Global Jazz Forum: Alan Pasqua and Ben Street

Pianist, composer, and educator Alan Pasqua and in-demand bassist Ben Street share their knowledge with students in this collaborative forum.

Alan Pasqua, a professor of jazz studies at the University of Southern California (USC), has worked with Jack DeJohnette ‘90H, Paul Motian, Gary Burton ’62 ‘89H, Michael Bublé, Peter Erskine ‘92H, and more. He has also recorded extensively with renowned pop, rock, and soul artists such as Santana, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Queen Latifah, and Ry Cooder, and has worked with popular composers such as Quincy Jones ’51 ‘83H, John Williams ‘80H, Dave Grusin ‘88H, Jerry Goldsmith ‘90H, and Henry Mancini ‘97H. Pasqua’s latest release, The Interlochen Concert (Fuzzy Music), finds Pasqua in a trio setting with Erskine and fellow USC educator Darek “Oles” Oleszkiewicz.

Ben Street is an in-demand bassist who has worked extensively with Kurt Rosenwinkel, Danilo Pérez, Billy Hart, Lage Lund, and David Sanchez, among others. This year, Street appeared (with Hart) on Aaron Parks’ Find the Way (ECM), which follows up his work in 2016 on the Andrew Cyrille Quartet’s The Declaration of Musical Independence (ECM), on which Street worked with Cyrille, Bill Frisell ’77 ‘17H, and Richard Teitelbaum. Street studied with Miroslav Vitous, the renowned Weather Report bassist, and Dave Holland in Boston prior to moving to New York City in 1991. He is a guest artist with the Berklee Global Jazz Institute.

The Berklee Global Jazz Institute is an honors performance program designed to foster creativity and musicianship through various musical disciplines, with pianist and composer Danilo Pérez as its artistic director. The BGJI provides a comprehensive contemporary music environment where students are given opportunities to explore their creativity to the highest level possible, advance the power of music as a tool for the betterment of society, and connect musical/creative thinking with the natural environment.