SF Chronicle interviews Andrew Speight in Sunday Datebook
Of the music of Charlie Parker, Andrew Speight told Chronicle writer Lee Hildebrand that “It had all the precision and beauty of Bach or Mozart.” The fascinating article delves deep into Andrew’s upbringing in a jazz-focused family in Australia, and is available in today’s Sunday San Francisco Chronicle, or you can read it online by clicking here. Andrew performs a special concert of the music of Charlie Parker this coming Saturday, July 16, at 8 p.m. in Dinkelspiel Auditorium on the Stanford campus. Called “Bird with Strings,” the show will present arrangements written for Charlie Parker at his request that showcase his superb melodic gifts backed by strings, oboe, and rhythm section. This is a rare opportunity to hear one of the great modern exponents of bebop (Andrew Speight) interpreting these astonishing arrangements, and you can find out more by clicking here.
Providing an intimate interaction of jazz and community found nowhere else, the Stanford Jazz Festival is pleased to announce the lineup of its 40th season. Beginning on June 24 with Grammy®-winning, New Orleans-based living legend Allen Toussaint (at right), presenting rare appearances by the great Brazilian songwriter and singer Milton Nascimento, and winding up in August with an all-star week that includes Joe Lovano and the Bad Plus, the Festival will present upwards of 100 of the world’s greatest jazz artists in the comfortable and convenient setting of the Stanford University campus.
Unique among jazz festivals in the way it brings great jazz artists together to collaborate and to work closely with students, the Stanford Jazz Festival is the result of the vision of founder and Artistic and Executive Director Jim Nadel (pictured, left). “Our community-based approach to teaching and nurturing jazz has resonated with a great many musicians over the years,” says Nadel. “The musicians’ love for the music and the open exchange of ideas have been the key ingredients in the success of our Jazz Camp and Jazz Residency programs as well as the world-class performances that characterize the Stanford Jazz Festival.”
Underscoring the status of the Stanford Jazz Workshop’s programs as among the elite in all of jazz education, well over half of this year’s Stanford Jazz Festival events feature performers who are alumni or faculty of the Jazz Camp or Jazz Residency programs, which run concurrently with the Festival between July 17 and August 5 this year. Among the superstar faculty and former students who will appear are Madeline Eastman (pictured left), Larry Grenadier, Jenny Scheinman, Ruth Davies, Ethan Iverson, Taylor Eigsti, Julian Lage, Victor Lin, Patrick Wolff, Bennett Paster, and Joe Gilman.
While Nadel often features his passion for bebop in his programming, his vision encompasses all styles. In 2011, Festival fans will be treated to a rainbow of world jazz, including Brazilian (two special shows with Milton Nascimento, Oscar Castro-Neves), Chilean (Claudia Acuña, pictured right), Colombian (Edmar Castaneda), and Afro-Cuban (Yosvany Terry). For classic standards and swing, the Festival has several special shows, including clarinetist Ken Peplowski; Unforgettable: A Tribute to Nat “King” Cole featuring vocalist Allan Harris; and For Singing and Swinging: The Great American Songsmiths featuring Clairdee and Bobbe Norris. Bassist Ruth Davies hosts the perennial favorite Blues Night, which this year features the world-renowned guitarist Robben Ford as the special guest artist.
Jazz Campers and Residency participants know how fun being at SJW’s summer programs can be. But SJW has a huge reputation among jazz educators as well, which is why the top artists and educators clamor for faculty positions.
Playing lead alto saxophone for Harvest Park Middle School, Brandon Zhang wowed the audience and adjudicators with his fantastic solo ballad work. His warm tone, musical vibrato, and mature phrasing are hints of what we have to look forward to when Brandon arrives at Jazz Camp this summer! 
The jazz juggernaut from Folsom High School rolled into Campana, and rolled out with first-place honors in the “AA” band, combo, and jazz choir categories. In that first-place choir of singers all of whom exhibit exceptional intonation, phrasing, rhythm, and musicality, Tanner Robinson distinguished himself with a splendid performance and captured a partial tuition scholarship to this summer’s Stanford Jazz Workshop. Director Curtis Gaesser has trained a veritable army of excellent jazz musicians at Folsom High; 
It wasn’t enough for Michael Wang to blow away the Folsom Jazz Festival adjudicators with his astonishing trombone work on a blazing arrangement of John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” while performing with the Rio Americano HIgh School Jazz Ensemble 1. He also took a chorus soloing on soprano recorder!
As a result of his excellent performance at the 
