Summer Jazz Institute offers performances through July 10

Two jazz pianists who have earned critical acclaim for their skill and artistry headline the schedule of special concerts taking place during the 2009 Skidmore Summer Jazz Institute.

Gerald Clayton, a New Yorker who hails from a long line of jazz musicians performed June 30 with his quintet. Next up is the Jonathan Batiste Quintet, featuring New Orleans native Batiste, with a performance Monday, July 6 in the Janet Kinghorn Bernhard Theater. Admission is free and open to the public.

The Skidmore Summer Jazz Institute will run through July 11, providing two weeks of serious jazz study for students of all ages. The program is held in collaboration with the New York State Summer School of the Arts (NYSSSA) School of Jazz Studies, one of eight summer residential schools sponsored and supported by Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Don McCormack, who launched the Summer Jazz Institute in 1987 when he was dean of special programs at Skidmore, returns again this year as director of the program. This year?s faculty includes Mark Beaubriand, saxophonist who also serves as academic advisor; Todd Coolman, bass; Bill Cunliffe, piano and combo leader; Curtis Fuller, trombone and combo leader; Bob Halek, Dennis Mackrel, and Billy Hart, drums; John LaBarbera, trumpet, composition, and combo leader; Pat LaBarbera, saxophone and combo leader; Hal Miller, jazz history; George Muscatello, guitar; Bobby Shew, trumpet and combo leader; and Gerald Zaffuts, combo leader.

From the start, Skidmore?s Summer Jazz Institute developed a strong following among jazz fans in the region for the series of free concerts by guest artists that accompanies the classroom program. Performances remaining in this year?s schedule follow. All performances are free and open to the public and begin at 8 p.m. in the Janet Kinghorn Bernhard Theater (except where noted).

? Thursday, July 2?Skidmore Faculty Sextet, featuring Cunliffe, Coolman, Mackrel, Pat LaBarbera, Shew, and Fuller.

? Friday, July 3?Jazz Student Concert, featuring institute participants, 1 p.m. at Filene Recital Hall.

? Monday, July 6?Jonathan Batiste Quintet, with Batiste, Phil Kuehn, Joe Saylor, Matt Marantz, and Eddie Barbash.

? Thursday, July 9?Skidmore Faculty Sextet, with Cunliffe, Coolman, Pat LaBarbara, Shew, Fuller, and Billy Hart on drums.

? Friday, July 10?Jazz Student Concert, featuring institute participants, 1 p.m. at Filene Recital Hall.

The Skidmore Summer Jazz Institute is sponsored in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Howard Bayne Foundation, the Arthur Zimtbaum Foundation, and Capitol-EMI-Blue Note Records.

About the guest artists

A native of The Netherlands, Gerald Clayton grew up in a musical family (father John is a bassist/composer and uncle Jeff is a saxophonist). He has studied both classical and jazz piano and composition. Despite his youth, Clayton has a solid performing history?with artists such as Benny Green, Mulgrew Miller, Lewis Nash, and Roy Hargrove?and awards to his credit. Clayton holds the Shelly Manne Award for emerging young artists from the Los Angeles Jazz Society, was named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts, and received a scholarship from the Music for Youth Foundation. He also won the ?Level 1? award from the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts and in 2006, finished second in the Thelonious Monk Institute Jazz Piano Competition.

Two years ago, Clayton and his trio performed at New York?s Jazz Gallery. Ben Ratliff of The New York Times wrote, ?There just aren?t a lot of pianists who have so much organized at such a young age. His style synthesizes economy, variety and harmonic ideas from players like Cedar Walton and Kenny Barron, as well as some flourishes and grandstanding energy form Oscar Peterson and Art Tatum.?

Jonathan Batiste also hails from a musical family?at the age of eight he joined the New Orleans-based Batiste Brothers Band as percussionist. By the time he was a teen Batiste was studying piano and voice as well as jazz and classical music, performing with such artists as the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Wynton Marsalis, and Cyril Neville.

Batiste?s first CD, Times in New Orleans, includes collaborations with Jason Marsalis, Donald Harrison, Christian Scott, and Maurice Brown. In 2004, the year of the CD?s release, following a national search, Batiste was chosen to be a member of the 2004 Gibson/Baldwin Grammy High School Jazz Ensembles, which enabled him to perform at a number of Grammy-related events. That same year marked Batiste?s graduation from St. Augustine High School and the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and his acceptance at the Juilliard School to study jazz piano.

Since coming to New York, he has performed regularly around the city with his trio (Phillip Kuehn and Joe Saylor). The group recorded Live in New York: At the Rubin Museum of Art, and performs monthly at the Garage. In late 2008 Batiste performed at the Rubin Museum of Art in a concert reviewed by Ben Ratliffe of the Times, who called Batiste?s performance ?stunning.?