About UC Jazz
- Mission Statement
- About UC Jazz
- A Brief History of UC Jazz
- UC Jazz: The First Decade
- Organizational Structure
Mission Statement
UC Jazz Ensembles is dedicated to fostering a community for the performance, study, and promotion of jazz at UC Berkeley.
About UC Jazz
UC Jazz is one of three groups, including the Cal Band and UC Choral Ensembles that comprise Student Musical Activities (SMA), a department within Cal Performances.
UC Jazz provides rehearsal space and instruction for eight to ten ensembles each year, composed primarily of UC Berkeley undergraduate and graduate students from every academic discipline.
Currently UC Jazz consists of nine small combos and one big band. The small combos range in experience from beginning to advanced, and includes a vocal ensemble. UC Jazz also holds monthly master classes taught by our faculty, and occasionally hosts guest artists from the jazz world for clinics.
In the past, groups from UC Jazz have given free performances and clinics, bringing live music to public schools in districts such as Oakland, which have experienced deep cutbacks in arts spending. We are currently producing a jazz recording to increase our exposure and promote entry into festivals and concert settings. Our goal is to continue to act as musical ambassadors while enhancing our ability to travel to new locations.
A Brief History of UC Jazz
In 1966, trumpet player and astronomy grad student Les Golden placed an advertisement in the campus paper calling for student musicians interested in big band jazz and got a lopsided response: 10 of 20 musicians who answered the ad were guitarists. So much for a big band. The following year, Bob Docken, a history major, concert band trombonist, and one of the original respondents to the ad, collaborated with Rick Penner from Thousand Oaks to form the Cal Stage Band. He placed another advertisement in the fall of 1967, and the group began rehearsals in the band room with the permission of Cal Band director Dr. James Berdahl. If Golden provided the impetus for the Jazz Ensembles, Docken was its founder. The first concert took place in the spring of 1968, and Golden wrote an article about it for the Daily Cal.
The organization flourished under the guidance of Dr. David W. Tucker, the arranger of the Golden Bear Marching Band. Although Dr. Tucker found few evening hours to direct the struggling stage band, his rare synthesis of the diplomatic and understanding administrator, the talented and perceptive musical director, and the accomplished jazz arranger and musician, provided an ideal environment for the ambitions, enthusiasm and talent of the student musicians.
UC Jazz Ensembles became an official student organization in 1971 with Dr. Tucker as its first director. The program grew and Susan Muscarella was appointed to the position of Associate Director in 1974. The Ensembles began performing on campus and for the community.
Two major events signified the band's coming of age before the first international tour. In 1972, the big band went to the first jazz festival in Reno. In 1974, after the ensembles began hosting the Pacific Coast Collegiate Jazz Festival, the big band won 3rd place, placing them among the elite bands that included the studio-ringer bands of the Los Angeles area.
Finally, with the summer of 1979 came the first of three major tours. The top big band enjoyed a four-week tour of Europe, playing several major jazz festivals in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Poland. In the summer of 1981 the big band went to the Far East, touring Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara and Osaka. In 1984 UC Jazz Ensembles was invited to tour again in Japan and forged a name for itself in countries around the world.
In 1984 Dr. Tucker took a sabbatical, announcing his retirement in 1985, and Susan became the Director, appointing saxaphonist Dave LeFebvre Associate Director. From 1985-1989 Susan and Dave focused on recruitment of underrepresented students and designed a curriculum attractive to a more diverse student population. Women played a greater role in both musical and administrative directions of the program. Big bands and combo programs flourished, winning awards at prestigious festivals throughout the state.
Under Dr. Tucker the University of California Jazz Ensembles created a haven where students and community musicians grew musically, and shared their talents with the campus and Berkeley community. Under the guidance of Bevan Manson, who was the Director of UC Jazz from 1998 to 2003, the department grew to include seven part-time instructors. This remains the structure of UC Jazz today, where each instructor coaches one of the combos or big band, and conducts master classes, thereby expanding the depth of jazz instruction available to the UC Jazz students. UC Jazz is currently directed by well-known drummer Ted Moore, who remains faithful to the goals of Dr. Tucker while fostering a love of jazz and a desire to learn this art form in musicians and singers of many different skill levels and musical backgrounds.
UC Jazz: The First Decade
You can learn more about UC Jazz's rich history by visiting UC Jazz: The First Decade. Les Golden developed this web site to commemorate Dr. Tucker. There are some great photos of the Pacific Coast Collegiate Jazz Festival with headliners like Freddie Hubbard and Sonny Rollins!
Organizational Structure
The Director of UC Jazz is Ted Moore. UC Jazz also has a staff of six instructors who direct the ensembles, run clinics and master classes, and help shape the musical identity of the program. UC Jazz is one of three groups, including the Cal Band and UC Choral Ensembles that comprise Student Musical Activities, a department within Cal Performances. The Associate Director of SMA, the Alumni Relations and Events Manager, and the SMA Coordinator help guide and support all three groups in their varied activities in areas that include budget, marketing, publicity, concert production, and fundraising. The student leadership plays a vital role in the planning and running of UC Jazz. Students who wish to become involved in the leadership of UC Jazz may become members of any one of the five committees. Only the committee chairs, the president, and the vice-president are elected. All committee positions are filled by interested students.
The Finance Committee is in charge of fundraising. Fund raising activities may include selling merchandise (t-shirts, CDs), creating opportunities for concession sales at Cal football and basketball games, and securing corporate sponsorships. The majority of this committee's time is spent researching and pursuing sponsorships and one-time grants, either for specific projects, or for expenses such as re-carpeting the studios, buying a new piano, or for long-term operating expenses. The finance committee is best suited for those with an affinity for business who would like the opportunity to communicate and interact with businesses and corporations, and work to achieve goals that provide immediate and positive results for UC Jazz.
The Festival Committee plans and researches a possible jazz festival to be held on campus. The festival committee books the university jazz ensembles, clinicians, adjudicators, venues, and headliners, plans the length and scope of the festival, works with local hotels and city departments, and supervises the arrival of competing bands. While the Festival is usually held in the spring semester, this committee works during the entire school year for this one culminating weekend.
The Internal Affairs Committee (IA) concentrates on internal UC Jazz issues. UC Jazz believes that it is important to create a community of musicians, rather than a loosely-connected group of individuals who meet once or twice a week without really interacting with each other. The IA Committee is dedicated to the fostering of this community atmosphere through such activities as organizing monthly member outings, planning and executing our bi-annual orientations for new members, managing our library and equipment, creating opportunities for UC Jazz members to interact and get to know each other outside of the rehearsal studio, and other social and internal activities.
The Public Relations Committee (PR) is in charge of publicizing UC Jazz events including auditions and small concerts and most importantly, the final concert of each semester. This involves writing and sending out press releases to Bay Area media, designing and implementing posters and fliers for the Cal campus community, and assuring that UC Jazz receives publicity and press coverage in advance of major concerts. Having hundreds of people attend our concerts gets our name out to prospective students, keeps us in touch with our alumni, and allows our current students to perform in an exciting atmosphere. Because of the costs associated with these concerts, it is important to sell as many tickets as possible. The PR committee is ideal for those who are interested in marketing and publicity, and for those who love the experience of creating a well attended, successful, event.
The Strategy and Planning Committee (Strat and Plan) is comprised of the president, vice president, the secretary, the director of UC Jazz, the Associate Director of SMA, and depending on the meeting, any interested committee chairs. This committee oversees all other committees, supervises planning and development of UC Jazz, and oversees the continued implementation of the five-year plan.
- The president of UC Jazz is an elected position, usually filled by a former committee chairman, the vice president, or someone with extensive UC Jazz leadership experience. Her job is to envision, implement and organize long-term program goals, supervise committee chairmen, and make sure that all of the student officers stay on task and continue to be productive.
- The vice president, with the president, is in charge of specifying and synthesizing exact instructions to the committees, as well as assisting the president and performing any additional organizational tasks.
- The secretary is in charge of communication within UC Jazz. This includes maintaining email lists, collecting and filing minutes from committee meetings, maintaining the alumni database, and collecting and inputting new additions to the UC Jazz publicity mailing list.