In Memoriam
Joel Perry, the 2016 New Jersey Jazz Education Achievement Award Recipient, passed away in September of 2017. NJAJE remembers Mr. Perry as the outstanding musician and educator that inspired this award. May his memory be for a blessing and a comfort to all who mourn him.
2016 Awardee: Mr. Joel Perry
JOEL PERRY is one of the premier guitarists and musicians of our time. The list of artists he has performed and recorded with is a who’s who of the music world. Joel has performed in over fifteen countries and in venues including: Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Garden State Arts Center, The Rainbow Room, Windows on the World, U.S. Department of State tour of West Africa with blues artist Johnny Copeland, Hong Kong, many small clubs on the east coast including Trumpets, The Blue Note, Sounds of Brazil, The 55 Bar, Tramps and, The Famished Frog. Some of the artists that Joel Perry has performed with include Papa John Creach, Ruth Brown, Big Joe Turner, Lavern Baker, Joni Mitchel, Herb Ellis, Rosemary Clooney, Leslie Gore, Margaret Whiting, Eddie Fischer, James Cotton, Percy France, Leon Thomas, Jimmy Dawkins, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Frank Foster, Frank Wess, Ken Peplowski and Al Hibbler. Amongst some of the artists he has recorded with are Johnny Copeland and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and he has three CD releases “Rainbow Skylight”, “Perry Airs” and “Sonata to the Blues”.
Reviews of Joel Perry include:
“He has a profound understanding of harmony and composition, an uncanny ability to perform a wide variety of musical styles and incorporate them into his own.”
Alison Bert, Guitar Review Magazine
“A smoking blues jam duet, exiting guitar pieces”
Diane Gordon, Acoustic Guitar Magazine
“Dazzling duo, delicate and precise music, beautiful”
Mike Healy, Buffalo Evening News
“A major artist, versatile songwriter, irresistible”
Kerry Regan, Chelsea Clinton News, NYC
Joel Perry also has an extensive educational background to compliment his performing and recording credentials. He has a Bachelors of Fine Arts (Magna Cum Laude) and Masters Degree in Education from The University of Buffalo, Masters Degree in Performance from Jersey City State University, and a Summer Fellowship at Northwestern University. He is also a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the New Jersey Association for Jazz Education, Music Educators National Conference, and American Choral Directors Association.
Highlights of my work in Jazz education (submitted by Mr. Perry)
I am very proud of my work in Jazz education. I consider it part of the same profession to perform music and teach music. I also consider it integral to teaching music to teach Jazz. I do think that Jazz is indeed our “classical music”!
I am currently teaching Vocal music K-5 in West Orange New Jersey. I insist on including blues and Jazz and improvisation in my curriculum for every grade. I am also currently teaching Jazz as well as Blues and classical guitar at the Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts in Berkeley Heights. I have implemented various Jazz and Blues workshops at Wharton. I also teach Theory and also insist on including Jazz in my theory curriculum. I continue to take on a few private Students.
It is hard to know where to begin. I attended the high school of Music and Art in NYC. (The original building 135 Street and Convent Ave). I was, I think, a little precocious and in Junior or Senior year travelled on Saturdays from my home in Jamaica, Queens to Henry Street Settlement to teach guitar at Henry Street Settlement. In college, at SUNY at Buffalo I taught Guitar as an elective for non-majors, as an undergraduate. As a Graduate assistant to Dr. Edwin Gordon at SUNY at Buffalo I taught a course and did research in improvisation. After my MFA Degree I stayed and wrote curriculum and implemented the first Jazz guitar as a major instrument program at SUNY at Buffalo. I also taught a course on Jazz improvisation at SUNY at Buffalo. During my tenure in Buffalo I also taught at Buffalo State Teachers College, Villa Maria Institute, and Niagara University.
Upon arriving in the NY metropolitan area I starting teaching Jazz at La Guardia Community College in Queens. I also taught at the Brooklyn Conservatory. I taught guitar and help implement and write curriculum for the Jazz certificate program at The American Institute of Guitar in NYC. I also published an original composition for solo guitar Blues Impromptu (‘Til The Morning Comes). I also created the “Blues Extravaganza”, which was a weekend of Blues performance, Jam session, History and instruction that featured blues Legend Johnny “Clyde” Copeland. I also made an instructional video with Johnny Copeland on “How to play Blues Guitar”. (Out of print). During this time I was performing solo guitar at the Rainbow Room in NYC five nights a week, four or five hours a night.
After I moved to New Jersey I must credit my friend Jeff Haas for introducing me to Jazz education in New Jersey. He enlisted me as a player for his Jazz bands and I presented a few workshops and clinics. He also enlisted me to compose and write the Jazz guitar etudes still used for the regional Junior High and High School Jazz Band auditions. Of course I have been and continue to be a member of the NJAJE before during and after its affiliation with the national organization. I have presented workshops for teachers on “How to Sequence Jazz and Blues in the Elementary Music Curriculum” for the NJAJE as well as for the MENC Conventions in New Jersey. I have made presentations on using Music Learning Theory (Gordon) to teach Jazz improvisation as well as music literacy at Montclair State University and New Jersey City University.
I am very proud to have just finished a book of scales for guitar called “The Building Blocks of Music for Guitar”. I am hosting a radio show called “The Jersey Bounce”. It is on live Sunday mornings , 7 Am-10AM on wfdu.fm HD2 and streaming on WFDU2.STREAMREWIND.COM”.
I am extremely proud of my continued work in Jazz education. I think that the NJAJE is a very important organization for the continued work in Jazz education and I am very honored to be selected as the recipient of the 2016 New Jersey Jazz Education Achievement Award. There is a great feeling in being recognized by your colleagues for your work. Thank you very much!
Reviews of Joel Perry include:
“He has a profound understanding of harmony and composition, an uncanny ability to perform a wide variety of musical styles and incorporate them into his own.”
Alison Bert, Guitar Review Magazine
“A smoking blues jam duet, exiting guitar pieces”
Diane Gordon, Acoustic Guitar Magazine
“Dazzling duo, delicate and precise music, beautiful”
Mike Healy, Buffalo Evening News
“A major artist, versatile songwriter, irresistible”
Kerry Regan, Chelsea Clinton News, NYC
Joel Perry also has an extensive educational background to compliment his performing and recording credentials. He has a Bachelors of Fine Arts (Magna Cum Laude) and Masters Degree in Education from The University of Buffalo, Masters Degree in Performance from Jersey City State University, and a Summer Fellowship at Northwestern University. He is also a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the New Jersey Association for Jazz Education, Music Educators National Conference, and American Choral Directors Association.
Highlights of my work in Jazz education (submitted by Mr. Perry)
I am very proud of my work in Jazz education. I consider it part of the same profession to perform music and teach music. I also consider it integral to teaching music to teach Jazz. I do think that Jazz is indeed our “classical music”!
I am currently teaching Vocal music K-5 in West Orange New Jersey. I insist on including blues and Jazz and improvisation in my curriculum for every grade. I am also currently teaching Jazz as well as Blues and classical guitar at the Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts in Berkeley Heights. I have implemented various Jazz and Blues workshops at Wharton. I also teach Theory and also insist on including Jazz in my theory curriculum. I continue to take on a few private Students.
It is hard to know where to begin. I attended the high school of Music and Art in NYC. (The original building 135 Street and Convent Ave). I was, I think, a little precocious and in Junior or Senior year travelled on Saturdays from my home in Jamaica, Queens to Henry Street Settlement to teach guitar at Henry Street Settlement. In college, at SUNY at Buffalo I taught Guitar as an elective for non-majors, as an undergraduate. As a Graduate assistant to Dr. Edwin Gordon at SUNY at Buffalo I taught a course and did research in improvisation. After my MFA Degree I stayed and wrote curriculum and implemented the first Jazz guitar as a major instrument program at SUNY at Buffalo. I also taught a course on Jazz improvisation at SUNY at Buffalo. During my tenure in Buffalo I also taught at Buffalo State Teachers College, Villa Maria Institute, and Niagara University.
Upon arriving in the NY metropolitan area I starting teaching Jazz at La Guardia Community College in Queens. I also taught at the Brooklyn Conservatory. I taught guitar and help implement and write curriculum for the Jazz certificate program at The American Institute of Guitar in NYC. I also published an original composition for solo guitar Blues Impromptu (‘Til The Morning Comes). I also created the “Blues Extravaganza”, which was a weekend of Blues performance, Jam session, History and instruction that featured blues Legend Johnny “Clyde” Copeland. I also made an instructional video with Johnny Copeland on “How to play Blues Guitar”. (Out of print). During this time I was performing solo guitar at the Rainbow Room in NYC five nights a week, four or five hours a night.
After I moved to New Jersey I must credit my friend Jeff Haas for introducing me to Jazz education in New Jersey. He enlisted me as a player for his Jazz bands and I presented a few workshops and clinics. He also enlisted me to compose and write the Jazz guitar etudes still used for the regional Junior High and High School Jazz Band auditions. Of course I have been and continue to be a member of the NJAJE before during and after its affiliation with the national organization. I have presented workshops for teachers on “How to Sequence Jazz and Blues in the Elementary Music Curriculum” for the NJAJE as well as for the MENC Conventions in New Jersey. I have made presentations on using Music Learning Theory (Gordon) to teach Jazz improvisation as well as music literacy at Montclair State University and New Jersey City University.
I am very proud to have just finished a book of scales for guitar called “The Building Blocks of Music for Guitar”. I am hosting a radio show called “The Jersey Bounce”. It is on live Sunday mornings , 7 Am-10AM on wfdu.fm HD2 and streaming on WFDU2.STREAMREWIND.COM”.
I am extremely proud of my continued work in Jazz education. I think that the NJAJE is a very important organization for the continued work in Jazz education and I am very honored to be selected as the recipient of the 2016 New Jersey Jazz Education Achievement Award. There is a great feeling in being recognized by your colleagues for your work. Thank you very much!
Joel Perry Memorial Concert and Scholarship Fund
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