Where to Start

CAP @ CalArts (and What to Check Out Next Month in Los Angeles)

by Rachel Cantrell on December 19, 2010

Yesterday marked the end of the first CAP semester at CalArts — a program that I’m waiting to elaborate on until its final concert at CalArt’s relatively new outdoor theater, the Wild Beast. In a nutshell, the program unites CalArts students with younger students of their own in their respective areas of study. In my [...]

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The Search for Ten Unique Jazz Pianists

by Rachel Cantrell on July 1, 2010

There’s this important piece of advice that I received from someone when I first began developing an interest in jazz piano during my freshman year of high school — pick a jazz pianist whose sound you’re the most attracted to and study his/her music over the course of their recorded career. In that instance several [...]

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On Conspicuous Judges and Unsuccessful Auditions

by Rachel Cantrell on January 17, 2010

I was just finishing a post about my experience so far with the combo that I’m currently in, but I’m going to be telling you about my day instead. You see, I had an audition this morning with the SCSBOA honor jazz band program. I’ve done auditions before, but only classical ones — auditions with [...]

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Performing & Visual Arts College Fair @ UCLA

by Rachel Cantrell on October 25, 2009

This past Sunday I got a chance to visit the Performing and Visual Arts College Fair sponsored by NACAC at the Ackerman Union at UCLA. I’ve been to college fairs before, but this one was focused around schools that offered exceptional arts programs — everything from hardcore conservatories like New England Conservatory and Juilliard to [...]

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Jazz Now: What’s it Like Today?

by Rachel Cantrell on September 20, 2009

This week, NPR Jazz is asking bloggers like me to list five albums I’d use to introduce someone to today’s jazz. This is incredible because (a) I love today’s jazz, and (b) this is justification that I’m not crazy for running a blog about jazz — there’s more like me out there! Even though I’m [...]

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Where Do You Start?

by Rachel Cantrell on July 6, 2009

With the internet nowadays, you don’t really have to leave home to listen to jazz. When I look for some new tunes to listen to, here’s where I go: Pandora: This radio is pretty interesting: you type in a song you love, and instead of playing that song, it starts playing songs you might grow [...]

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Well, here goes.

by Rachel Cantrell on July 2, 2009

I come from a world of snazzy jazz band polos and squeaky wind instruments and smelly yellow school buses. Ah, high school jazz band. For the past two years, I’ve woken up to play jazz at the wee hours of the morning, puffy-faced and yawning, blindly fumbling with the F blues scale. You should hear [...]

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