller Vermont Jazz Center.

EUGENE UMAN, Piano, Theory

Executive Director, Vermont Jazz Center
Music Faculty, UMass-Amherst, Greenfield Community College

Eugene Uman took an MA from Queens College in Jazz Performance, and was a recipient of a Eubie Blake Scholarship. He was former faculty at 3rd Street Music Settlement House in NYC, Colegio de Musica, Medellin, Colombia, and has recorded with Carlos Averhoff of Irakere as well as various Latin American ensembles; also performed with Donald Byrd, Jerry Bergonzi, Larry Rivers group, Vermont Jazz Ensemble. Eugene has been commissioned by the Big Band de Medellin to compose and perform, and has given workshops at the university level in jazz composition, jazz theory and harmony, jazz improvisation, jazz pedagogy, and jazz history and appreciation.

PETE YELLIN, Saxophone

Director, Jazz Studies Program, Long Island University
Board of Advisors, Vermont Jazz Center

Pete Yellin is a graduate of Juilliard and Brooklyn College and currently director of jazz studies at Long Island University. He appeared at Newport Jazz Festival with Charles Mingus in 1975 and performed with Thad Jones, Herbie Hancock, Jackie Byard and George Coleman. He toured Spain with John Hicks in 1991, was featured at the Copenhagen Jazz Festival in '91 and '92, and recently worked as a clinician at NYU and Duke, among other universities. He has taught at the Vermont Jazz Center's summer workshop for many years. The Yellin Discography includes five albums each with Tito Puente and the Bob Mintzer Big Band, as well as others with Buddy Rich, Sam Jones and Joe Henderson. As leader he recorded twice for Mainstream and has a CD on DWI featuring guest artists Rufus Reid, Kenny Drew Jr., Javon Jackson, Carl Allen, Lew Soloff, among others.

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