The new UC Jazz Club has been founded by the University Jazz Students and its faculty. We invite donors and volunteers who have an avid interest in enjoying and supporting our growing program.
The UC Jazz Club will offer several unique sponsorship opportunities for the purpose of remodeling the UC Jazz studios.
Our current and growing resources in the studios include equipment, practice areas, a jazz library and recordings of live performances of the UC Jazz Ensemble’s members..
Our goal is to uphold this Bay Area UC Jazz tradition which has enchanted the Bay Area and often the world since 1966.
Please contact Mr. Ted Moore, the department’s director to learn about the program.Contact us NOW for our Ad Sponsorship Opportunities at https://ucjazz.berkeley.edu/
Ted Moore creates the UC Jazz Club to infuse his department with community spirit and to share his students’ talent with the Bay Area Community!
Mr. Moore is head of the prestigious Jazz Department at UC Berkeley. Aside from his administrative duties he offers his skills as the Percussion Director of UC Jazz Ensembles Advanced Combo II, Improv Workshop.
A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Ted Moore has toured the world with Paul Winter, Marian McPartland, Stan Getz, Joe Williams, Eric Gale, Jack Wilkins, Gene Bertonzini, Joey DeFrancesco, and many others. For several years, he lived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, performing timpani and percussion with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, as well as touring and recording with one of Brazil’s leading saxophonists, Victor Assis Brasil. Mr. Moore has composed original scores for several films and television series, including the NOVA science series on PBS. Currently,
Since graduating from the Eastman School of Music, Ted has pursued a career which has taken him to many parts of the world with many different artists. He is leader and composer for his own Brazilian jazz group, Brasilia, which has released its first CD to national acclaim. On tour, Ted has performed throughout the US and Canada, as well as Japan, Spain, England and Holland.
He has played in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Cathedral of St. John in New York, Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and Suntory Hall in Tokyo.
Ted Moore in the News
Ted Moore’s Brasilia and the Oregon Symphony. In February 2007, Director of UC Jazz, Ted Moore, once again performs his arrangements for small group and symphony orchestra, this time with the Oregon Symphony in Portland.
The concert features his group, Brasilia, including Phil Markowitz on piano and Romero Lubambo on guitar. This follows last season’s appearances with the Rochester Philharmonic and the Vancouver Symphony.
Brasilia – Ted Moore’s with his reknowned and accomplished band members
Brasilia
“[Ted] Moore’s originals speak the bossa dialect more authentically than the compositions of perhaps any other non-Brazilian.” — Mark Holston, JazzIz magazine
“[Ted] Moore’s writing is true to bossa nova standards in its relentless melodicism and unexpected chord progressions. Driggs’ vocals effortlessly find the balance between strength and femininity.” Jazz Southwest magazine
“[Ted] Moore’s originals speak the bossa dialect more authentically than the compositions of perhaps any other non-Brazilian.” — Mark Holston, JazzIz magazine
“Pamela Driggs is one of the best new voices in jazz.” — Herbie Mann
“One of the freshest and most exciting releases of the year celebrates the musical traditions of Brazil in thoroughly captivating style… Brasilia is definitely a band to watch.” — JazzTimes magazine
“The affection the members of Brasilia have for the Brazilian genre is evident… some of the most sensitive and resourceful practitioners of the music to come along in years.” — Mark Holston, JazzIz magazine
“This impressive band remains faithful to the highest standards of Brazilian music while delivering an ear-catching personality all their own — a difficult feat and one that merits much attention in an era of luke-warm Latin sounds.” — Dave McElfresh, JazzNow magazine
“A cohesive program of exuberant rhythms and seductive melodies… that evolves with an uncommon blend of logic and emotion. Pamela’s voice is a remarkable instrument, defining the bittersweet edge of the Brazilian style with deft perfection and a natural ease that’s totally disarming.” — Mark Holston, JazzIz magazine
“[Ted] Moore’s writing is true to bossa nova standards in its relentless melodicism and unexpected chord progressions. Driggs’ vocals effortlessly find the balance between strength and femininity.” — Jazz Southwest magazine
“Singer [Pam] Driggs does remind the listener of some of the best chanteuses in the bossa nova movement.” — Phoenix New Times
“Sometimes when you start losing detail, whether it’s in music or in life, something as small as failing to be polite, you start to lose substance. ” Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman, the King of Swing by Ranie Smith
Benjamin David Goodman was born on May 30, 1909 in Chicago, Illinois to immigrants David Goodman and Dora Grisinsky Goodman. Benny grew up with eleven siblings.
His father worked as a tailor. As a ten-year-old, Benny Goodman, learned how to play the clarinet at the local synagogue. He was fortunate that there he was taught by Chicago Symphony Member, Franz Schoepp. Two of his brothers learned the tuba and the trumpet. Benny Goodman was very talented and joined his first band when he was 11 years old – performing at the Hull-House. He joined the American Federation of Musicians when he was 14 and devoted himself full-time to his music career. His father passed away and therefore the 15-year-old Benny used the money he made to help support his family Benny was 16 he joined the Ben Pollack band and became a featured soloist. In 1929 Benny left the Ben Pollack band to participate in recording sessions and radio shows in New York City. In 1933 John Hammond, a jazz promoter, recorded Benny Goodman together with drummer Gene Krupa and trombonist Jack Teagarden. This recording gainedBenny Goodman national popularity. In 1942, Benny married John Hammond’s sister, Alice Hammond Duckworth and had two daughters Rachel and Benji.
Benny led his first band in 1934 and their music had its roots in the
Southern jazz forms of ragtime and Dixieland, while its structure adhered more
to arranged music than its more improvisational jazz counterparts. This gave it
an accessibility that appealed to American audiences on a wide scale. America
began to hear Benny ‘s band when he secured a weekly engagement for his band on
NBC’s radio show “Let’s Dance,” which was taped with a live studio
audience. The new swing music had the kids dancing when, on August 21, 1935,
Benny’s band played the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles. It was sensational and
marked the beginning of the years during which Benny Goodman reigned as King of
the Swing. Benny Goodman’s band became hugely successful among listeners from
all different backgrounds all around the world.
Benny Goodman was all about the music: ” If a guy got it, let him give it. I’m selling music, not prejudice.” During this period Benny also became famous for being colorblind when it came to racial segregation and prejudice. Pianist Teddy Wilson, an African-American, first appeared in the Benny Goodman Trio at the Congress Hotel in 1935. Benny added Lionel Hampton, who would later
form his own band, to his Benny Goodman Quartet the next year. While these groups were not the first bands to feature both white and black musicians, Benny’s national popularity helped to make racially mixed groups more accepted in the mainstream. Time magazine in 1937 to call him the “King of Swing.” Benny Goodman and his band made history as the first jazz band ever to play in New York’s prestigious Carnegie Hall along with musicians from the Count Basie and Duke Ellington bands. After this success there were many
changes to the band and he was joined by Cootie Williams and Charlie Christian, as well as Jimmy Maxwell and Mel Powell, among others.
In the late 40s and 50s music tastes changed and Bop, Rock and Roll gained in popularity. Benny Goodman started playing solos with major orchestras. He enjoyed classical music and studied with internationally acclaimed classical clarinetist Reginald Kell. In 1955 a film chronicling his life, The Benny Goodman Story was released. Benny Goodman then started touring the world, bringing his music to Asia and Europe. When he traveled to the USSR, one writer observed that “the swing music that had once set the jitterbugs dancing in the Paramount aisles almost blew down the Iron Curtain.”
During the late 1960s and 1970s, Benny appeared in reunions with the other members of his quartet: Teddy Wilson, Gene Krupa and Lionel Hampton. In 1978, the Benny Goodman band also appeared at Carnegie Hall again to mark the 30th Anniversary of when they appeared in the venue’s first jazz concert. In 1982, Benny was honored by the Kennedy Center for his lifetime achievements in swing music. In 1986, he received both an honorary doctorate degree in music from Columbia University and the Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement.
He continued to play the music that defined his lifetime in occasional concert dates until his death in June 1986, of cardiac arrest. He was laid to rest at Long Ridge Cemetery in Stamford, Connecticut.
Benny Goodman is credited for the original sound that defined the Swing Era and made him the world-renowned King of Swing.
At the UC Jazz Voices Ensemble students learn about their relationship to the beat, their phrasing, and their individual sounds. Each one unique, each signature strives to change the rhythm or melody, tempo or mood, to allow their sounds to leave indelible marks. Their voices speak to us. They learn to share different sets practicing their unique abilities as composers, improvisers and arrangers.
The emphasis of the Vocal Ensemble is on learning the standard vocal jazz repertoire. Vocalists sing individually, accompanied by a trio of piano, bass and drums. Vocal improvisation is also covered.
Instructor: Maye Cavallaro
Meets: Wednesdays 12:00-2:00pm
Personnel:
Rosette Diaz Paige Weber Sarah Scher Grace Simon Paget Kagy Angela Li
Trevor Wong, piano Rosezetta Upshaw, bass
Here should be an article about one of the students or an alumni. We need to do some research on that
