OVERVIEW
JazzComposersPresent.com is a jazz composition website founded by composer Daniel Jamieson. It is an online space where composers, musicians, and listeners come together to celebrate the music we love!
We livestream Composer Spotlights & Foundational Focus (masterclasses), Listening Sessions, Roundtables, Group Lessons, and Artist Q&As. Additionally, each week we upload a promotional Mini-Lesson to our YouTube channel featuring one of our Presenting Artists. For a sense of the flow of our full-length events, please enjoy our Highlights Video Playlist.
Notable Presenting Artists include Jim McNeely, Rich DeRosa, Miho Hazama, Rufus Reid, Darcy James Argue, Mike Abene, Rogerio Boccato, & Ed Neumeister to name a few. We are constantly adding to our roster and a complete up-to-date list of Presenting Artists may be viewed here.
We are pleased to offer institutional access at a heavily reduced rate! Please direct inquiries to JazzComposersPresent@gmail.com
EVENT TYPES
JazzComposersPresent livestreams weekly events. Each event is approximately 60 minutes in length.
COMPOSER SPOTLIGHTS feature a Presenting Artist exploring their own work, and compositional concepts contained within; examining score and audio excerpts, and supplementary materials as appropriate. Composer Spotlights have featured Jim McNeely discussing “My Compositional Process: From Sketch to Score”, Richard DeRosa discussing “Musical Storytelling Through Composition”, and Darcy James Argue presenting "The Paranoid Style: Behind Real Enemies".
FOUNDATIONAL FOCUS is a pre-recorded masterclasses series. Using examples from the jazz canon as well as their own writing, Presenting Artists explore fundamental aspects of jazz composition. Foundational Focuses have featured Daniel Jamieson presenting “Activating Space”, Scott Ninmer discussing “Modality”, Chelsea McBride exploring “Woodwind Doubles for Jazz Orchestra", and Richard DeRosa demonstrating "Characteristics of Strong Melodies."
LISTENING SESSIONS feature a Presenting Artist sharing clips of music they love that has interesting compositional elements. The Presenting Artist explores multiple audio excerpts and discusses topics of interest contained within. Listening Sessions have featured Miho Hazama examining “Complex yet Memorable Melodies”, Rufus Reid discussing "Inventive Large Ensemble Writing" and Florian Hoefner exploring “A Contemporary Classical Approach to Jazz Composition”.
ROUNDTABLES feature members of our Core Team (Daniel Jamieson, Miho Hazama, Andrew Rathbun, Chelsea McBride, & Erica Seguine) and special guests, in a group conversation about composition and other musical topics of interest.
GROUP LESSONS offer members a chance to receive detailed feedback on their own work from one of our Presenting Artists. Submissions are collected in advance of Group Lessons. Selected participants are invited to join a livestream and given constructive feedback on their submitted work. Participants are sent a video copy of their portion of the group lesson for archival purposes.
LIVE Q&As conclude all Composer Spotlights, Listening Sessions and Roundtables. Members in attendance can submit questions using the live chat function. Members who are unable to watch live are able to submit questions in advance via our website.
COMPLETE ARCHIVES
JazzComposersPresent.com livestreams are uploaded to the Archives after the conclusion of the live broadcast. Institutional Partners have access to the *COMPLETE* Archived Events Library.
UPCOMING EVENTS CALENDAR
Our calendar of upcoming events can be found at www.JazzComposersPresent.com/calendar
FACULTY RESOURCES
Once partnered, we actively work with faculty members to optimize how we can support existing curricular activities. We request copies of the syllabi for all composition and arranging classes, and then put together a curated list of existing events from our archives to compliment. The idea is for faculty members to be able to assign students masterclasses from our library to watch prior to coming to class and then follow up with in class discussion.
Faculty members gain access to our extensive event index spreadsheet and are able to search our library by Presenting Artist, pieces referenced, and topics by keyword. In addition to receiving access to our full library of events, we have the ability to create custom playlists for various courses taught.
INSTITUTIONAL BENEFITS
CUSTOM INSTITUTION-SPECIFIC REGISTRATION PAGE
All Institutional Partners are provided a custom registration page on our website.
STREAMLINED USER REGISTRATION
Our goal is to remove the responsibility for user registration from the institution's administrative team and handle everything on our end. Participating students, staff, and faculty simply need to be provided the link to the institution's registration page on our website and we take it from there.
SIGN UP DIRECTLY USING INSTITUTION EMAIL
Participating students, staff, and faculty registrations are confirmed using a valid email address associated with the institution. A big part of our resource is the ability for users to watch events live from home and interact / participate with the various Presenting Artists through a live Q&A. As such, we do not offer IP authentication.
PRIVACY
All user names, email addresses, passwords, and personal identifiable information (PII) are kept strictly confidential and are not shared with any 3rd party organizations.
TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Our team responds to all technical support requests with 24 business hours (Eastern Time) and works to troubleshoot as quickly as possible.
DANIEL JAMIESON
Founder & Artistic Director
Founder & Artistic Director Daniel Jamieson is an award winning composer, arranger, conductor, & saxophonist. He leads his own internationally acclaimed big band the Danjam Orchestra. His 2011 debut album as a leader "Sudden Appearance" was produced by Jim McNeely and features John Riley. Daniel's works have been performed by a who's who of the jazz & commercial music scenes including Joe Lovano, Joshua Redman, Marcus Miller, Ingrid Jensen, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Kurt Elling, Anthony Hamilton, Warren Wolf, Vince Mendoza, Cecile McLorin Salvant, Armin van Buuren, Scott Wendholt, Alex Dean Jazz Orchestra, Metropole Orchestra, & WDR Big Band. Daniel has served as Staff Arranger for The U.S. Army Field Band since 2016. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Performance from the University of Toronto where he studied with Alex Dean & Tim Ries, as well as a Master of Music degree in Jazz Composition from the Manhattan School of Music where he studied with Dave Liebman & Jim McNeely.
MIHO HAZAMA
Core Team Composer & Event Host
Miho Hazama is a Grammy-nominated composer, arranger; chief conductor of the Danish Radio Big Band, Permanent guest conductor of the Metropole Orchestra, and leader of her own internationally acclaimed chamber ensemble m_unit. Lauded in Downbeat as one of “25 for the Future”, Hazama has written for artists such as Joshua Redman, Lionel Loueke, Stefon Harris, and Gil Goldstein, to name a few. In addition to m_unit, Hazama has composed works for the Danish Radio Big Band, Metropole Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, and Siena Wind Orchestra, among others.
ANDREW RATHBUN
Core Team Composer & Event Host
Saxophonist, composer, and Toronto native Andrew Rathbun has achieved a rare depth of lyricism and compositional intelligence in 20 years as a recording artist. Voted as a “Rising Star” in the 2018 and 2022 Downbeat Critics Polls, he has documented his stirring original music with a series acclaimed recordings, on the Challenge, Fresh Sound and Steeplechase labels, and has collaborated with musicians like Kenny Wheeler, Billy Hart, Ben Monder, Bill Stewart and Luciana Souza . “Rathbun’s lines dance and glide,” writes David Whiteis of JazzTimes, “reflecting both childlike wonder and well-honed artistry.”
After hearing 2014’s Numbers & Letters the New Yorker declared Rathbun “a crafty saxophonist and composer whose ambitious work over the past decade has eluded the wider recognition it deserves.” Atwood Suites, Rathbun’s JUNO-nominated jazz-orchestra project was summarized in Jazziz Magazine; “On the basis of this CD alone, Rathbun deserves to be ranked among today’s top arranger- composers.”
His latest recordings include “Semantics” which finds Rathbun with tenor sax great Rich Perry, and jazz percussion icon Billy Drummond. His music has been performed by the Capitol Quartet, the Danish Radio Big Band, the Brussles Jazz Orchestra, the David Liebman Big Band, and the Metropole Okest.
CHELSEA MCBRIDE
Core Team Composer & Event Host
Saxophonist, composer, conductor Chelsea McBride is leader of the 6-piece Chelsea and the Cityscape, and the internationally acclaimed 19-piece Chelsea McBride's Socialist Night School. McBride was Guest Conductor at the 2019 Perth International Jazz Festival and Sydney International Women’s Jazz Festival. McBride was named one of Canada’s top 35 jazz musicians under 35 by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and was the inaugural recipient of the Toronto Arts Foundation’s Emerging Jazz Artist Award.
Erica Seguine
Core Team Composer & Event Host
Erica Seguine is a composer, conductor, and co-leader of the 21 musician Erica Seguine | Shan Baker Orchestra. Their debut album, “The New Day Bends Light,” releasing March of 2023, was produced by renowned composer and bandleader Darcy James Argue, and deals with psychological themes of mental illness, struggle, and healing. Erica’s compositions have received many awards, including the 2013 BMI Foundation Charlie Parker Prize for Jazz Composition/2014 Manny Albam Commission, and her compositions and arrangements have been performed by ensembles such as the Metropole Orchestra, the Symphonic Jazz Orchestra, the Danish Radio Big Band, and many professional and college jazz ensembles. She has also worked as a conductor with Meg Okura’s Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble, Remy Le Boeuf’s Assembly of Shadows, the D.O.M.E. Experience, the Joel Harrison Big Band, and is a resident conductor and composer with the Meetinghouse Jazz Orchestra.
