2021 FELLOWS
2021 KANSAS CITY AREA YOUTH JAZZ SEASON GALLERY OF HIGHLIGHTS: This gallery contains some of the scenes from the season. 2021 Fellows performed and prepared excellent original music for their album, "2021 FELLOWS" (ARC), that was composed and arranged by Dr. Arthur White (ASCAP), Christopher Burnett (BMI), WM Thornton (BMI), and William Crain (BMI). Our Leon Brady Ensemble clinician this season was saxophonist and jazz recording artist, Houston M. Smith, a recent graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston and a Kansas City Youth Jazz Alumnus himself. Our Bill Crain Ensemble clinician was Professor Clarence Smith, a legendary jazz educator and first-call percussionist who now is the artistic director of the Kansas City Jazz Academy at the American Jazz Museum. Although they have the same last name they are not directly related to each other. Both of these artist-educators are long time personal friends and sincere professional colleagues who completely understand and support the mission of the Kansas City Area Youth Jazz program. Thanks for stopping by our website! All the best, Mr. B
2020 FELLOWS
2020 KANSAS CITY AREA YOUTH JAZZ SEASON GALLERY OF HIGHLIGHTS: This gallery contains some of the scenes from the season. 2020 Fellows performed and prepared excellent original music for their album, "2020 FELLOWS" (ARC), that was composed and arranged by Bobby Watson, David Berkman, Bill Crain, Patrick Cornelius, The Bill Fulton Band, and William Crain. The 2020 season was safely conducted during the coronavirus pandemic and we were glad to document that our mitigation efforts were 100% effective. Thanks for stopping by our website! All the best, Mr. B
2019 SEASON UPDATE
03.10.20 First Single From Debut LP Released
Apple Music + Spotify + Google Play
“LIGHT / DARK” (ARC-3536) and “BISHOP'S PEAK”(ARC-3543) composed by Dr. Arthur White will be the two digital singles that will be released worldwide Apple Music + Spotify + Google Play from the 2019 KC AREA YOUTH JAZZ FELLOWS ALBUM in early March !! The full LP will be released at the start of the 2020 season !! #worththewait
Our sincere congratulations to all of the 2019 KC Area Your Jazz Fellows on an outstanding 4-month season and for recording a great professional album to be released on the ARC Label.
It truly sounds GREAT! Thanks again to Dr. Arthur White for writing some great music for Youth Jazz!
We are planning a "listening event" in conjunction with the start of the 2020 KC Area Youth Jazz season.
Get involved!
All the best, Mr. B
- Announcement: Album Post-Production is complete ... Mr. Crain (engineer and producer) did a fantastic job.
- Secure eCommerce Store: 20 of 50 Vinyl LPs have been sold! VISIT SHOP
- 2020 YOUTH JAZZ Chair Sponsorships News: 2 sponsors already! Get involved!
- Meet the 2020 YOUTH JAZZ Faculty - HERE!
- The Kansas City Globe related newspaper article: SEE IT HERE!
2019 FELLOWS
2019 KANSAS CITY AREA YOUTH JAZZ SEASON GALLERY OF HIGHLIGHTS: This gallery contains some of the scenes from the season. 2019 Fellows performed and prepared excellent original music for their album, "2019 FELLOWS" (ARC), that was composed and arranged by Dr. Arthur White (ASCAP). A LIMITED EDITION HEAVY VINYL LP was also released and sold out almost immediately upon availability. Our clinicians for this season came from the Berklee College of Music in Boston and the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. The brilliant drummer Gary Kerkezou, along with the stellar alto saxophonists, Houston M. Smith and Morgan Faw, shared insights and performed with the 2019 Fellows during a rehearsal. Bill Crain was the ensemble director and primary engineer of the debut album with assistance from Will Crain. Thanks for stopping by our website! All the best, Mr. B
07.21.19 Album Recording Session
2019 KC Area Youth Jazz Recording Session: Thanks to Brad Beucher for the great photos and videos!
07.14.19 with Berklee College of Music Clinicians
2019 KC Area Youth Jazz Clinicians: Alto saxophonists: Houston M. Smith and Morgan Faw; and, drummer: Gary Kerkezou from Berklee College of Music / Thanks so much for spending the time with KC Area Youth Jazz! We all appreciated it and the Fellows were very motivated after meeting you and hearing all of you play!
06.30.19 Rehearsal Playlist
06.30.19 KC Area Youth Jazz rehearsal / We begin recording the album in 2 weeks! It's been a great journey to get here.
Mr. Crain briefed the 2019 Fellows about the preparations and we also talked about some of the inherent considerations within a recording session process from the performing artist perspective.
This playlist of video clips includes the portion of the rehearsal involving work on "Light/Dark" a stellar composition commissioned for the program written by our 2019 Composer-In-Residence, Dr. Arthur White.
And the last two clips are of Dr. White's composition, "Bird Flu."
2019 Season Session #2
04.15.19 KC Area Youth Jazz rehearsal / 2019 Season Session #2 video clip is of a rehearsal segment from our work on “Ode to Joe Hen” by our 2019 Composer-In_Residence, Dr. Arthur White. Some nice musical moments.