California Jazz Conservatory

   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.