The California Jazz Conservatory, previously
known as the Jazzschool, is a clandestinely owned non-profit music school for jazz students in Berkeley, California. Established
in 1997, the school won certification as a conservatory in early 2014. It is the one and only American school
with a year-round jazz music program.
History
The
California Jazz Conservatory was established in 1997 as "Jazzschool"
by Susan Muscarella, a jazz pianist who studied with Wilbert Baranco in
the 1970s, together with a band, and released a solo album called Rainflowers in
1979. She first trained and then became the director of the Jazz Ensembles
program at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1989 she left the
Cal music department for personal teaching and professional act, playing at
various times with Sheila E, Sonny Rollins, Marlena Shaw, Marian
McPartland, and Arturo Sandoval. In 1997 Muscarella acquired an old
1880s residence at 2377 Shattuck Avenue in downtown Berkeley to accommodate the
school and an allied cafe called La Note, the latter run by her neighbor,
environment designer Dororthée Mitrani-Bell. The California Jazz Conservatory admitted
about 130–150 students in its first quarter, trained by some 25 local jazz
musicians and educators. By 2001 the school admitted 600 students each
quarter. The street-level La Note space was later used by the California
Jazz Conservatory after hours as a classroom and performance space seating 60.
The
California Jazz Conservatory is in the 7,500-square-foot (700 m2)
basement of Berkeley's historic Kress building. In 2002 to suit its
extension the school shifted to larger accommodations a few blocks away at 2087
Addison Street, leaving the cafe to function separately. The new setting—the
basement of the historic S. H. Kress & Co. retail store in the
middle of the Downtown Berkeley Arts District—was rebuilt to have 12 rehearsal
rooms, 14 classrooms, a 60-seat concert space and a snack shop called Jazzcaffé. The
act space was named Hardymon Hall to memorialize Berkeley High School's
dynamic jazz educator Phil Hardymon who launched the Berkeley Jazz Project in
1975 for high school students. In January 2002 the opening performance in
Hardymon Hall attributed singer Madeline Eastman backed by pianist Frank
Martin, bassist Peter Barshay and drummer Vince Lateano. In 2009, the
"Jazzschool Institute" began working under the "Jazzschool"
umbrella. The Jazzschool institution was a four-year music conservatory providing
a Bachelor of Music degree to vocalists and instrumentalists. The
Jazzschool Institute was outmoded by the California Jazz Conservatory in late
February 2014.
Faculty
San
Francisco Bay Area musicians who have trained at the California Jazz
Conservatory include pianist vocalist Kim Nalley, Taylor Eigsti, singer Madeline Eastman, violinist and violist Mads
Tolling, violinist and arranger Jeremy Cohen of Quartet San Francisco, singer
Joe Bagale of Jazz Mafia, percussionist
John Santos of the Machete Ensemble, flugel hornist Dmitri Matheny, percussionist and vocalist Edgardo Cambón of Candela
, singer Kellye Gray, saxophonist Anton
Schwartz, saxophonist Michael Zilber, horn player Ellen Seeling of Isis
pianist Mark Levine, and guitarist Mimi
Fox.
Scholarship
California
Jazz Conservatory students may be honored scholarships such as the Mark Murphy
Vocal Jazz Scholarship first given in 2009. Other developed donation
includes the Jamey Aebersold Scholarship and the William E. Robinson
Scholarship About 15% of the students is supported financially with a
scholarship. In 2012 the Eddie Marshall Scholarship Fund was commenced to honor
longtime faculty member Eddie Marshall, a drummer who serviced at the Keystone Korner jazz club in San Francisco's North Beach where
he participated behind jazz greats such as Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz and Bobby
Hutcherson.
Notable
students
Jazz poet
laureate Ishmael Reed got admitted in 1998 at the age of 60 to learn
jazz piano. He trained under Muscarella through 2004, and motivated a
class for teaching poetry opus intended for music. After his
"Jazzschool" period, Reed continual work with pianist Mary
Watkins, and in 2007 as the Ishmael Reed Quintet, he produced his debut album
called For All We Know on which he leads the band and plays
piano.