21st Annual New Jersey State Jazz Conference (2025)
Breakfast 8:30 ~ Conference Sessions 9:00 ~ Luncheon 1:30
The New Jersey Association for Jazz Education is pleased to announce the 2025 NJAJE Jazz Education Conference, our TWENTY-FIRST annual event presented for New Jersey’s jazz education community. This year’s conference will be held on Friday, November 14, and, due to construction at NJPAC, we are moving our event to the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center in New Brunswick, New Jersey. We hope that this new location will prove to be a bit more accessible to our members from the central and southern parts of the state, without causing too much inconvenience to our northern NJ members. While we are sad to be leaving our home of 20 years, we look forward to meeting in this new venue and working with the great pros at NBPAC.
As in the past, our conference will include a lineup of fantastic presenters and subject areas. This year, we are thrilled to welcome DOUG BEACH (trumpeter, composer, educator) as our keynote presenter. His presentation topic with be “A Day in the Life of a Jazz Ensemble Director: Thoughts & Ideas for Improved Performance” and we can’t imagine anyone better suited for this subject area. Doug Beach appears courtesy of Kendor/Doug Beach Music Publishing and the Yamaha Corporation. As always, the conference will also include the industry’s leading new instrumental jazz reading session and a light breakfast provided by Peak Group Travel and American Music Abroad. Our luncheon this year will be held at Tavern on George, honoring this year’s Jazz Education Achievement Award winner, Carl Cox.
The Twenty-first Annual Jazz Education Conference is provided FREE to all NJAJE members. Non-members may attend for a fee of just $75, which includes a one-year membership to NJAJE and a subscription to Downbeat Magazine. We are also pleased to offer our regular discounted rate of $60 for retirees and $25 for students! Please join us for the Twenty-first Annual Jazz Education Conference by clicking here to register. Registration deadline is Monday, November 3.
CLINIC DESCRIPTIONS & CLINICIAN BIOS
A Day in the Life of a Jazz Ensemble Director: Thoughts & Ideas for Improved Performance – Doug Beach, clinician
The jazz ensemble director in the educational world faces a myriad of challenges in putting the finished product on the stage. This presentation will discuss the following topics (and likely a few more!) in an attempt to make that job a bit easier.
Teaching jazz rhythms and articulations and applying those concepts to ensemble playing.
Working the rhythm section into a cohesive unit. Drum grooves, bass lines, piano voicings and guitar comping.
Musical effects in the jazz idiom and how to apply them. The world of mutes.
Rehearsal techniques - How to put it all together
Jazz improvisation for young musicians - will feature a live demonstration group.
Doug Beach is a performer, publisher, educator and an award- winning composer/arranger. At Elmhurst University, where he taught 1978-2021, he served as director of the widely acclaimed Elmhurst College Jazz Band and as director of jazz studies. Under his direction, the Jazz Band made over 30 European tours (twice at the invitation of the U.S. State Department) and performed in jazz festivals across the world. The band regularly appeared with jazz greats such as Doc Severinsen, Gary Smulyan, Dennis Mackrel, Nicholas Payton, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Patti Austin, Lee Konitz, Jeff Hamilton, Randy Brecker, Mike Stern and Bobby Shew. The band and its members were frequent award winners in Downbeat Magazine’s Student Music Awards. In 2014 the Elmhurst College Jazz Band was named by Downbeat as the winner in the large jazz ensemble category for undergraduate institutions.
Beach is equally well known for his work as a publisher and composer/arranger. His arrangements have been performed and/or recorded by the Count Basie Orchestra, New York Voices, David Benoit, Jeff Hamilton and Nicholas Payton. His company, Doug Beach Music, is one of the world’s leading publishers of educational jazz music. Each year since 1995 he has been the recipient of a Plus Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). In 1996, the Count Basie Orchestra and New York Voices recorded his arrangement of “Cottontail” on a CD that went on to win the Grammy Award for best large jazz ensemble. Other awards include a 2003 President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching from Elmhurst University (the University’s highest teaching award), the 2012 Faculty Merit Award and a 2015 Jazz Education Achievement Award from Downbeat Magazine.
Beach is also a highly sought-after clinician and adjudicator. He has served as a conductor, guest artist, or judge throughout the United States and in Canada, Australia, and Europe. He has conducted 22 All-State jazz ensembles and twice has served as an artist-in-residence for the Illinois Arts Council. A Yamaha performing artist and clinician, Beach plays Yamaha trumpets and flugelhorns.
Reading Session: What’s New for Jazz Ensemble (including vocal features!) – Joseph Verderese, clinician
This session is among the industry’s most comprehensive new music reading sessions, and features some of this year's best charts for instrumental jazz ensembles at all levels - from beginning middle school to advanced high school and college. This year’s reading session will highlight music that includes vocalists with big band at a variety of instructional levels. Conference attendees are invited and encouraged to participate in the reading ensembles. Music provided by Hal Leonard, Belwin, Sierra, Kendor, Doug Beach, Barnhouse, Kjos, Jalen Jazz, Jazz Lines and Walrus Publications. Joseph Verderese is Secretary of NJAJE, and has been Director of Bands at Cresskill Junior/Senior High School since 2005. He is also co-leader of the One More Once Big Band, which he directs with Timothy Hayward.
Professional Development Credit
This conference has been developed according to the New Jersey Standards for Required Professional Development of Teachers. The following PD standards will be addressed: 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. The subject matter presented in this year’s conference will assist music educators in helping their students reach grade-appropriate performance expectations found in NJ Student Learning Standards 1.3B, 1.3C, 1.3D and 1.3E. Five hours of professional development credit will be awarded to attendees. NJAJE is a registered professional development provider (Provider No. 5098.)
For more information, contact:
Jeffrey Haas, NJAJE Vice President and Conference Chair
[email protected]
201.207.6736
As in the past, our conference will include a lineup of fantastic presenters and subject areas. This year, we are thrilled to welcome DOUG BEACH (trumpeter, composer, educator) as our keynote presenter. His presentation topic with be “A Day in the Life of a Jazz Ensemble Director: Thoughts & Ideas for Improved Performance” and we can’t imagine anyone better suited for this subject area. Doug Beach appears courtesy of Kendor/Doug Beach Music Publishing and the Yamaha Corporation. As always, the conference will also include the industry’s leading new instrumental jazz reading session and a light breakfast provided by Peak Group Travel and American Music Abroad. Our luncheon this year will be held at Tavern on George, honoring this year’s Jazz Education Achievement Award winner, Carl Cox.
The Twenty-first Annual Jazz Education Conference is provided FREE to all NJAJE members. Non-members may attend for a fee of just $75, which includes a one-year membership to NJAJE and a subscription to Downbeat Magazine. We are also pleased to offer our regular discounted rate of $60 for retirees and $25 for students! Please join us for the Twenty-first Annual Jazz Education Conference by clicking here to register. Registration deadline is Monday, November 3.
CLINIC DESCRIPTIONS & CLINICIAN BIOS
A Day in the Life of a Jazz Ensemble Director: Thoughts & Ideas for Improved Performance – Doug Beach, clinician
The jazz ensemble director in the educational world faces a myriad of challenges in putting the finished product on the stage. This presentation will discuss the following topics (and likely a few more!) in an attempt to make that job a bit easier.
Teaching jazz rhythms and articulations and applying those concepts to ensemble playing.
Working the rhythm section into a cohesive unit. Drum grooves, bass lines, piano voicings and guitar comping.
Musical effects in the jazz idiom and how to apply them. The world of mutes.
Rehearsal techniques - How to put it all together
Jazz improvisation for young musicians - will feature a live demonstration group.
Doug Beach is a performer, publisher, educator and an award- winning composer/arranger. At Elmhurst University, where he taught 1978-2021, he served as director of the widely acclaimed Elmhurst College Jazz Band and as director of jazz studies. Under his direction, the Jazz Band made over 30 European tours (twice at the invitation of the U.S. State Department) and performed in jazz festivals across the world. The band regularly appeared with jazz greats such as Doc Severinsen, Gary Smulyan, Dennis Mackrel, Nicholas Payton, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Patti Austin, Lee Konitz, Jeff Hamilton, Randy Brecker, Mike Stern and Bobby Shew. The band and its members were frequent award winners in Downbeat Magazine’s Student Music Awards. In 2014 the Elmhurst College Jazz Band was named by Downbeat as the winner in the large jazz ensemble category for undergraduate institutions.
Beach is equally well known for his work as a publisher and composer/arranger. His arrangements have been performed and/or recorded by the Count Basie Orchestra, New York Voices, David Benoit, Jeff Hamilton and Nicholas Payton. His company, Doug Beach Music, is one of the world’s leading publishers of educational jazz music. Each year since 1995 he has been the recipient of a Plus Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). In 1996, the Count Basie Orchestra and New York Voices recorded his arrangement of “Cottontail” on a CD that went on to win the Grammy Award for best large jazz ensemble. Other awards include a 2003 President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching from Elmhurst University (the University’s highest teaching award), the 2012 Faculty Merit Award and a 2015 Jazz Education Achievement Award from Downbeat Magazine.
Beach is also a highly sought-after clinician and adjudicator. He has served as a conductor, guest artist, or judge throughout the United States and in Canada, Australia, and Europe. He has conducted 22 All-State jazz ensembles and twice has served as an artist-in-residence for the Illinois Arts Council. A Yamaha performing artist and clinician, Beach plays Yamaha trumpets and flugelhorns.
Reading Session: What’s New for Jazz Ensemble (including vocal features!) – Joseph Verderese, clinician
This session is among the industry’s most comprehensive new music reading sessions, and features some of this year's best charts for instrumental jazz ensembles at all levels - from beginning middle school to advanced high school and college. This year’s reading session will highlight music that includes vocalists with big band at a variety of instructional levels. Conference attendees are invited and encouraged to participate in the reading ensembles. Music provided by Hal Leonard, Belwin, Sierra, Kendor, Doug Beach, Barnhouse, Kjos, Jalen Jazz, Jazz Lines and Walrus Publications. Joseph Verderese is Secretary of NJAJE, and has been Director of Bands at Cresskill Junior/Senior High School since 2005. He is also co-leader of the One More Once Big Band, which he directs with Timothy Hayward.
Professional Development Credit
This conference has been developed according to the New Jersey Standards for Required Professional Development of Teachers. The following PD standards will be addressed: 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. The subject matter presented in this year’s conference will assist music educators in helping their students reach grade-appropriate performance expectations found in NJ Student Learning Standards 1.3B, 1.3C, 1.3D and 1.3E. Five hours of professional development credit will be awarded to attendees. NJAJE is a registered professional development provider (Provider No. 5098.)
For more information, contact:
Jeffrey Haas, NJAJE Vice President and Conference Chair
[email protected]
201.207.6736
| conference_flyer_2025.pdf |
