All-Star Band Marks 40 Years of Jazz Program

Forty years after the first official student jazz concert at Interlochen Arts Academy, an all-star ensemble of Interlochen jazz alumni is gathering to celebrate the program that sparked their interests. Interlochen Center for the Arts will mark the milestone with two free concerts featuring some of today’s finest jazz musicians.

On Friday May 4, at 8 p.m., the alumni will gather for a jam session in Corson Auditorium. On Saturday, May 5, at 8 p.m. the current students of the Interlochen Arts Academy Jazz Ensemble will perform alongside the alumni.  

Some of the alumni who are scheduled to perform include:

- Chris Brubeck
- Xavier Davis
- Peter Erskine
- David Sporny 
- Walter White
- Many more   

About the Jazz Program at Interlochen

Joe Maddy founded Interlochen Arts Camp at the tail-end of the ³jazz decade² but the organization was slow to embrace the genre. Although Maddy had once enjoyed considerable success as a jazz musician in Chicago, he had reservations about bringing jazz to the campus. There were no rules against listening to jazz, however. Many were soon hooked.
 
As a faculty member in the mid-1960s, Dave Sporny lived in the residence hall and often played records in his room, sending the sounds of John Coltrane, J.J. Johnson, Herbie Hancock and Stan Kenton into the dorm hallways and feeding the students¹ growing interest in jazz. Soon, a group of students, including Peter Bankoff, Nelson Bogart and Chris Brubeck formed their own group and performed for campus events.
 
Motivated by the students' growing appreciation and his own passion for the music, Dave felt that the time had come to establish a formal jazz program at Interlochen. With persistence, he was able to convince the administration to support a new performance ensemble he called a studio orchestra. After a month of rehearsals, the group had its first performance on Saturday, February 25, 1967 in the Jessie V. Stone building. The response from the student body was ecstatic.
 
In its first years, the ensemble featured expanded instrumentation including the use of French horns, strings, woodwinds, percussion and a tuba. This allowed the ensemble to perform a wide variety of music from traditional big band fare to the expanded music of Stan Kenton and Don Ellis. Within a short time, Interlochen offered courses in improvisation, jazz history and arranging.
 
Jazz at Interlochen has evolved to become an important part of the curriculum at the Academy and Camp. Today, the jazz ensemble generally consists of a standard 17-piece big band and it rehearses one hour each day. The jazz combo entered the curriculum in 1990, allowing students to develop their improvisational and small group skills.
Course offerings
have expanded to include jazz history, private jazz coaching and two levels of improvisation.
 
Forty years after the first performance, the roster of distinguished alumni, the advanced curriculum and exceptional level of performance place Interlochen¹s jazz program among the most prestigious high school programs in the country.