Jazz Drama students transform at Avatar Studios in Manhattan

    Georgina recording at Avatar Studios in Manhattan   The Jazz Drama Program began rehearsals with students at Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music on October 24th and continued weekly for seven weeks leading up to the recording session at Avatar on December 11. It was amazing to watch the transformation of the […]

Help us record Holding the Torch for Liberty, the jazz musical about women’s suffrage

    We have launched a campaign through the website Kickstarter to raise funds to record Holding the Torch for Liberty, our jazz musical about women’s suffrage.  Please help us reach our goal by December 31.  The way Kickstarter works, if we don’t reach our goal, we don’t get any of the money.  Please help […]

JazzSpeare 2011 at Fordham Consortium on the Purpose of Business

It was a dream come true to have the opportunity to continue an idea I first tried out over 20 years ago at Rutgers University.  “JazzSpeare” combines scenes from Shakespeare with a live, improvised and interactive score.  Here’s my quartet with Todd Williams, tenor saxophone, LaFrae Sci, drums, Mary Ann McSweeny, bass and myself on […]

Just launched fundraising campaign to record Holding the Torch for Liberty

Arts are Basic Workshop in Crete, Nebraska

I had a tremendous time in Crete, Nebraska leading a workshop as part of Arts are Basic.   This program sends teaching artists into schools throughout the state to partner with classroom teachers to create an experiential unit of study for students around a work of art.  The photo above was taken by participants taking […]

Litchfield Jazz Camp

For the third year in a row I spent a week performing and teaching at Litchfield Jazz Camp in Kent, Connecticut.  It was a wonderful week immersed in jazz.  It’s always a treat to be surrounded by so many young people so eager to learn and experiment with the language of jazz.  I love seeing […]

Montenegro Premiere of Nora’s Ark, the jazz musical by Eli Yamin and Clifford Carlson

What an unbelievable week we had in Montenegro at Jazz Art Jam, celebrating Jazz Appreciation Month, a co-production with Jazz Art Montenegro and The Jazz Drama Program with support from the U.S. Embassy in Montenegro, the municipality and Porto Montenegro.  I never dreamed that this production of Nora’s Ark could take off the way it […]

Guatemala International Jazz Festival

From Idaho, it was straight South to Guatemala with the Blues Band.  This time, for the first time with Charenee Wade, vocal and Ben Stapp, tuba, along with LaFrae Sci, drums and yours truly at the piano and hollering.  Man, what a gas.  The first night we opened the festival with a concert on the […]

Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival 2011

  What a phenomenal festival this is.  7,000 young people from all over the Northwest descend on Moscow, Idaho where they are embraced by the entire University of Idaho community.  And I mean the whole community from the president to the freshmen and families in neighborhoods.  Students, teachers, jazz fans and curious bystanders are all […]

Remembering Santiago

I just found this video online from our visit to Balmaceda, a community music school in downtown Santiago.  Can you believe they have a blues harmonica class that meets every week?  Just fantastic.  When I went to Mississippi a few months after visiting Chile, I was telling teachers from the Delta about it.  I was […]