JAZZ EDUCATION NETWORK
Each year, JEN is proud to recognize the efforts of hard-working students and educators, who are engaged in creating excellence and making an impact in jazz education. The following awards were presented a the 2023 JEN Conference in Dallas, Texas.
ADVANCING EDUCATION. PROMOTING PERFORMANCE. DEVELOPING AUDIENCES.
JEN is committed to representing and cultivating diversity, equity, inclusion, and access in all areas of its operation including staff, board members, volunteers, presenters, clinicians, performers and audiences. This commitment is present in all programs and decision making.
Carl Allen grew up on gospel, R&B, and funk, music but later turned to jazz after hearing a recording by the legendary saxophonist Benny Carter. During his early years of study he studied
with instructor Roy Snieder and band director Robert Siemele. His first hometown gigs were with sax greats Sonny Stitt and James Moody.
Allen joined trumpeter Freddie Hubbard a year before his graduation, served as his Musical Director for eight years and recorded several recordings with the trumpeter including Double
Take and Life Flight. Allen also played with Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Benny Golson, Jennifer Holliday, J.J. Johnson, Rickie Lee Jones, Sammy Davis Jr., Branford Marsalis, Kenny Garrett, Lena
Horne, Ruth Brown, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Bobby Hutcherson, Mike Stern, Nellie McKay, Terence Blanchard, Phil Woods, Benny Green, Cyrus Chestnut, Joe Henderson, Billy Childs and many others. Allen’s phenomenal sideman discography also includes Jackie McLean (Dynasty), Donald Harrison (Indian Blues, Noveau Swing), Donald Byrd (A City Called Heaven), and Art
Farmer (The Company I Keep).
With over 240 recordings to his credit, the gifted Milwaukee-born, New York-based drummer, sideman, bandleader, entrepreneur, and educator, Carl Allen’s profound and propulsive percolations provided soulful and syncopated support for over three decades. Piccadilly Square (Alfa Records and Timeless Records) was Allen’s first CD as leader, released in 1989, followed by The Dark Side of Dewey (Alfa Records and Evidence), The Pursuer (Atlantic), Testimonial (Atlantic), and Get Ready, his 2007 Mack Avenue gospel/Motown accented debut release with co-leader, bassist Rodney Whitakerfollowed up by Work to Do (Mack Avenue Records) featuring Kirk Whalum. Carl’s new recording, “Tippin” will be released on January 10,2025 on Cellar Music featuring Christian McBride and Chris Potter.
Education: University of Wisconsin – Green Bay from September 1979 until May 1981.
William Paterson College from September 1981 until May 1983. Graduated with BM in Music – Jazz Studies and Performance. “Education has always been part of my mission”, Allen says. “Art Blakey taught me the importance of nurturing the next generation of musicians. Every generation needs someone to help them get to the next level and this what I am hoping to do”.
Some of Allen’s educational affiliations include or have included the following:
In May of 2012 Allen received an honorary doctorate from Snow College in Ephraim, Utah in Humane Letters. In May of 2014 Carl completed a 6 year tenure serving as the Artistic Director of Jazz Studies at The Juilliard School in New York City.
Carl Allen is the William D. and Mary Grant/Missouri Endowed Professor of Jazz
Studies at UMKC Conservatory at The University of Missouri – Kansas City. He is also an accomplished businessman. He co-founded Big Apple Productions in 1988 with saxophonist Vincent Herring, produced several recordings for several Japanese labels with future stars Roy Hargrove and Nicholas Payton, and created The Art of Elvin, a tribute band dedicated to his two drum influences, Art Blakey and Elvin Jones. Allen has also produced recordings forpianist Eric Reed, Dewey Redman. Pharoah Sanders, Freddie Hubbard, Kris Bowers and guitarist Lage Lund, the winner of the 2005 Thelonious Monk International Monk Competition and many others totaling nearly 70 credits as a producer.
His new recording (released on January 2025) is titled “Tippin’” on Cellar Music, featuring Christian McBride and Chris Potter. Carl Allen’s multifaceted career provides the perfect template for what a modern musician should be. As Sid Gribetz of Jazz Times wrote, “more than just another fine drummer, Carl Allen has it all together as a bandleader, businessman, and producer, becoming a force in today’s jazz world.”
Allen maintains an exhaustive schedule of recording, touring, producing and teaching. He remains active as a sideman with Christian McBride and Inside Straight, Benny Golson and others. As a leader most recently leading The Carl Allen Quartet and “The Art of Elvin”.
Carl’s endorsement credits include DW Drums, Zildjian Cymbals, Remo Drumheads, Vic Firth Sticks and mallets. Humes & Berg Cases, Prologix Pads, Zoom Corp., SE Electonic Mics and Apogee Digital.
As a teacher and conductor, Lisa Linde directs the Newton South High School Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble, Honors Chamber Ensembles, Jazz Ensemble, Lab Jazz Ensemble, and four levels of jazz improv courses. Under her direction, Newton South performing ensembles consistently receive state, regional, and national recognition. The Newton South Jazz Ensemble regularly receives top ratings at MAJE state festivals. Nationally, the Newton South Jazz Ensemble has been accepted into the 2018 and 2021 Essentially Ellington HS Jazz Festival as well as being selected to the Charles Mingus HS Jazz Festival for the past seven years.
Lisa is a passionate advocate for gender equality in jazz and is the founder of the nonprofit, Jazzhers, an organization committed to shaping the future of jazz by helping young musicians who identify as female and nonbinary to become connected to and feel empowered within the jazz community.
During the summer she has conducted at South Shore Conservatory in Hingham, MA as well as SYMS at the University of New Hampshire. Lisa received her undergraduate degree in Music Education from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and her master’s degree in Wind Ensemble Conducting from New England Conservatory, where she studied with Frank Battisti. In addition to teaching she currently serves the larger music community as a frequent adjudicator, clinician and speaker. Ms. Linde was the 2022 recipient of the MICCA Hall of Fame award for teaching excellence and the 2023 recipient of the National Federation of State High Schools Outstanding Music Educator Award in Massachusetts as well as a 2024 Grammy Quarterfinalist
GRAMMY® award-winner David Sánchez is recognized around the world as one of the finest
saxophonists of his generation. His mastery of the instrument is undeniable and his sound unmistakable. Combine that with Sánchez’s deep-seated knowledge of both Jazz and Latin
music, and the traditions that mold them, and the results are extraordinary.
In a review, world-renowned jazz writer and critic Howard Reich saluted the bandleader, saying,
“Sánchez’s prowess on saxophone is matched by the intellectual depth of his concept and compositions.” Reich has also noted, “Technically, tonally and creatively, he seems to have it all. Recordings such as “The Departure” (1994), “Sketches of Dreams” (1995), “Obsesión” (1998) and
“Cultural Survival” (2008) showed Sánchez merging jazz syntax with the musical dialects of his native Puerto Rico and other Caribbean and Latin American” sources.
The influences of Puerto Rican folkloric music can be clearly heard in his debut album, “Departure” (1994), as well as “Street Scenes” (1996). Strains of Bomba and Plena are also “Theevident on “Obsesión” (1998) and “Melaza” (2000), both produced by the great saxophonist Branford Marsalis, as well as “Travesía” (2001), Sánchez’s first entirely self-produced recording.
Another recording, “Coral,” would earn David his fifth GRAMMY® award nomination and his
first Latin Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Album in 2005. This album features
orchestrations and arrangements by prolific Argentine composer Carlos Franzetti with the
City of Prague Philharmonic. The album showcases compositions by Hector Villa-Lobos,
Antonio Carlos Jobim, Alberto Ginastera, Franzetti and Sánchez. AllMusic.com observes,
“Sánchez is poised to take his place among the great jazz musicians who continue to offer
important personal and musical insights to their audiences. “Coral” is a necessity for any jazz
or classical record collection.“
“Cultural Survival”, David’s 2008 debut on Concord Records, earned the artist his sixth GRAMMY® award nomination. Two years later, Sánchez, Stefon Harris, and Christian Scott came together for the “Ninety Miles Project.” The successful album and documentary film were recorded in Havana and featured the three bandleaders and some of Cuba’s finest musicians.
JAZZ Times music writer Michael J. West noted, “The saxophonist is the real star: He’s exquisite on ‘The Forgotten Ones’, a ballad duet with Harris, and provides romance on ‘This Too’ and dark intrigue on the album’s one new tune, ‘Paradise Found.’ The project would later become The Ninety Miles Band, where Harris and Sánchez would further develop their unique musical partnership.
Sánchez continues to tour the world as a bandleader, bringing his mix of mainstream jazz with Pan-African influences to global audiences. Most lately, he finalized is much anticipated recording,
“Carib” (2019), featuring original compositions inspired by melodies and rhythms coming from the Afro-Puerto Rican and Haitian traditions. Two pieces on this recording, “Canto” and “Fernando’s Theme”, are featured in the soundtrack of the film “Windows on The World” by Robert Mailer Anderson.
At the same time, he is also a member of the SFJazz Collective, an all-star octet representing the SFJAZZ institution. The Collective has been one of the most prolific ensembles of the last decade. It’s recognized for its stellar musicians, groundbreaking compositions, and innovative takes on the music of some of the world’s most influential artists.
Sánchez’ unique musical sensibility can be traced to his home, Puerto Rico, where he began playing percussion and drums at age 8. He migrated to tenor saxophone a few years later. While a scholar at the prestigious La Escuela Libre de Música in San Juan, he took up the flute, clarinet, and soprano saxophone with teachers Angel Marrero and Leslie López. The Bomba and Plena rhythms of his homeland, along with Cuban, Caribbean, and Brazilian traditions, were among the biggest influences on Sanchez’s early taste in music. Soon, jazz masters such as Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, and John Coltrane would command his ear and his imagination. Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Wayne Shorter and Joe Henderson have also been major influences. In 1988, Sánchez auditioned for and gained a music scholarship at Rutgers University. He articulates,
“studying with masters such as Kenny Barron, Ted Dunbar, Larry Ridley, among others, was a true blessing.“
He was soon immersed in New York’s swirling Jazz scene and was quickly recruited to tour with piano giant and mentor Eddie Palmieri. He also performed with Hilton Ruiz and Claudio Roditi, who brought Sánchez to the attention of Jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie. In 1991, Gillespie invited the young saxophonist to join his “Live the Future” tour with Miriam Makeba. Later, having the opportunity to be a part of Gillespie’s recording, “Live At The Blue Note” Sánchez has also performed and recorded with Jazz Master and mentor Kenny Barron (album “The Spirit Song”), Roy Haynes(album “Praise”), Charlie Haden (Grammy award winner album “Nocturne”), Roy Hargrove (Grammy award winner Album “Crisol”), Pat Metheny, Lalo Schiffrin, Danilo Perez, Tom Harrell, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Kenny Werner, and had the opportunity to perform with the legendary drummer Elvin Jones.
David Sánchez is also “Maestro Sánchez” to students at the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico, where, after a decade of teaching, he has proven to be a compelling presence with students and is in demand for workshops and master classes worldwide. Among them, in the US, Georgia State University School of Music faculty as the Artist in Residence in the Jazz Studies program from 2018 to 2024, Berklee Global Institute, North Texas University, Peabody Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, Temple University, Indiana University’s School of Music, Stanford University, Emory University. Internationally, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Paris; France; Barcelona, Spain; Lopud, Croatia.
Sánchez’s passion for teaching and sharing his art with up-and-coming musicians is palpable. He says, “It gives me such tremendous joy seeing so much talent out there. It’s a true honor to be a part of various educational institutions that provide a solid platform to help students while they strive to find their own voices. I am very optimistic and look ahead to music’s future.”
In 2017, he took his passion for education a step further by helping to establish a groundbreaking program at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music: The RJAM (Roots, Jazz, and American Music), where he’s currently a faculty member. “Such work,” he says, “gives me
great satisfaction. At the same time, it’s a challenge because part of my responsibility is to
provide the students with guidance by sharing my experiences but also understanding that
it’s their own journey. In the process, as instructors, we also learn”.
Fred Irby, III is a native of Mobile, Alabama and a graduate of Grambling State University (LA) and Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. As Professor of Music at Howard University in Washington, DC , he is the Coordinator of Instrumental Music , trumpet instructor and Director of the internationally acclaimed Howard University Jazz Ensemble (HUJE). The HUJE has given concerts in 12 states and the District of Columbia in the United States, Romania, Venezuela, Colombia, Guatemala, China, Japan, Senegal, West Africa, Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad, Martinique, St. Thomas and St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, produced 45 consecutive recordings in a distinguished series that began in 1976 and the ensemble was featured during the Kennedy Center Honors Gala (CBS-TV) in 1992 (Lionel Hampton), 1996 (Benny Carter) & 2005 (Tony Bennett) and other national and international televised events.
Mr. Irby is the Principal Trumpet of the Kennedy Center Opera House Musical Theater Orchestra and is in demand as a trumpet artist, conductor, clinician, adjudicator and consultant. Mr. Irby commissioned and premiered compositions by two eminent African American composers: Ulysses S. Kay (nephew of the legendary New Orleans jazz cornetist Joe “King” Oliver), TROMBA: Suite for B-Flat Trumpet and Piano and Frederick C. Tillis, Spiritual Fantasy #1 for Piccolo Trumpet and Piano. He performed in the orchestras for two significant recordings by the Baltimore Choral Arts Society: Dave Brubeck’s cantata, The Gates of Justice, with the composer as the piano soloist and Christmas at America’s First Cathedral, recorded at the beautiful Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He served as Musical Director for the Washington Ballet in 2004 during the 17th International Ballet Festival in Havana, Cuba. In 2013, Mr. Irby and The Howard University Jazztet were invited by the U. S. Embassy in Dakar, Senegal to represent the USA in the international St. Louis Jazz Festival, the largest jazz festival in Africa. They also performed in Louga and Dakar, Senegal and had a private audience with the Minister of Tourism and Culture, the legendary Senegalese musician Youssou N’Dour. He has performed in the orchestras for the 87th, 88th, 89th, and 90th Academy Awards Gala (Oscars), 56th Primetime Emmy Awards, Dancing with the Stars, America’s Got Talent, The Gershwin Awards, The Horatio Alger Awards and was principal trumpet for the cast album of the Stephen Sondheim musical “BOUNCE”. He was designated aLowell Mason Fellow by the National Association for Music Education (2009), received the 2009 Disney Performing Arts Award for Excellence in Teaching Jazz, inducted into the Grambling State University “Alumni Hall of Fame” (2008), inducted into the Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville “Alumni Hall of Fame” (2016), received an Achievement Award in Jazz Education (2008) from downbeat magazine, received the Ronnie Wells Jazz Service Award during the 2016 Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival and was given a Lifetime Achievement Award
(presented by the late pianist and HUJE alum Geri Allen) during the 2016 DC Jazz Festival Gala at the Kennedy Center. He has served as the Music Director of the Maryland, Oklahoma, Northwest MENC All-State Honor Jazz Ensembles and the inaugural MENC Honor Jazz Ensemble. He is an honorary member of the Board of Directors of the Washington Jazz Arts Institute (WJAI) and the International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC). He has served as an adjudicator for the
downbeat magazine Student Music Awards, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation and the Congressional Black Caucus Spouses Foundation Performing Arts Scholarship. Professor Irby established the Benny Golson Jazz Master Award in 1996 to honor the legacy of the 1996 NEA Jazz Master and was instrumental in him receiving an Honorary Doctorate in Music from his alma mater (Howard University) in 2014. Additionally, he was instrumental in creating the endowed
Abraham S. Venable Scholarship for students in the Jazz Studies program at Howard University. During the 2022 Inaugural and 2023 & 2024 Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts Distinguished Faculty and Staff Awards, Mr. Irby received three (3) Awards: Outstanding Creative Work, Outstanding Teaching and Outstanding Service. He was recently inducted into the 2023 Downbeat Magazine Hall of Fame for Jazz Education.
Mr. Irby holds active membership in the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, NAfME: The National Association for Music Education, ITG: The International Trumpet Guild, ICSOM: The International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians, the American Federation of Musicians (AFM), a member of the Board of Directors of the Washington Jazz Arts Institute (WJAI), the International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC), an Artist Advisory Board member for the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts and on the Advisory Board for the World Trumpet Society (WTS).Professor Irby has been a member of the Howard University Department of
Music faculty since 1974.
For more information go to www.huje.org
Dr. James H. Patterson is a conductor, musician, teacher, composer, arranger, and music union advocate who has been recognized internationally for his outstanding accomplishments in the jazz music industry. He grew up in the Atlanta area in a musical family. His mother played piano, and his father played multiple instruments in Black string bands. Patterson explains, “My father played fiddle, banjo, guitar, and mouth harp. These were popular in the depression years.”
A 1957 graduate of Clark College — now Clark Atlanta University — Dr. Patterson joined his alma mater as a professor in 1968 and founded The Clark Atlanta Jazz Orchestra which he has led for over fifty years. The orchestra was formally added to the curriculum in 1976 to preserve and promote “African diaspora history/culture” — jazz in its purest state. Under Dr. Patterson, the group has performed nationally and internationally with some of the biggest names in jazz — Dizzy Gillespie, Cab Calloway, James Moody, and Mary Lou Williams, to name a few. They’ve performed in international jazz festivals in Switzerland and The Netherlands.
Musical journeys have taken Dr. Patterson around the globe, with performances far too numerous to list. His students have benefited greatly from his decades of knowledge and experience. “Professor Patterson invited some of history’s greatest jazz musicians to teach and inspire us,” said Class of ’91 alumnus Sherman Irby. Irby, who went on to become the lead saxophonist with The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and collaborated with jazz greats Wynton Marsalis and Roy Hargrove, added, “The years I spent at CAU taught me that hard work brings great results. This was the foundation that I needed to prepare me for the world.”
Coming from humble beginnings in Kingston, GA, Dr. Patterson enlisted in the U.S. Army after graduating from Clark. During his military service, he directed the Drum and Bugle Corps at Fort Jackson, SC and performed with the Seventh Army Band throughout Europe. After his service, he earned his Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan and completed his postgraduate studies at Clark Atlanta University and The University of Wisconsin. In 2018, Dr. Patterson was awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Atlanta’s Morris Brown College.
Over the decades, Dr. Patterson has been recognized as one of the leading jazz educators in the country, and his illustrious story is part of the living Black American musical tapestry. The Donald Meade Legacy Society is proud to honor Dr. Patterson’s long and distinguished service with the 2025 Jazz Griot Award.
A graduate summa cum laude from the Conservatory of Music at the University of the Pacific, Robert B. Klevan pursued his graduate studies at DePaul University in Chicago, and at UOP where he received a Master of Music Degree. In 1993, Dr. Klevan earned his Ph.D. at the University of Texas in Austin.
For twenty-seven years Dr. Klevan served as Music Director and Director of Fine Arts at the Stevenson School in Pebble Beach (grades 9-12), and sixteen years as Director of Bands at UC Santa Cruz. Dr. Klevan is the Jazz Education Director Emeritus for the Monterey Jazz Festival and currently serves as the Co-Director of the MJF Regional All Star Vocal Jazz Ensemble and Director of the MJF Regional Middle School Honor Band. Dr. Klevan has also served as the Jazz Studies Director for the York School (grades 8-12) and Director of the Pacific Grove High School Jazz Club “Jazz in the Grove” Big Band, as well as Community Relations Specialist for CSU Summer Arts at CSU Monterey Bay, and as the Arts College and Career Guidance Counselor for The Media Center for Arts, Education, & Technology (MCAET) at the Monterey County Office of Education.
Dr. Klevan made his Carnegie Hall conducting debut with the UCSC Wind Ensemble in May 2001, and returned for an encore performance with the ensemble in February, 2009. Dr. Klevan is Past President of the California Orchestra Directors Association, a past member of the Board for the Central Coast Section of the California Music Educators Association (CMEA), Past President for CMEA and Past Vice-President for the California Alliance for Jazz. He currently serves as a Board member for the Santa Cruz Jazz Festival and for Ensemble Monterey and is the Coordinator for the Jazz Education Network’s JENerations Jazz Festival.
In 1992, Dr. Klevan was named CMEA-CCS Educator of the Year and received the McNeely Award for Excellence in Teaching. The Monterey Jazz Festival named Dr. Klevan the Jazz Educator of the Year for 2003-04. CMEA selected Dr. Klevan as the Jazz Educator of the Year for 2006-07. In the spring of 2009, Dr. Klevan received Downbeat Magazine’s Education Achievement Award. Dr. Klevan was selected as the first recipient of the Monterey Jazz Festival’s “Jazz Champion” Award and was named the “John LaPorta Jazz Educator of the Year” by Berklee College of Music in January of 2017. In February of 2021, Dr. Klevan was inducted into the California Alliance for Jazz (CAJ) Hall of Fame.
Dr. Klevan’s articles on music teaching have been published in JazzEd Magazine, The Jazz Education Journal, The Instrumentalist, CMEA Magazine, The Journal for Texas Music Education Research, Newsletter for the California Association of Independent Schools, The Monterey County Herald, and others. Dr. Klevan and his wife Nicki recently celebrated their 50 th wedding anniversary. They have three children and six grandchildren living in California, Colorado, and Oregon.
Swiss/Dutch saxophonist Charlotte Lang was born in 1996 in Basel and studied the bachelor and master program at the JAZZCAMPUS Basel under the guidance of Domenic Landolf and Daniel Blanc. She is currently studying the Master of Music in Global Jazz at the Berklee College of Music in Boston under the artistic direction of Danilo Pérez. In addition she is part of Terri Lyne Carrington’s Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice.
From 2015 to 2018, Charlotte she was a member of the Swiss National Youth Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Christian Muthspiel. Since 2020, she became a member of the German National Youth Jazz Orchestra (Bundesjazzorchester Deutschland), under the direction of Niels Klein and Ansgar Striepens. She also plays is the Austrian FJO (Frauen Jazz Orchester→Women Jazz Orchestra of Austria).
In 2021, Charlotte founded her own Quintet the „Charlotte Lang Group“, for what she is composing, arranging and booking. In the fall 2023, her first album will be recorded and hopefully released by a renowned label.
Charlotte plays in the “Swiss Jazz Orchestra” and the “Zurich Jazz Orchestra”, the two professional Big Bands of Switzerland.
Charlotte recently got the unique opportunity to write a monthly blog for the Swiss Jazz & Blues Magazine called JAZZTIME, to tell readers about her time at abroad and specifically her time at Berklee. Her graduate program lasts only until the summer of 2023. She hopes to stay in the United States to enlarge her network and build her musical career.
