The New Jersey Music Educators Association proudly presents
The 2016 New Jersey All-State Jazz Ensemble and Honors Jazz Choir
Randy White, Jazz Choir Conducttor
Program to be selected from: Pure Imagination........................ Bricusse & Newley / arr. Matsuoka Suny............................................................ Bobby Hebb / arr. Weir When I Fall in Love........................ Heyman & Young / arr. Azelton Doodlin’............... Horace Silver & Jon Hendricks / arr. Dave Cross It’ s Sandman.................... William“ Count” Basie / arr. Roger Treece
Mark Taylor, Honors Jazz Ensemble Conductor
Program to be selected from: iBop a lot................................................................... Mark Taylor Samba Ti Kaye........................................................... Mark Taylor Ah, That’ s Freedom............................. Hank Jones / arr. Thad Jones Stevie R................................................................ Mats Holmquist Love Matters the Most............................................... Mark Taylor Easy Money............................................................... Benny Carter Blue Monk......................................... Thelonius Monk / arr. Taylor According to Gordon............................................ John La Barbera Bone Talk................................................................... Mark Taylor
Finale NJ Honors Jazz Choir & All-State Jazz Ensemble
I Can’ t Believe That You’ re in Love with Me................................. Jimmy McHugh & Clarence Gaskill / arr. Meader
Thursday, November 10, 2016 Claridge Hotel Theater 7:30 p. m.
and
Friday, November 18, 2016 NJ-PAC Chase Room 7:00 p. m.
Randy White, Jazz Choir Director
A native of Colorado, Randy received his Masters of Music in Vocal Performance and Bachelor of Music Education degrees from the University of Northern Colorado. While there, Randy sang and directed in the Grammy Award winning Vocal Jazz Program, opening for artists such as Take 6 and Kurt Elling. Equally at home with classical voice, Randy performed in two International tours with Opera Classica Europa, based in Bad Schwalbach, Germany. After moving to NJ, Randy was honored to become a Metropolitan Opera Guild Teaching Artist and scholarship recipient for research and work performed in NYC Urban schools.
Randy spent 5 years building a 400 + student choral program and annual Musical Theatre production at John Witherspoon Middle School in Princeton, NJ. He is currently the Director of Choirs at Hopewell Valley Central High School in Pennington, NJ. In his first year at Hopewell, Randy created the group“ Vox Central Jazz” which placed Top 3 at both the Berklee College of Music High School Jazz Festival in Boston, and the Roxbury Invitational in NJ. He is also the Region II President of NJAJE and directed the 2014, 2015, and 2016 NJAJE Region II Honors Jazz Choirs.
Randy is the Founder & Director of the American Atlantic Chorale, a contemporary vocal ensemble comprised of NJ & PA students ages 15-20. The Chorale has recently toured and performed in Italy, Greece, France, and Switzerland; including performances at the Umbria, Tuscia in Jazz, La Spezia, Portovenere, Genova-Sestri, and Montreux Jazz Festivals.
Mark Taylor, Jazz Ensemble Director
In 2001, Mark retired as Chief Arranger for The United States Army Band(“ Pershing’ s Own), where he was on staff for 24 years. During that time, he composed extensively for the Army Blues, writing all of the material for their album A New Beginning and much of the material for Scream Machine. His arrangements and compositions have been performed by the US Army Blues throughout the world including concerts at the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland.
Prior to joining the Army, Mark was fortunate to write for Stan Kenton, who recorded many of his compositions and also gave him his start in music publishing. He has a large publishing portfolio and has influenced thousands of student musicians, many of whom were first exposed to big band jazz through his music.
Mark is a highly regarded clinician presenting many workshops on arranging for Jazz Band and has served as conductor for many All-State Jazz Bands. He is a graduate of the University of North Texas with a Bachelors and Master’ s degrees in Music. Mark is director of the Taylor / Fidyk Big Band and is currently a staff arranger for the Hal Leonard Corporation.
OCTOBER 2016 65 TEMPO