Kids for Coltrane

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=36754 Click on the All About Jazz.com link above to read a review of Mr. Hentoff’s latest gem.  I am so  pleased  to see my work also mentioned in the review!! “Hentoff’s life-long dedication to the individualization of education in America is reflected in articles on jazz programs in schools and it is heartening to learn that at [...]

The Kids for Coltrane students will be dancing and singing to raise the profile of jazz in American schools. They will be joined by Louie Vig and his Debut Band, Sonny Simmons and the Cosmosamatics, and the Sean Harkness Quartet featuring Darro Sandler on drums. The evening will be a gift of song celebrating the [...]

What a gift it was to listen the Tri-M Chapter play Coltrane tunes along with their talented music director, Mr. Joseph Rutkowski. The performance was just brilliant and brought tears of joy to my eyes. On a beautiful evening in May I was invited to speak to this terrific group of gifted young musicians. They [...]

I am thrilled to announce that I have been selected to co-facilitate the Arts/Music/Drama group on www.Edutopia.org. This is an innovative on-line publication created by George Lucas and his team at the George Lucas Educational Foundation. If you are a teacher looking for creative ideas that will bring life to your curriculum through  visual arts, [...]

I enjoyed  meeting  UFT President Michael Mulgrew on Lobby Day in Albany, New York.  On March 9,  I went with other educators to talk to state legislators about how the budget affects the children.   Michael Mulgrew spoke passionately about  the importance of breaking the current deadlock in Albany. 1200 educators came to Albany on [...]

  I first had the pleasure of meeting Jazz legend Sonny Simmons last year when he so graciously shared his time and talent with my Kids for Coltrane students at the Holliswood School. This month I had the sincere pleasure and great opportunity to interview Sonny over lunch in New York City. There I was [...]

Summary of my presentation entitled The Other Side of Art and Music. It was an honor to be one of many presenters at the 50th Greater Metropolitan New York Social Studies Conference. The conference offered many enlightening and thought-provoking workshops. Doris Kearns Goodwin was the recipient of the Hubert Humphrey Humanitarian Award. Sharing with educators [...]

Here is a clip of Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond discussing what she learned about education from high achieving schools throughout the world. This video is from Edutopia which was created by the innovative genius George Lucas. ~ Thank you Dr. Darling-Hammond and Mr. George Lucas for illuminating the way.

“…The real power of jazz and the innovation of jazz  is that a group of people can come together and create art, improvised art and can negotiate their agendas with each other and that negotiation is the art…”  Wynton Marsalis

I had the extreme pleasure of being invited to the NEA Jazz Masters Awards Ceremony and Concert by Joann Stevens who is the program manager for Jazz Appreciation Month at the Smithsonian Institute. The awards ceremony honors the great jazz masters. I was breathing rarefied air! Give yourself a gift and research the lives and [...]