Jazz artists visit IAH 241A class/ Spring 2009

In his IAH 241A class on Music and Society, Professor Ron Newman (College of Music) focuses on a social and musical history of jazz and its position in U.S. society. Emphasis is placed on the primary innovators of the music, including Armstrong, Ellington, and Parker, as well as the creative requirements for improvisation and performance. The role of jazz within the greater arts community (reviewers, other artists, promoters, historians, etc.) is analyzed, as well as the unique and changing position of the Black jazz artist in American society.

With these elements in mind, students attend jazz concerts and write reviews/descriptions of those events. In addition, Professor Newman invites two jazz artists each semester this course is offered: Larry Ochiltree and Ed Fedewa.

Larry Ochiltreeis a professional jazz percussionist and adjunct instructor of percussion at Kellogg Community College. He has an undergraduate degree from Michigan State University (1988) in marketing, and also studied jazz percussion at Berklee College of Music In Boston, Massachusetts. He has performed with numerous jazz artists, including Maynard Ferguson, Hendrick Meurkuns, Tony Bennent, Bob Berg, and Phil Woods.

Ed Fedewais instructor of jazz bass at Central Michigan University, and also plays principal bass with the Lansing Symphony Orchestra.

Both of these musicians have been guest artists in Professor Newman's IAH class numerous times. They bring a wealth of performance experience plus the ability to explain their instruments and roles within the jazz group to students who are often not musicians. For this class professor Newman (piano) and the guest artists (drums/bass) perform a variety of jazz pieces, demonstrating the role of each instrument, and also the way jazz musicians approach a performance, interpret the music, and interact with each other on stage.

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