Well, I'm now back from this - the first time this course (formerly at Glamorgan University) has been run in the historic (and beautiful) site of Trinity College at Greenwich within the Royal Naval College.
The course was run by drummers Dave Wickens amd Buster Birch with Tutors for the week as follows :
Pete Churchill - Voice and Piano
Steve Watts - BassAlison Rayner - Bass
Dave Hassell - PercussionLiam Noble - Piano
Martin Speake - Alto SaxGeoff Simkins - Alto Sax
Lee Goodall - Alto Sax - variousJulian Siegel - Tenor Sax, flute
Stan Sulzmann - various saxes,fluteChris Batchelor - Trumpet,electronics
Dave Cliff - GuitarSo I spent most of the week in a small band with some great players and our tutor was Julian Siegel http://www.juliansiegel.com/ http://www.myspace.com/juliansiegel
Julian was a great teacher - sympathetic, but demanding and got us through some challenging music - we performed 3 songs at the nightly Jazz Club in the college. The first was "Tetragon" by Joe Henderson , then Central Park West by John Coltrane in a superb arrangement by Julian with a 4-part front line! Finally we did Wayne Shorter's "United", as an Afro Cuban 3/4 in the style of Jerry Gonzalez Fort Apache band!Julian also went through Coltrane's India and some of the tunes he is playing with Joey Baron and Greg Cohen in a trio. We also did alot of "Free" playing and discussed how to approach this.
So - most mornings were spent in the same "small band" with one tutor (Julian in our case)Afternoons were different every day :
Monday - we all went with Dave Hassell for a session on Afro Cuban rhythms.Tuesday - was Jazz Choir - everybody was split into Soprano,Alto,Tenor or Bass and sang parts written by Pete Churchill for an extended arrangment of the Latin tune "Estate" (accent on laste E) -spanish for Summer..?
Wednesday - was options - a choice of classes :
I did Free Playing with Julian Siegel and Steve Watts - great fun!
I can't remember all the other options - but there were things like :
Improvisation - Beginner's and Intermediate classes
How to remember tunes
Playing in small groups with no bass/drums - trios/duosLyrics
Walking bass linesetc. etc.
Thursday - was choir playing with a band of Liam Noble,Julian Siegel,Steve Watts and various percussionists - so we rehearsed it and played in the Jazz club in the evening.There was also a feedback meeting and "Mornington Crescent"!!
Friday was exhange to visit more options and I went along to a trio performance/presentation by Liam Noble, Dave Wickens and Chris Batchelor, who as well as playing trumpet, used electronics; sampling parts of the performance and modifying it and reintroducing the sounds ....? We asked questions and got to discuss this with the players.
So the basic layout of the day was :
9.00 am - 12.30 bands with tutorLunch
14.00 - 16.00 - Choir/Options etc16.00-18.00 Jam sessions
20.00 - 23.00 Jazz Club with bar!A full day and an exhausting week - but hugely enjoyable !!
Maybe more later...?