Year Round Instructors

Anna Patton comes from an eclectic musical background of jazz, classical, traditional and world music. A third generation singer and arranger of swing vocal harmonies, she teaches harmony singing at camps and festivals from New England to Idaho. She is also a much sought after clarinetist and travels far and wide to play for all kinds of social dancing. Her current projects include singing and playing with the swing quartet Housetop and with the dixieland contradance band Elixir.

David Ross earned a B.M. in Guitar and a B.A. in composition and theory from Keene State David went on to receive a M.M. and an Artist's Diploma at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins where he served as the assistant of the renowned guitar department. He studied Classical guitar with Jose Lezcano, Julian Gray, and Manuel Barrueco and jazz with Paul Bollenback. He is the curator of a new classical chamber music series at the Starving Artist in Keene.

George Kaye is a bassist and Jazz instructor with a Bachelors Degree in Jazz Bass from Manhattan School of Music. He teaches bass and the elements of jazz for any instrument.

Residing in Holyoke, MA, he performs at various venues in Western Mass such as Castle St and the Vermont Jazz Center and occasionally abroad. George also maintains a recording studio in NYC.

George worked and recorded with Houston Person and Etta Jones from 1996-2001. He also performed and/or recorded with Nicholas Peyton, Jimmy Giuffre, Dakota Staton, Jack Walrath, Slide Hampton, Zoot Sims, Clark Terry, Al Grey, Randy Brecker, Jackie Terrason and many others. He has performed at the Village Vanguard, the Blue Note (NYC and Tokyo) , The Jazz Bakery, and at festivals throughout the world.

Scott Mullett has played and toured with some of the best big bands in the world. After attending Berklee School of Music, Mullett toured with Woody Herman, Artie Shaw, and Mel Torme, and joined the national tours of Cats and 42nd Street. He has performed with Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin, Stan Getz, Lou Rawls, Ben Vereen, Cab Calloway, and many other notable performers.

Mullett has been a working musician ever since, and is now a first-call saxophone player for the greater Boston area, doing commercial studio sessions, and performing regularly with the White Heat Swing Orchestra and the C-Jammers. He has taught saxophone clinics at Berklee.

After serving as Musical Director for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines in the 90's, he came back to the Monadnock Region and continues to play jazz and teach in the Boston area as well as the Keene area.

Julian Gerstin, Ph.D. is an ethnomusicologist and percussionist specializing in music of Africa and the Caribbean. He has taught at Wesleyan University, Clark University, Marlboro College, and is currently at Keene State College.

At the Vermont Jazz Center, Julian co-leads the Latin Jazz Ensemble with Eugene Uman, runs an ensemble in the Summer Jazz Workshop, and serves on the Grants Committee and as President of the Board.

Julian Gerstin's percussive explorations have led him from the folk traditions of Ghana and Cuba to popular music from Nigeria to Brazil, as well as jazz styles from New Orleans brass bands to avant-garde experimentalism.

He currently appears with the Caribbean/Mideastern jazz group As Yet Quintet, Afrocuban dance ensemble Grupo Palo Santo, cajun band Lil' Orphans (on washboard!), Brattleboro's Brass Band Project, and accompanies the Brattleboro Women's Chorus, River Singers, and others.

Julian's scholarly interests took him to Martinique in 1993-95 and his articles on Martinican music traditions have appeared in several journals and books.

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.

Artistic Director, Vermont Jazz Center; Adjunct professor of Music at Universidad de Antioquia and Universidad EAFIT in Colombia, SA