Bobby McFerrin, Sonny Rollins and Giovanni Tommaso to receive Honorary Doctorates of Music from Berklee College of Music; Elvin Jones and Bobby McFerrin to give clinics at summer school

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On Saturday, July 19, at an 11:00 a.m. ceremony in the historic Sala dei Notari, representatives from Boston's Berklee College of Music will bestow honorary doctor of music degrees on three musicians who have made significant and enduring contributions to the world of contemporary music: vocalist/conductor Bobby McFerrin, tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins; and double bass player/composer Giovanni Tommaso.

Press: to inquire about photo availability and usage, please e-mail us. Associate Professor of Guitar Michael Williams conducts an afternoon ensemble at last year's clinics. Photo by Emily Singer

Tommaso becomes the third prominent Italian contributor to receive this honor: Umbria Jazz Festival Artistic Director Carlo Pagnotta received the first honorary doctorate awarded in Italy, and the late jazz journalist Pino Candini also received a doctorate from the college.

McFerrin, Rollins, and Tommaso will join a long list of honorees from the college which includes Wayne Shorter, Pat Metheny, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Dizzy Gillespie, William "Count" Basie, Art Blakey, Oscar Peterson and Tito Puente, to name a few. Every year Berklee College of Music bestows honorary doctor of music degrees on a handful of musicians. This tradition began in 1971 with the awarding of an honorary degree to the great Duke Ellington.

Legendary jazz drummer Elvin Jones (who received an honorary doctorate from Berklee in September, 2001 in Boston) and vocal virtuoso Bobby McFerrin will each conduct two days of clinics at Berklee Summer School at Umbria Jazz Clinics.

Past Umbria Jazz performers who have visited the Summer School to give clinics include Pat Martino, Joe Zawinul, John McLaughlin, Joe Lovano, and Wynton Marsalis, to name a few. Other established performers are expected to join the students at the school, located on the old city wall, in the Piazza del Drago.

Berklee Summer School takes place throughout the Umbria Jazz Festival, giving participants an important homework assignment each night: hearing some of the most influential performers in jazz. At the end of this year's program, a total of up to $60,000 - $80,000 in Berklee scholarships (= 48,000 - 64,000 Euro) will be awarded to 10-15 outstanding student musicians. Since the beginning of the program, more than $925,000 worth of scholarships have been awarded. Many of these recipients have excelled at Berklee, and gone on to prominent careers in the music industry.

Berklee Summer School at Umbria Jazz Clinics is the only official Berklee Summer Clinic in all of Europe. Over the last 18 years the college's partnership with the Umbria Jazz Festival and Umbria government, the Province of Perugia, and city of Perugia, has provided an unprecedented jazz education opportunity for close to 4,000 aspiring musicians from throughout Europe. Berklee's collaboration with Umbria Jazz is its oldest, continuing international project.

From Gary Burton, Berklee Executive Vice President and five-time Grammy Award winner, these words: "Congratulations to Umbria Jazz on the 30th anniversary of the festival! Berklee College of Music is proud to have been presenting jazz education at Umbria for the past 18 years, and we look forward to continuing this very important collaboration between our college and the festival. With the support of the festival and regional and city governments, the opportunity to study jazz with world-class instructors from Berklee and hear jazz by world-class performers at Umbria Jazz is available to hundreds of talented students who come from all over Europe."

Berklee Summer School in Umbria closely resembles the experience of studying at Berklee's Boston campus. Ten of the college's professors, with help from local musician/interpreters, teach classes in music theory, ear training, and improvisation; direct student ensembles; and give private vocal and instrument instruction.

Summer School faculty are Larry Monroe (conducting special lectures); Matt Marvuglio (flute, special lectures); Greg Badolato (saxophone, ensembles, improvisation); Russell Hoffmann (piano, ensembles, composition); Jim Kelly (guitar, jazz theory, ensembles); Donna McElroy (voice, ensembles, improvisation); Rick Peckham (guitar, jazz theory, ensembles); Bruno Raberg (acoustic and electric bass, jazz theory, ensembles); Ron Savage (drums, ensembles); and Jeff Stout (trumpet, ensembles, improvisation).

The faculty will be assisted by Marcello Allulli (saxophone, ensembles, improvisation); David Boato (trumpet, ensembles, improvisation); Nicola Cordisco (guitar, jazz theory, ensembles); Maddalena Deodato (flute, special lectures); Cinzia Gizzi (piano, ensembles, composition); Angelo Lombardo (special lectures); Stefania Rava (voice, ensembles, improvisation); Luigi Tessarollo (guitar, jazz theory, ensembles); Marco Volpe (drums, ensembles); and Claudio Zanghieri (acoustic and electric bass, jazz theory, ensembles). Allulli, Boato, Gizzi, Rava, Volpe, and Zanghieri are Berklee alumni; and Boato, Rava, and Zanghieri are past recipients of Berklee scholarships through their participation as students at the Umbria Jazz Clinics.

Also participating at the clinics will be vocal accompanist Mamiko Watanabe. A recent graduate (May '03) of Berklee, she is one of the college's top student performers, and has performed with Joe Lovano, Kevin Mahogany, and Rebecca Parris. She was a semi-finalist in the 2002 Montreux Jazz Festival Solo Piano Competition and was a college co-winner in the Jazz Instrumental Soloist category in DownBeat Magazine's 26th Annual Student Music Awards (2003).

The intensive, 24/7 atmosphere of Summer School demonstrates how Berklee students come to develop the technique, discipline, and musical "feel," that has put some among the most prominent musicians in the world. The days are consumed with learning, the evenings with the concerts of the festival, followed by jam sessions for the students and faculty that run far into the night.

Summer School is course-directed by Berklee Executive Vice President Gary Burton, Berklee Associate Vice President for International Programs Larry Monroe, Director of Umbria Jazz Clinics Giovanni Tommaso, and Director of Organization Sauro Peducci, with support from Umbria Jazz founder Carlo Pagnotta.

It was Pagnotta who initially asked for Berklee's support to co-develop a summer jazz clinic, in 1985. After the early sessions, word spread of Berklee's Monroe, his professors, and their new type of jazz education. Soon, scores of young musicians were bringing their instruments to Umbria Jazz and spending their days learning to do what their heroes do on the festival stages each night.

Close to 250 students are expected at Summer School this year. Classes run from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. each day, with an afternoon break. Scholarships to Berklee in Boston will be awarded during a graduation ceremony and concert on Sunday, July 20. For further information on Summer School, visit Berklee's Web site at www.berklee.edu, or the Umbria Jazz site, www.umbriajazz.com.

Berklee College of Music was founded on the revolutionary principle that the best way to prepare students for careers in music was through the study and practice of contemporary music. For over half a century, the college has evolved constantly to reflect the state of the art of music and the music business. With over a dozen performance and nonperformance majors, a diverse and talented student body representing 70 plus countries, and a music industry "who's who" of alumni, Berklee is the world's premier learning lab for the music of today – and tomorrow.

For additional editorial information, until July 3, please contact:

Emily Singer, Publicist,
(U.S.) 617-747-2567
esinger@berklee.edu

In Perugia, July 7 - 20
mobile 001-617-331-4424 or
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