Joel Yennior

The Newton North HS Jazz Night will take place on Tuesday, April 30 at 7:00 PM featuring student ensembles and guest appearances by a number of renowned Boston-area jazz musicians:

Allan Chase – Saxophone, Eric Bloom – Trumpet, Joel Yenior – Trombone, Yoko Miwa – Piano, Bruce Gertz – Bass, Dave Weigert – Drums

Joel and the other Guest Artists will also conduct clinics with students and work with them in their ensembles the evening prior to the concert. For more information please contact Richard Labedz at Newton North HS.

Joel was invited to perform as a Guest Artist at the Marshfield Evening of Jazz taking place on February 5 at Furnace Brook Middle School in Marshfield, MA, 7:00 PM. This concert will feature a number of student groups followed by the Marshfield Faculty Jazz Ensemble. The faculty group will play four of Joel’s original pieces as well as a few jazz standards.

On February 7th, Joel will also perform in a student/faculty big band at Westwood High School (Westwood, MA). This band will be comprised of Westwood HS students, music teachers, and local professional musicians performing selections by Count Basie, Horace Silver, Dave Brubeck and Bob Mintzer.

Joel and Mahmoud Ahmed

The Either/Orchestra recently completed a three concert tour of Calgary, Edmonton and Camrose as part of the University of Alberta’s Festival of Ideas.

Performing with the band was Ethiopian music legend, Mahmoud Ahmed (pictured at left). The concert programs featured original music by the Either/Orchestra as well as a number of Ahmed’s most loved works.

The Either/Orchestra has collaborated with Mr. Ahmed on a number of occasions in recent years, and can be seen in concert on a DVD entitled: Mahmoud Ahmed, Mahmoud & Either Orchestra: Ethiogroove (2007).

Joel will be interviewed on Wednesday, August 15 at 8:00 PM (EST) by Chris Punis, creator of the “Monster Jazz Formula” and the “Total Jazz Roadmap” in advance of his 6-week intensive online “Total Jazz Practice Roadmap” course.

The interview can be heard online at:

http://www.jazzroadmap.com/fe/29158-interview

As part of the online course, Joel will present a jazz theory workshop entitled, “Playing the Changes: A Whole-Brained Approach to Jazz Improvisation.” This class will be run during week six of the “Total Jazz Roadmap” course, and will cover topics such as basic scale and chord construction, practice techniques for learning to improvise on the blues and standard jazz forms, developing time feel and rhythm, and improvising with be-bop scales, guide tones, and other melodic and harmonic devices. Please register for the course at the above link.