Berklee Rainbow Band to Play Five Nights at Hotel Ambassadeur; French Student Jazz Bands to Compete for Berklee Summer Tuition

Boston, and Juan les Pins, France, June 2, 1998 -- The future of jazz will be on display in an unprecedented five-day series of concerts at the Hotel Ambassadeur in Juan les Pins, on the French Riviera. Berklee College of Music and the hotel will present The Berklee Rainbow Band, led by Professor Phil Wilson, for a five-night stand, July 11 - 15, immediately prior to the annual Jazz a Juan Festival. The announcement was made simultaneously by hotel General Manager Eric Popeiul in Juan les Pins, and by Berklee College of Music's Matt Marvuglio, Dean of the college's Performance Division.

The Berklee Rainbow Band is one of Berklee's oldest and most prestigious ensembles, having begun as one of many classroom ensembles at Berklee, providing students a chance to gain valuable ensemble experience while learning from one of the premier jazz educators, Phil Wilson. Over the years, the band has been made up of Berklee's finest instrumentalists from all parts of the globe.

At the Ambassador, the band will perform the music of Duke Ellington, Thad Jones, Stephane Grapelli, and original arrangements written by Wilson of jazz standards.

The name Rainbow Band comes from the rainbow of international cultures that each of the students bring to the group, truly making it an ensemble. Under Wilson's direction, the Rainbow Band quickly earned a reputation as one of the world's top college groups performing contemporary jazz. The band appeared on U.S. national television and with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Experiencing a Berklee Rainbow Band concert, one never knows which of the students musicians will be the jazz stars performing at leading jazz festivals all over the world tomorrow. Famous Rainbow Band alumni include Richie Cole (alto sax); Cyrus Chestnut (piano); Terri Lyne Carrington (drums); Christopher Hollyday (alto sax); Abe Laboriel Sr. (bass) and Abe Laboriel Jr. (drums); Riley Mullins (trumpet); Makoto Ozone (piano); Bill Pierce (tenor sax); and Ernie Watts (tenor sax).

Opening sets will be performed each night by smaller student ensembles. YB4, led by Yann Bettremieux (saxophones), a native of France, will perform original compositions reflecting music from around the world and incorporating complex jazz chord progressions, heavy funk grooves, and the odd meters of world music. There will also be performances from a jazz piano trio, featuring Chihiro Yamanaka from Japan, and a quintet led by Italian vocalist Chiara Civello, who will sing Latin jazz and standards accompanied by Avi Rothbard, from Israel. Trombonist Wilson and Marvuglio, a flautist, will team for a set of compositions written by Berklee faculty for the Rainbow Band in a range of styles.

In addition to the Rainbow Band performances, Popeiul and Marvuglio announced a contest to bring top French jazz bands to Berklee in the summer of 1999 for the college's 5-Week Summer Performance Program. The contest will (details here) Several groups will be invited to perform at the Hotel Ambassadeur in July, while the Rainbow Band is in residence, and the winners chosen from among them. For further details, please contact the Hotel Ambassadeur at (phone number).

Founded in 1945, Berklee College of Music is the world's largest independent music college and the premier institution for the study of contemporary music. The college's 2,900 students and 300 faculty members interact in an environment designed to provide the most complete learning experience possible, including all the opportunities and challenges presented by a career in the contemporary music industry. Using Berklee's extensive facilities, located in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, students develop musical competencies in such areas as composition, performance, and recording/production, and also learn to make the informed business decisions necessary to career success.

Since the college's inception, one of its primary goals has been to foster international understanding through the medium of contemporary music. Young musicians come to Berklee from every corner of the earth to study American popular music, and as a result, Berklee is a uniquely international college. Of all United States colleges and universities, Berklee has the largest percentage of undergraduate students from outside the United States - 40% - representing more than 70 different countries.

The college's alumni include some of the most respected figures in contemporary music, including producer/arranger Quincy Jones; Living Colour drummer Will Calhoun; pop singer/guitarist Melissa Etheridge; pop singer/guitarist Bruce Cockburn; jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton; big band composer/pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi; film composer Alan Silvestri; Steely Dan leader Donald Fagen; singer/songwriter Aimee Mann; jazz saxophonist/ composer Branford Marsalis; guitarist/Tonight Show bandleader Kevin Eubanks; and popular singer Paula Cole.

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For further information:

France
Francoise Huard
Director of Communications
Hotel Ambassadeur

U.S.
Rob Hayes
Director of Public Information
Berklee College of Music
617-747-2566
rhayes@berklee.edu