Articles by Sanford Josephson
Introducing the NJ All-State Jazz Ensemble and Choir
by Sanford Josephson
"If they hire me," said Dr. David Demsey, “they know they're getting some Thad Jones." Demsey, who recently retired after 33 years as Coordinator of Jazz Studies at William Paterson University, is directing this year's New Jersey Music Educators Association (NJMEA)/New Jersey Association for Jazz Education (NJAJE) All-State Jazz Ensemble. This is the third time Demsey has directed the ensemble, and he emphasized that, “This is not a program of arrangements that would be written for high school ...
Continue ReadingIntroducing Trumpeter Nathaniel Williford
by Sanford Josephson
Nathaniel Williford's jazz education began when he entered the sixth grade at Osceola County School for the Arts in Kissimmee, FL. “The magic started happening at our instrument trial day," he recalled, “selecting what we'd play in the band program. The trombone was what stood out to me. I could make some basic sounds on the trombone." Things began to change, however, when he heard Osceola's top high school jazz band play. “I heard the lead trumpet sitting ...
Continue ReadingIntroducing Guitarist Ely Perlman
by Sanford Josephson
After graduating from Israel's Thelma Yellin High School for the Performing Arts about four years ago, guitarist Ely Perlman came to the United States to attend Boston's Berklee College of Music. The summer before school started, he went to the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Academy, a music education program in Aspen, CO, directed by bassist Christian McBride. “It was June 2021," the 26-year-old Perlman recalled, “during the last period of Covid. Christian was just forming his band, Ursa Major. ...
Continue ReadingLeonieke Scheuble in Japan
by Sanford Josephson
As someone whose passion for jazz developed when I lived in Japan in the mid-1960s, I was fascinated to learn that keyboardist Leonieke Scheuble was spending nine weeks there to perform in the USA Pavilion at the Osaka Expo 2025. She led a band called Leonieke and the NY Groove which included her father, Nick, on drums, guitarist Ilan Eisenzweig, and saxophonist/flutist John Michalak. “I played Hammond organ the whole time," she told me. “The organ was graciously provided by ...
Continue ReadingDug and Jazz Spot Intro in Tokyo
by Sanford Josephson
I owe my love of jazz to the time I spent in Japan in the mid-1960s when I was working as a writer in the public information office of the American Red Cross' Far Eastern Area headquarters, located on a U.S. Army base about 45 minutes from Tokyo. While there, I saw Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Herbie Mann, Oscar Peterson, and many other well-known jazz artists at concerts or in clubs. But, I also hung out at the ...
Continue ReadingMeet Alto Saxophonist Erena Terakubo
by Sanford Josephson
For many years, trumpeter/educator Tiger Okoshi has been directing the Hokkaido Grove Jazz Camp during summers in Sapporo, Japan. At one of his first camps, he met a 12-year-old alto saxophonist named Erena Terakubo."She was shining, and she knew it," he recalled. “She was determined, driven, and already sounded like a young Charlie Parker." When Terakubo was 15, Okoshi, a professor at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, awarded her a full scholarship to Berklee's five-week summer ...
Continue ReadingIntroducing Pianist Ben Collins-Siegel
by Sanford Josephson
I first saw Ben Collins-Siegel play piano in July 2019 at the Roselle Park Jazz Festival. Then a 12-year-old seventh grader at Maplewood Middle School, he led off a performance by the JTole Jazz Orchestra of Thad Jones' “Counter Block," written for the Count Basie Orchestra. It was stunning. JTole stands for Julius Tolentino, the Jazz Director at Livingston, NJ's Newark Academy and Director of the RP Festival. Collins-Siegel had already been studying with Tolentino and began attending ...
Continue ReadingIntroducing Vocalist Clara Campbell
by Sanford Josephson
More than 100 vocalists competed in this year's Blues Alley Ella Fitzgerald Vocal Competition. What separated Clara Campbell from the other applicants, according to vocalist/judge Nicole Zuraitis, “was her unique voice. She didn't sound like someone else. And, the arrangements were exciting and interesting. She didn't play it safe, and I think that's the most important part of being a jazz singer today--taking risks." The 25-year-old old Campbell grew up in Bountiful, Utah, a Salt Lake City suburb, ...
Continue ReadingIntroducing Pianist Holly Bean
by Sanford Josephson
For Holly Bean, in her last semester at Juilliard, it was the summit of a long journey that began when, as a three-year-old, she started playing on the piano in her Oak Ridge, TN, home. “I would hop on top of the bench and try to copy my mom, who plays piano and organ," she said. “The first thing I tried to play was 'Part of Your World' from Disney's Little Mermaid. I would hear things I liked and figure ...
Continue ReadingIntroducing Trumpeter Kal Ferretti
by Sanford Josephson
When she was attending the LaGuardia High School of Music & Art, Kal Ferretti rode the subway to Manhattan from her home in Staten Island. The music on her phone was Art Blakey's Moanin' (Blue Note, 1958). “I would wear that out every train ride," she said. The 22-year-old Ferretti always wanted to play the trumpet, but she soon became bored with performing in a classical setting. “I ended up not totally digging just sitting there in the orchestra," she ...
Continue Reading
