What We Do
LIVE MULTI-MEDIA EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES Featuring METTA QUINTET:
In response to the overwhelming need for supplementary arts programming, JazzReach has developed a unique and diverse repertoire of substantive, high quality live educational programs for young audiences that are especially tailored to elucidate the art form and complement a broad range of students' everyday classroom curriculum.
All of JazzReach's educational programs for young audiences are highly immersive and interactive and are as entertaining as they are informative and actively engage students in an analysis of:
- the cultural factors that have come together to make jazz such a compelling art form
- the social conditions that shaped the music's development
- the immense impact jazz has had on the sound and evolution of indigenous American music
 Targeting students in grades 6-12, this exciting, all-new live multi-media program celebrates the groundbreaking achievements of the iconic trumpeter, bandleader and cultural provocateur, Miles Davis. The program traverses Davis' extensive career and features music from some of his most creatively fertile periods of his career, including his controversial divergence into electric music in the late 1960's. Using both, jazz history and 20th century American history as a backdrop, Miles Davis and the Blue Flame Incident (which alludes to one of Davis' earliest childhood memories) will engage, inform and enlighten student audiences about one of the most compelling, infinitely creative and trailblazing artists the world has ever known. |
| Grade: 6-12 |
| Curriculum Connections: Social Studies, U.S. History, African American History, Arts Education |
 Hangin' with the Giants is a fun, high-energy program designed to promote the inclusiveness and accessibility of jazz while highlighting the legacies and music of some of the art form's central contributors. Staged as a late night talk show, Hangin' with the Giants features animated likenesses of jazz greats, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk as show guests and offers numerous opportunities for students to interact and participate. |
| Grade: K-4 |
| Curriculum Connections: Social Studies, US History, African American History, Arts Education |
 Get Hip! is a fun, interactive introduction to jazz that illuminates the art form's cultural origins, concepts about improvisation and creative self-expression and explores the role and responsibility of each individual member of the jazz ensemble and how they all must work together to serve and achieve the collective goal of making great music. Get Hip! also draws parallels between the ensemble, the bandstand and community as an effective means by which to promote important social values such as civic responsibility, teamwork, collaboration and cooperation. |
| Grade: 3-5 |
| Curriculum Connections: Social Studies, US History, African American History, Arts Education, Geography |
ALL JAZZREACH PROGRAMS INCLUDE:
- LIVE Music featuring METTA QUINTET + Special Guests
- LIVE Narration
- Captivating, Integrated Video Projections
- Optional Post-Show Q&A with Artists
 Targeting young audiences in grades 3-6, ELLINGTON! is a highly engaging, interactive live multi-media educational program that aims to illuminate the rich, vital legacy of the great American composer, pianist and bandleader, Duke Ellington. One of the most prolific, celebrated musicians in music history, Duke Ellington's canon comprises a timeless, highly personal aural account of both, the human condition and African-American experience of the 20th century. Through the creative integration of live music, captivating video projections, live narration and numerous audience-particiation segments, JazzReach's ELLINGTON! introduces new generations to a wide variety of Duke's broad array of musical achievements, from hit songs to blues riffs to extended suites and scores for stage and screen. ELLINGTON! was commissioned by and successfully premiered at the Robert Ferst Center for Performing Arts in February, 2011. |
| Grade: 3-6 |
| Curriculum Connections: Social Studies, U.S. History, African American History, Arts Education |
 Much like its main-stage counterpart, this immersive, globally themed multi-media program features performances of all new commissions by prominent, internationally recognized jazz composers hailing from countries as diverse as, West Africa, Israel, Cuba, Puerto Rico, India, and the United States. The program also features fun, short video interludes that offer biographical background on each of the project's composers and commentary on the various ways that both the American jazz tradition and their individual cultural heritages have informed and inspired their respective visions and artistic sensibilities. |
| Grade: 3-6 |
| Curriculum Connections: Social Studies, Arts Education, Geography |
 Stolen Moments is a thoroughly captivating and informative program that introduces audiences to jazz music's rich history and to the names, faces and music of some of its many masters. On a broader level, Stolen Moments also highlights the interplay between the jazz movement and the evolution of American culture throughout the 20th Century, emphasizing the ways in which jazz has acted as a unifying force, bridging cultural, ethnic and economic differences; stimulated cultural fusions and new stylistic idioms; exemplified democratic ideals; and influenced other genres of music, both in the U.S. and abroad. |
| Grade: 6-12 |
| Curriculum Connections: Social Studies, US History, African American History, Arts Education, Geography |
 She Said / She Says is a comprehensive program highlighting some of the many important achievements of female composers, arrangers, instrumentalists and vocalists from early 20th century through present-day. Using U.S. and 20th Century women's history as a backdrop, She Said / She Says celebrates the lives of some of the many courageous, creative women who have dedicated their lives to the serious study and practice of jazz music. |
| Grade: 6-12 |
| Curriculum Connections: Social Studies, US History, Women's History, Arts Education |
