(AP) One of the jazz world’s foremost learning institutions will move to New Orleans, amid hope that it will ensure the genre has a future in its birthplace.
To celebrate the move, jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, saxophonist Wayne Shorter and trumpeter Terence Blanchard joined the program’s incoming class and drummer Thelonious Monk Jr., the son of the pianist and composer for whom the institute is named, for a performance Monday at Loyola.
“Jazz can help the re-emergence of New Orleans after the worst natural disaster,” Hancock said. Having the program in New Orleans will help “foster the next generation of jazz greats,” he said. The program, which will be based at Loyola for the next four years, is dedicated to developing musicians who are teachers as well as performers. “We have finally, finally found our home here in New Orleans,” Monk said.
Only a handful of students who audition are chosen for the graduate-level college program, which previously was based at the University of Southern California. The selection process lasts several months.