The Jazz Ensemble Program

Led by Artist in Residence Kris Allen, and featuring a large ensemble (Williams Jazz Orchestra) and several small jazz ensembles, jazz at Williams has many exciting facets. The exploration of the great Black American art form we call jazz is a collaborative journey involving students, faculty, and occasional guest artists. Within a supportive community, students grow and learn together. Ensembles are directed by Professor Allen or Artist Associate Gregg August.

Ensembles
The Williams Jazz Orchestra (WJO) performs repertoire that spans the history of large jazz ensemble music by great composers and arrangers including Duke Ellington, Mary Lou Williams, Charles Mingus, Thad Jones, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Oliver Nelson, Maria Schneider, and Darcy James Argue among many others. The WJO performs one major end-of-semester concert, often featuring a guest soloist. (Guests have included Ray Vega, Tanya Darby, Lionel Loueke, Alexa Tarantino, Bruce Harris, James Burton III and Benny Golson!) This ensemble also teams up with the ballroom dance club each semester to stage the very popular Swing Dance from the intimate stage of Goodrich Hall. Performing to a packed dance floor in the style of the 1930's era Count Basie Orchestra, the band prepares by absorbing the technique of corporately improvising "head charts," an important part of jazz language and big band history.

Jazz Combos are a cornerstone of Jazz Activities; an opportunity for students of varying experience and skill levels to discover and practice skills of improvisation and group interplay. Group members not only study standards and pieces by artists such as Wayne Shorter, Thelonious Monk, Joe Henderson, Horace Silver, and Geri Allen, but they are also encouraged to contribute compositions and arrangements of their own. Combos create an opportunity to gather skills that help students become active lifelong jazz musicians. These ensembles rehearse twice weekly for a total of 3 hours, and perform 3 times per semester, in a variety of campus settings.

Membership
There is one audition period held over two days during the first week of the school year that serves to populate all of the Williams Jazz Ensembles, (WJO and Combos). Please follow the link to our fall Open House and look for the jazz auditions sign-up. Please note that the sign-up sheets are open at the end of August.
Prepare any piece (at all!) of your choosing to play for Prof. Allen. You will also be asked to sight-read and to improvise over a blues or other progression of your choice. We'll also talk about your musical experiences and preferences and about any scheduling concerns. It won't be so bad.

Prospective Students

We'd love to hear from you and have the opportunity to answer any questions you have about Jazz at Williams. Please email Kris Allen [email protected]. If you are coming to campus, we'd also love to host you, and share some of our many jazz-related rehearsals and classes. (Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays tend to be the best days for this!) More information about creating an Arts Supplement for your Williams application.

Purple Note: Student Jazz Club Allies

Purple Note is an RSO (Registered Student Organization.) It is separate from, but frequently works in tandem with the Music Department. Its membership includes both performers and nonperformers who want to stay informed of events planned by the organization. Purple Note offers opportunities for Williams students to interact with the jazz community, both on and off campus, in informal contexts. Specifically Purple Note seeks to encourage students to meet and play with one another, to publicize student performances to the campus community, to sponsor concerts by professional guest artists, and to organize off-campus events, and to stay connected with the broader jazz community. Overall, Purple Note seeks to create a welcoming environment for jazz musicians of all levels of involvement at Williams. For more information contact Gwyn Chilcoat [email protected] or Adithya Vaidhyan [email protected]

Jazz Studies Coursework

Prof. Allen offers a range of courses that deal with topics in jazz theory/performance and history.

MUS 104b Jazz Theory and Improvisation
MUS 204 Advanced Jazz Theory Composition and Arranging
MUS 151 A History of Jazz
MUS 252 Introduction to the Music of John Coltrane
MUS 254 Bebop- the (R)evolution of Modern Jazz and
MUS 352T Interplay-Collaborative Traditions in Jazz

Detailed descriptions can be found in the course catalog: https://music.williams.edu/courses/

FAQ

1. Can I be a member of a jazz ensemble without majoring in music?

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes! All ensembles are open to all students, regardless of whether or not they decide to major in music- (and are typically comprised of 80-90% non-majors)

2. Are the ensembles varied by experience/skill level?

Yes, our goal is to find a place for as many folks as possible to grow and be appropriately challenged, grouping folks with similar skill levels and experience together as much as possible.

3. Can I be a member of more than one ensemble?

Yes!* Many folks enjoy being a part of a combo and WJO, or multiple combos. The * is just to note that the opportunity to do so will vary from year to year for each instrument, depending on the relative supply and demand of each. (So for example, one year might be a surplus of drummers and opportunities grow rare, the next year might see most of those folks graduate or go abroad and opportunities abound!)

Visiting Artists

Williams continues to regularly host concerts and masterclasses by some of the leading figures in jazz music today, such as Terri Lynn Carrington, Immanuel Wilkins, Jeremy Pelt, Linda Oh, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Jimmy Greene, the Black Art Jazz Collective, Mark Turner, Helen Sung, Wallace Roney, Edmar Castaneda, Melissa Aldana and Kenny Garrett.

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Jazz Groups for Hire
If you are interested in hiring a group of Williams Jazz students to play at a public or private event, please contact Kris Allen - [email protected]