TD Jazz Intensive

Monday, June 24 – Saturday, June 29, 2019

The SaskTel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival believes in supporting the musicians of tomorrow by providing opportunities that will assist secondary and post-secondary students develop as artists. With the support of TD, the festival is proud to present the TD Jazz Intensive, a week-long workshop emersion.

Program Coordinator: Dean McNeill, UofS Professor of Brass & Jazz

PROGRAM DETAILS

Come participate in a creative and celebratory jazz education experience like no other. This unique and innovative 6-day jazz educational opportunity is open to all students on all instruments of secondary and post-secondary ages.

Under the guidance of skilled jazz educators/performers, program participants will create and work toward a public performance at The Bassment, the home of the Saskatoon Jazz Society, at 1pm on Saturday, June 29, 2019 during the annual SaskTel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival.

The TD Jazz Intensive offers an extensive and broad range of valued musical experiences and opportunities that include:

• Instruction in jazz history, jazz theory, jazz improvisation, jazz combo, jazz composition and arranging
• Artist career development
• Meeting like-minded peers from across western Canada eager to develop their jazz-specific music skill sets
• Challenging opportunities for students of all music abilities
• Significant one on one time between our all Canadian faculty and participants
• Participants receive a Festival Pass. Pass holders are entitled to attend all 2019 SaskTel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival events that are not sold out (10 minutes prior to show time). Passes must be presented in person with ID for admission to events. 19+ events also require photo ID for proof of age.

What makes this experience particularly exciting and completely unique in our province is the opportunity for students to interact with touring musicians performing at the festival. Selected touring musicians as schedules will allow will drop in on the TD Jazz Intensive program to meet the participants and to conduct workshops for the students. Participants will also have the opportunity to be part of the audience at many shows.

A Message from the TD Jazz Intensive Program Coordinator:

It is a pleasure to be again involved in the SaskTel Jazz Festival’s TD Jazz Intensive music education project. We have assembled an impressive list of Canadian jazz educators who are at a variety of stages in their own career development to work in close quarters with some of western Canada’s most promising up and coming jazz talent. The 2019 SaskTel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival’s TD Jazz Intensive facilitates a special kind of experiential-based learning which is amplified by this project taking place during a major Canadian summer jazz festival! A special thank you to TD for their continued support specifically of this unique educational initiative!

Registrants: Please note that applications will be processed in the order in which they are received. As such we are highly encouraging you to apply soon if you wish to be guaranteed a spot within the 2019 TD Jazz Intensive.

This project will focus again on jazz performance, composition/arranging with room for instrumentalists of all kinds and vocalists too!

Dean McNeill
UofS Professor of Brass & Jazz, 
TD Jazz Intensive Coordinator 

HOW TO APPLY + FEES

TD Jazz Intensive Applications are now closed. 

Most of the costs of conducting the TD Jazz Intensive are borne by its generous sponsors. Only a small portion of the cost is charged to the participants.

All applicants to the program must submit an application. A participation fee of $125 applies for each musician accepted into the program. This is only charged if the applicant is successful. Students from outside Saskatoon are responsible for their own transportation, accommodations and meals. Do not send the participation fee with your application. You will be contacted for payment information if you are accepted into the program.

Payment methods: Cash, debit, Visa, MasterCard or cheque (payable to Saskatchewan Jazz Festival, Inc.). Note: Cheques will not be cashed until after the applicant has been informed they have been accepted.

IMPORTANT DATES

Application Deadline                        Friday, May 17, 2019

Program Orientation                        Sunday, June 23, 2019

TD Jazz Intensive                               Monday, June 24 – Saturday, June 29, 2019

Featured Performance                     Saturday, June 29, 2019

FACULTY

What makes this experience particularly exciting and completely unique in our province is the opportunity for students to interact with touring musicians performing at the festival. At least one touring musician will drop in on the program and conduct a workshop with the students. The students will also have the opportunity to be part of the audience at many shows.

Dean McNeill
Program Coordinator/High Brass/Large Jazz Ensemble

Yamaha Artist and award winning trumpet player/composer Dean McNeill regularly performs in both the classical and jazz idioms. Dean has been a faculty member at University of Saskatchewan Dept. of Music for the past 20 years and during this time he has performed and adjudicating throughout Canada and the United States. He has released 2 critically acclaimed CDs as a leader and he has produced and/or performed on numerous others CDs projects including 6 separate University of Saskatchewan Jazz Ensemble ‘Bumper Crop’ CDs. Dean is the recipient of the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival’s Special Recognition Award, UofS’s Student Union Teaching Excellence Award, UofS Dept. of Music’s Dwaine Nelson Teaching Award, and a Downbeat Magazine Big Band Arranging award. His performance of Kalla composed by Allan Gilliland won the Western Canadian Music Awards (W.C.M.A.) for best classical composition and he has shared the stage with the like of Jon Balantyne, Tommy Banks, David Braid, Bobby Caldwell, Dee Daniels, Phil Dwyer, Mark Fewer, Guy Few, Hugh Fraser, Wycliffe Gordon, Kelly Jefferson, Ingrid Jensen, Michael Kaeshammer, and Brad Turner to name a few. As an ensemble conductor Dean currently directs the UofS Jazz Ensemble, the International Music Camp’s Faculty Jazz Ensemble, the SaskTel Jazz Festival Jazz Intensive program, and, the Saskatoon Jazz Orchestra. Dean has led numerous professional jazz composition retreats at the UofS’s Kenderdine Campus and he has led many professional ensembles on Canadian tours and for special performance projects.

Mo Lefever
Guitar/Combo

Originally from Medicine Hat, Mo Lefever is a very active Edmonton-based professional guitarist and music educator. While firmly rooted in her high school jazz mixtapes, she has led many of her own music projects and has been a band member in among other ensembles such as Brett Miles’ Magilla Funk Conduit and GODIVA.

Mo was originally inspired to explore the jazz genre when the venerable Tommy Banks paid a visit to her high school in Medicine Hat Alberta. Once pointed in this direction there was no turning back. Mo’s early influences ranged from Jimi Hendrix to Chet Atkins. After high school Mo continued her musical training at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton where she gained technical competence and studied everything jazz.

Inspired by some of the great musical pioneers of the seventies including Joe Zawinul, Weather Report, Roland Kirk, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Pat Metheny and Stevie Wonder; Mo’s understated improvisations flow seamlessly between genres and moods

Greg Gatien
Saxophone/Combo

Greg Gatien is currently serving as Dean at Brandon University’s School of Music, where he has been a long-time member of the jazz faculty.  With a wealth of experience teaching saxophone, jazz pedagogy, improvisation, jazz history, and directing ensembles, Greg is an active educator and maintains a busy schedule adjudicating festivals, directing honor bands, and giving masterclasses and workshops.  He is also an active and accomplished performer, having played with many icons of the jazz tradition, including Kenny Wheeler, Benny Carter, Joe Henderson, and Bob Brookmeyer.  He has been featured on numerous recordings and radio broadcasts in both Canada and the US.  Greg is a frequent collaborator with renowned American pianist and composer John Harmon and has been a regular member of the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra since 2002.

Eric Platz
Drums/Rhythm section

Eric Platz is a drummer and percussionist whose work spans the genres of jazz, Americana, North African music, and contemporary improvisation. Hailing from Boston, MA, Eric has toured throughout North America with performances at the Blue Note and Lincoln Center in New York City, the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, the House of Blues in New Orleans, and at festivals such as the Winnipeg Jazz Festival in Canada and the Sephardic Music Festival in Brooklyn, NY. Life After Life (Allos Documents, Chicago, 2016), Eric’s adventurous and cinematic debut recording, features compositions for clarinet, cello, bass, and percussion, and was called “an extraordinary debut” by DOWN BEAT Magazine. As a member of Michael Cain’s SOLA, Eric has recently performed at the Jazz Gallery in New York City, and at CalArts and the Blue Whale in Los Angeles. His drumming is featured on the band’s recent recording Hoo Doo.

Eric is an Associate Professor at Brandon University School of Music where he teaches applied drumset, jazz studies, and world music.

Erika Rybinski
Trombone/Brass

Kinistino, Saskatchewan’s Erika Rybinski is currently pursuing a Master’s of Music in Trombone Performance at the University of Saskatchewan. Erika completed her Bachelor of Music and Music Education degrees at the University of Saskatchewan in 2015 and has taught middle and high school band, jazz band, and choir, and elementary music for three years in Prince Albert, SK. While at the University of Saskatchewan, Erika has had the privilege to share the stage with many wonderful guest artists such as Allen Vizzutti, Torq Percussion Ensemble, Ian McDougall, Alastair Kay, and Wycliffe Gordon. Erika has also performed multiple times within both the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra and the Saskatoon Jazz Orchestra. In the summer of 2013, she had the opportunity to study with Jens Lindemann and Alastair Kay at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Banff, Alberta. Most recently, Erika was awarded the UofS Irene McEwen Travel Scholarship which will enable her to attend the International Music Festival in Casalmaggiore, Italy, where she will be studying as a composition student with the Artist-in-residence, David Braid. In her spare time, Erika enjoys writing music – both jazz instrumental and singer-songwriter material, and repertoire for solo trombone.

David Braid
Piano/Composition/Combo

Composer and pianist David Braid list of accomplishment and credentials is second to none. A Composer-in-Residence for Sinfonia UK Collective, Artist-in-Residence at the University of Toronto, Adjunct Professor at the Danish National Conservatory of Music, and faculty member at the International Chamber Music Festival Casalmaggiore, Italy Braid is a recipient of the Ontario Foundation for the Arts’ prestigious prize: “Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award for Keyboard Artistry.”

Hailed in the Canadian press as “one of his country’s true renaissance men when it comes to music” (The Ottawa Citizen is a nine-time Juno nominee, and winner of three Juno Awards for his solo piano recording, “Verge”, large-ensemble recording, “The David Braid Sextet Live”, and small-ensemble recording, “The North.” His debut classical composition, “Corona Divinae Misericordiae” received a Juno Nomination for Classical Album of the Year.

Described as “brilliant” (Montreal Gazette), Braid’s music combines the discipline of European classical music with the spontaneity of jazz. His arrangements and compositions were an integral part of the Chet Baker-inspired film, “Born to Be Blue” and his jazz score received praise for its “contemporary patina without sacrificing period authenticity” (The Times, UK). He also won “Best Original Score” and “Best Original Song” at the 2017 Screen Awards.

Emmett Fortosky
Bass/Theory

Emmett Fortosky is an active professional bassist and educator from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan who has received both a Bachelor of Music (B.Mus.Ed.) and a Jazz Certificate from the University of Saskatchewan. Recently, Emmett has been continuing his jazz studies at Humber College in Toronto where he enjoys performing in a wide variety of music ensembles. Emmett has performed with Jim Brenan, Dean McNeill, the Saskatoon Jazz Orchestra, Amati String Quartet, Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra (i.e. with Tanya Tagaq), among others. Within the last year, Emmett has performed at various music festivals including The TD Winnipeg International Jazz Festival, SaskTel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival, Ness Creek Music Festival, and the Regina Folk Festival.

Currently,  Emmett is a member of the Sons of Django ensemble and he leads his own musical projects. Emmett has hosted many jazz jams sessions and he enjoys teaching classical and jazz bass privately.

Jeff Presslaff
Brass/Rhythm Section/Composition

Jeff Presslaff is an award-winning trombonist, pianist, composer, arranger and producer, who has played with and written for a wide variety of performers and ensembles ranging from big band to symphony orchestra to clarinet choir to indie rock band. He has seven albums under his own name (two nominated for WCMA Jazz Album of the Year), and has contributed to many others. He is the principal arranger for the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra, and Jeff has composed the world’s first concerto for cello and big band. He has taught at Princeton University, Bard College, Union College, University of Manitoba, University of Winnipeg and the International Music Camp.

Paul Suchan
Piano/Composition

Raised in North Battleford, composer, performer, and educator Paul Suchan graduated with a B.Mus/B.Mus Ed (2007) from the University of Saskatchewan and M.Mus in Composition (2012) from the Université deMontréal where he studied with composer Alan Belkin.

Mr. Suchan’s compositions have been performed across Canada, the United States and Europe by leading university ensembles, symphony orchestras, community groups, choirs, small ensembles and soloists.   Highlights include performances at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, and the performance of his opera The Beast in the Jungle in Montreal.  His piece for band The Colors and Contrasts of Grief has received over 100 performances throughout North America and has been professionally recorded three times.  Mr. Suchan is a strong advocate for fellow composers and in 2011 he co-founded the Strata Festival of New Music, an annual 3 day festival dedicated to high quality performances of Saskatchewan and Prairie composers and has been the winner of numerous composition awards including the 2014 Canadian Band Association Composition Competition for his band piece Swiftriver Passage.