Below is Monica Shriver’s account of the conference. Hope you enjoy! (Might want to grab an extra cup of coffee to read this one, it’s pretty long. Too much good stuff…)

I flew into Atlanta a day early (saving quite a bit of money on airfare) and stayed with friends on January 1st. It was really nice to catch up with them, relax and get a good night sleep before the conference started. I was able to check into the hotel early on the 2nd, practice, and relax before the evening concerts. My parents arrived that same day with all the instruments. The hotel was the gorgeous Hyatt Peachtree in downtown Atlanta.

They had plenty of convention center space, although many people ended up having to stay at nearby hotels. (Ask Paul about sleeping on the 32nd floor next time you see him!) That evening I stood in line for registration for about an hour, but eventually got our passes. It was pretty awesome to see my name and Doublers Collective on the pass – I was really proud.

Although there was music from 8 PM until 1:30 AM that evening, the highlight for me was definitely Rufus Reid’s “Quiet Pride”. A 23-piece big band with wordless voice performed this 5 movement work by Rufus that was written honoring the sculptures and spirit of the late Black-American artist Elizabeth Catlett. It was one of the most unique and moving pieces of music that I heard all conference. Rufus has been doing more and more composing and I really enjoy his writing.

Thursday morning I woke up early to attend clinics on Transcription and how to use it with young beginning improvisors, Jazz Funding Opportunities, and Flute technique with Jamie Baum. My favorite clinic that day, however, was a complete surprise. About a week before the conference, a person by the name of Aubrey Logan added me on Twitter. When I saw her name on a clinic description, I decided to go check it out. It was called Combining Chops with Soul, but the clinic mostly focused on stage presence and interacting with your audience. Aubrey was entertaining, funny, and straight forward. I really enjoyed what she had to say and getting the chance to meet her in person.

I also saw a lot of great music Thursday, including Kris Berg and the Metroplexity Big Band featuring friend and mentor Chris Vadala, Wayne Bergeron, and Clay Jenkins. One of the best college groups I heard was from the University of Central Florida joined by Aubrey Logan and they even had a surprise guest perform with them: one of my favorite saxophone players Antonio Hart!

My Friday morning began with a performance by a saxophone quintet out of the University of Kentucky called the Mega-Sax Ensemble, directed by a friend, Miles Osland. The last couple of songs they played featured great saxophonists, Jeff Coffin and Bob Mintzer. I also went to a clinic by Jeff Coffin about listening to early saxophone recordings, which wasn’t anything new but still fun. Actually the best part was seeing Jeff again (he was the 2011 Highland Jazz Festival Clinician) – he’s one of my favorite people. I spent most of the afternoon practicing and making sure all my reeds worked. In a square shaped hotel, I was lucky enough to end up with a far corner room, hidden down a hallway with only one neighbor. We soon found out that we could practice without being heard at all – so everyone practiced in my room! All of my reeds worked great except for my tenor reeds. I tried every single one and none of them sounded good. I ended up heading down to the exhibits to see if I could pick up some reeds from the Vandoren booth. They gave me 3 for free! Totally saved me too, because one of them ended up being the perfect reed!

Friday evening was the LeJENds Fundraising Gala, honoring the two great educators David Leibman and Rufus Reid. It was a really nice event and great to talk to some people who I wouldn’t have had a chance to talk with otherwise. I ran into a friend that I met the previous year, and he introduced me to a bunch of new people. I also enjoyed a really fancy dinner and great conversation with the people at my table.

After the Gala was the evening concerts. The highlight was hands down, the Army Blues performing with Wycliff Gordon. I knew many of the guys in the Army Blues from hearing Alan Baylock’s Big Band the previous 2 years, too. Man, that band sounded incredible! I was completely blown away. What I also couldn’t believe was that in less that 14 hours from that point, the rhythm section from the Army Blues would be playing with Doublers Collective. I was so excited!! Following the Army Blues performance, Mike and I headed down the street to a local jazz club to hear the Western Michigan University Jazz Quartet. Unfortunately, we had to sit in the back and couldn’t hear much. We called it an early night (1 AM!) and tried to get some sleep before the performance the next day.

Saturday was performance day. Mike and I got breakfast together at 9 AM and then around 10 grabbed all of our stuff and started getting ready. We were scheduled to do a sound check at 11:15, but luckily nothing was schedule in our performance room, so we snuck into the hall early to get everything set up. (It takes a long time to set up 24 different horns and then warm-up them all.) Around 11 the rhythm section showed up and we did a run through and sound check with them. Before we knew it, it was performance time.

We played 5 tunes for our performance – Stompin’ at the Savoy, Homer Takes a Holiday, Tempis Fugit (Alan Baylock’s new arrangement for us), Quiet Now, and In a Joyful Mood (in memory of James Moody). It went really well. The rhythm section from the Army Blues sounded amazing! Locking up with them was effortless. I’m still blown away by them – sharing the stage with Steve Fidyk, Regan Brough, and Tony Nalker was one of the highlights of my musical life. Incredible players and fabulous people, too. I sincerely hope I get the opportunity to do it again.

We had a really great response from our performance – tons of positive feedback! It was really cool being able to perform for people outside of Arizona and we were able to reach fans, other musicians, club owners, grant providers, university professors, and composers! It was wonderful getting the opportunity to network with so many people during the entire conference!

Although, so many great things came from attending and performing at the JEN Conference, here are a few of the highlights:
1) Michael Abene (who has agreed to write a piece for us) told me that he was so glad we were there so that he could hear us in person. His plan is to write us an original piece featuring the five of us without a rhythm section. Hearing us live really inspired him!
2) Harry Schnipper, the owner of Blues Alley in Washington DC, loved the group and said we have a place to play when we make it to DC. The rhythm section from the Army Blues also agreed to play with us again.
3) One of my friends works in the marketing department at Alfred Publishing. She has offered to help me with any questions I have about marketing and Doublers Collective.
4) In addition to the clinics and music, I also got to hang out with and listen to some amazing musicians and educators, including Dave Liebman, Rufus Reid, Antonio Hart, John Patitucci, Jeff Coffin, Wayne Bergeron, Wycliff Gordon, John Clayton, Gordon Goodwin, Caleb Chapman, and many others. Although I was running around pretty much all day long, there was so much that I missed due to so many events happening all at once.

As a bonus, here’s a nice blog post written about us by a new fan: http://www.stevemoffett.biz/1/post/2013/01/jen-convention-atlanta.html

Sadly, I didn’t get a lot of pictures, I really need someone to follow me around with a camera! But the ones I did take can be found at http://www.doublerscollective.com/jen2013/

If you are on Twitter you can search #JEN13 and read all the tweets by everyone from the conference.

The entire performance was professionally recorded by The Rush Stage and can be viewed by purchasing a pass (which enables you to view everything that was recorded at the entire conference) or just purchasing Doublers Collective’s performance. Here’s that link if you’d like more info: http://jensales.therushstage.com/

Thanks again for all your support of Doublers Collective – for donating, for attending our performances, and for helping to spread the word about us. We couldn’t do it without you!

Sincerely,
Monica Shriver
Founder and Director of Doublers Collective

What we need:
We have raised $535 from individual donations. A minimum of $1000 more by 12/19 would make the trip possible. A maximum goal of $4000 would insure no out of pocket costs for the group.

What Sponsors get:

• Name, Logo, and website link will be added to the Donor section of the Doublers Collective website
• Thank you and link to your website will be posted on the Doublers Collective’s Facebook page and Monica Shriver’s personal Facebook Page.
• Doublers Collective and Monica Shriver will tweet multiple thank you’s and tell our followers about your business.
• For Sponsorships over $500:
  • A special Blog Post will be composed and shared via Twitter, Facebook and posted on the Doublers Collective website.
  • Name, Logo, and website will be mentioned on all posts by Doublers Collective and Monica Shriver regarding the conference.
• Contributions made by credit card or check are tax deductible.

Contributions by credit card: Visit https://www.fracturedatlas.org/s/campaign/691?

Contributions by check:

• Make the check payable to “Fractured Atlas”
• In the memo line, write “Monica Shriver – DC”
• Mail check to: Monica Shriver, 902 W. Topeka Dr., Phoenix, AZ 85027

Visit www.doublerscollective.com/jen2013 for up-to-date information on the Jazz Education Network Conference. Thank you so much for your time. Please contact me with any questions. I would be happy to come to your store and talk in person. Feel free to pass this on to anyone who you think might be interested. Happy Holidays!

Dear Friends,

My name is Monica Shriver. I am the founder, director and member of a Phoenix-based, professional jazz ensemble called Doublers Collective. Our mission is to present concerts, performance clinics and perform community outreach through music that features woodwinds – saxophones, flutes, clarinets and bassoon – and encourage their study and use by musicians and students of all ages. We perform original compositions and arrangements written specifically for this instrumentation by some of jazz’ top composers.

Recently Doublers Collective was chosen from a nationwide pool of ensembles to perform at the 4th Annual Jazz Education Network Conference that will take place in Atlanta, Georgia, from January 2-5, 2013. It will be the first time that a professional ensemble from Arizona will perform at this conference.

The Jazz Education Network (JEN) is a relatively young, national organization dedicated to building the jazz arts community by advancing education, promoting performance and developing new audiences. (www.jazzednet.org) This annual conference brings together several thousand musicians, clinicians, educators, students, presenters and jazz organizations from all over the country. As a charter member, I have watched JEN grow and have a positive impact in the national jazz community at large. And, having attended the last two conferences, I can attest to what an exciting and important event this conference is for jazz.

The conference offers its attendees opportunities for professional growth and successful networking through performances by the nation’s best jazz musicians and numerous clinics, which cover a variety of jazz topics, i.e. improvisation, education, networking, technology, composition, arranging and cultivating new audiences. Upon returning home, attendees bring these experiences, connections, new skills and knowledge back to their communities and students – something that the members of Doublers Collective would bring back to Arizona’s growing jazz community of musicians and fans.

The national exposure that Doublers Collective will receive at this conference will help to bring much needed attention and resources to the ensemble and the growing jazz community in the Phoenix area. Phoenix has a vibrant jazz scene, but unfortunately, few outside of Arizona know about it. The members of Doublers Collective, as active musicians and educators in this music scene, look forward to spreading the word about what is happening in Arizona via personal interactions and networking at a national level. Plus, the conference offers the opportunity for Doublers Collective to be heard performing live, which is so much better than watching us on YouTube! The fact that its five saxophonists performing on 25 instruments throughout each concert is very exciting!

In addition, the connections that we will make with composers and arrangers will broaden our awareness of other writers and expand the commission possibilities for new music – another benefit, which the Phoenix jazz audience will enjoy. Two composers, who have been commissioned to write music for Doublers Collective in 2012, will be in attendance at the conference, where we plan to premiere a commissioned work by composer Alan Baylock.

But, of course, attending this conference has its costs. In order to make attendance affordable for everyone, performers and clinicians pay all of their own expenses. Since Doublers Collective is its own entity and not affiliated with a school – which often pays for their ensembles to attend conferences like this – we must raise the funds on our own. Doublers Collective has been working creatively to cover its expenses but still needs help. Our proposed budget is attached, plus instructions on how to donate should you be inspired to assist us. Your contribution is tax-deductible as per my 501(c)3 status through an organization called “Fractured Atlas.”

Thank you for your interest in and support for Doublers Collective. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. We look forward to performing for you at one of our upcoming concerts in Arizona and perhaps at the JEN conference in Atlanta in 2013.

Sincerely,
Monica Shriver
Founder & Director, Doublers Collective
doublerscollective@gmail.com  480-239-9122

***Status: $175 has been raised towards our $4,000 goal via cash donations from gigs.

Other covered costs:
*Doublers Collective will perform with a three-piece rhythm section comprised of musical colleagues in attendance at JEN (to reduce overall costs).
**As part of on-going professional development, the travel costs for Doubler Collective’s baritone saxophonist will be covered by Mesa Community College, where he is Director of Jazz Studies.

Remaining:
We need $4,000 to cover travel and hotel expenses as per the above breakdown.

Make a contribution

What you get for your tax-deductible contribution (check or credit card):

• Name and website link will be added to the Donor section of the Doublers Collective website
• Thank you and link to your website will be posted on our Facebook page
• Tweet a thank you and tell our followers about your business.
• For donations over $500, I will compose a special Blog Post and share it via Twitter, Facebook and post it on our website.

Please consider making a contribution to help us make this happen. Contributions made by credit card or check are tax deductible. Thank you so much for your continued support of Doublers Collective.

Contributions by credit card: Visit https://www.fracturedatlas.org/s/campaign/691

Contributions by check:

• Make the check payable to “Fractured Atlas”
• In the memo line, write “Monica Shriver – DC”
• Mail check to: Monica Shriver, 902 W. Topeka Dr., Phoenix, AZ 85027

Visit www.doublerscollective.com/jen2013 for up-to-date information on how close we are to reaching our goal.

Monica Shriver, founder and director of Doublers Collective, is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the purposes of Monica Shriver must be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Photo credit: John Cowan

The Doublers Collective Fundraising Event at Winfield’s was incredible. What a fabulous audience! Thanks to everyone who battled the intense heat to be there! Together we raised $498 for our commission from Alan Baylock. If you weren’t able to make it, you missed a great night, but there is still time donate and help us make this commission happen.

There are two ways to contribute – by credit card online or by check. The link to donate online is https://www.fracturedatlas.org/s/campaign/644 Just scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the “Donate Now” button and fill out the form.

If you would rather send a check please
• Make the check payable to “Fractured Atlas”
• In the Memo line write “Monica Shriver – DC”
• Mail check to:
Monica Shriver 902 W. Topeka Dr. Phoenix, AZ 85027

I first met Alan Baylock through his music. I was playing in the top big band at ASU in 2002-03 and Mike Crotty was the director. I don’t remember how many Baylock charts we played that year, but the one that stuck with me was Cottontail, probably because it had a bari solo which I struggled with at the time. But I fell in love with Alan’s music – it was fun to play, challenging, and interesting, yet familiar and accessible. Here’s Alan’s arrangement of Cottontail off one of his CD’s, Two Seconds to Midnight.

In 2010, I won the SURDNA Art Teachers Fellowship Grant and as part of the grant (based off the recommendation of Mike Crotty) I spent 10 days in Washington DC. As I was planning my trip, I decided to take a chance and see if I could reach out to Alan. I looked him up on Google, found his website, and sent him a message. I told him that I knew Mike Crotty and that I would love a chance to talk to him, and offered to buy him lunch. I had no idea what he would say, but I figured I didn’t have anything to lose. You gotta give people the opportunity to say no, right?

Well, Alan did return my message and we agreed to meet when I arrived in DC. I was so excited. I was meeting one of my idols. Alan picked me up from the nearest Metro stop and took me to the Air Force Base, the home of the Airmen of Note. He showed me all around the building. It was amazing to see pictures of the former arrangers of the Airmen of Note and the rehearsal space had a energy in it that I couldn’t explain. Ironically, the Note takes off only 4 weeks a year, two weeks in December and the 2 weeks in July that I was there, so I didn’t get to meet them. (I did get to meet them a few months later though, at the Jazz Education Network Conference in New Orleans.) Alan and I enjoyed lunch and talked for hours about music, life, teaching, and studying. It was really awesome. It was one of the highlights of my trip!

Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to see Alan again at the JEN Conferences in January 2011 and 2012. In 2011, Alan gave a really awesome Writing Clinic and the tune he used was Cottontail. It made me appreciate one of my favorite tunes even more! I also got to hear the Airmen of Note and the Alan Baylock Orchestra in 2011, and the Alan Baylock Orchestra again in 2012. (in fact, it was one of my favorite performances of the entire conference.) Alan is one of my favorite people and I feel so fortunate to call him a friend.

When I started Doublers Collective in 2010 (after the grant trip), Alan Baylock was one of the first people I asked to write for us when the time was right. He said yes right away, really excited about all the different instrument combinations of the group. Alan has been waiting 2 years for the green light. He has the ideas and concept. Every time I see him we talk about it. So, this summer, I decided that it was time to make it happen. I organized a Fundraising Event at Winfield’s Cafe on Aug. 7th at 7 PM, put together the campaign through Fractured Atlas to accept donations and hopefully, by the end of the evening on Aug 7th, I can officially give Alan the go ahead!

Friday April 5th will feature Trumpet/vocalist Byron Stripling

Saturday April 6th will feature Bassist Rufus Reid!

The clinicians are going to also be very outstanding! They are:
Jon Hamar – Bassist Pro/educator from the Seattle area
Rob Tapper – Trombonist from Eastern Washington University
Matt Olson – Saxophonist from the university of Furman
Doug Beach – Trumpet – Director of jazz studies at Elmhurst College
Jim Riggs – Saxophonist Retired director from North Texas 2′oclock band

Looking forward to a great weekend of jazz!

We love playing music – new music, old music, original music, original takes on new music, original takes on old music, etc, etc. As we commission composers (and look to do some composing/arranging of our own) we want to know what you think.

What jazz standard do you think should be arranged for Doublers Collective? What would you like to hear performed at one of our concerts? Leave your answer in the comments below.

Here is the Registration form with all the information you need! What a great way to spend a week this summer!

Jazz_Camp_SM’12_NEW

Monica was fortunate enough to see him perform while he was in Phoenix last month – Scottsdale Community College Big Band performed a concert featuring his music. Here’s a picture of him playing with Eric Rasmussen and Allan Chase at Winfield’s Cafe.

Our hope is that we can premiere his piece at the Jazz Education Network Conference this January in Atlanta. (More info on that in the near future). We will keep you posted on the progress of the new piece! In the meantime, please visit JC’s website and see all the amazing and wonderful things he’s up to in addition to Doublers Collective!