NAC Feb. 3: Manhattan on the Rideau: trumpet legend Randy Brecker

The NAC Manhattan on the Rideau jazz masterclass series continues with trumpet and flugelhorn legend Randy Brecker on February 3

Ottawa, Canada ’Äì The National Arts Centre’Äôs 2008-2009 ’ÄúManhattan on the Rideau’Äù series of jazz masterclasses continues on Tuesday, February 3 with American trumpeter and flugelhorn legend Randy Brecker at the NAC’Äôs Fourth Stage from 12 noon to 2 p.m. Admission is free. Manhattan on the Rideau links leading jazz faculty members of Manhattan School of Music (MSM) with accomplished music students at the National Arts Centre. The sessions use the very latest in broadband videoconference technology to connect teachers and students in real time with high fidelity audio and video. The series is produced by NAC New Media as part of the Hexagon Project in association with MSM.

Randy Brecker will teach students from the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, the University of Toronto and Humber School of Creative and Performing Arts, who will be backed by J.P. Allain on piano, Tom Denison on bass and Don Johnson on drums. A masterclass is a one-on-one lesson in which a master musician teaches a selected student or ensemble under the watchful eyes of fellow students and members of the public. The audience can learn from the master along with the talented student in the spotlight. Each masterclass involves 2 to 3 students in succession followed by questions-and-answers.

Randy Brecker has been shaping the sound of Jazz, R&B and Rock for more than three decades. He has performed and recorded on trumpet and flugelhorn with a wide range of artists from James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Charles Mingus, Chaka Khan, George Benson and Parliament-Funkadelics to Frank Sinatra, Steely Dan, David Sanborn, Horace Silver, Jaco Pastorius and Frank Zappa. Randy Brecker continues to influence and inspire young musicians, and thoughout the years, has been in constant demand as a Yamaha Clinician, performing at Colleges and Universities the world over. His recordings have been nominated many times over, and his Brecker Brothers CD Out of the Loop was a double Grammy winner. He won his first Grammy as a soloist when Into the Sun was named ’ÄúBest Contemporary Jazz Performance’Äù in 1998.

The NAC’Äôs Hexagon project supports education outreach activities by leveraging next-generation networks like Canada’Äôs CA*net4 (www.canarie.ca) and Internet2 (www.internet2.org) in the United States as well as regional high speed networks throughout the world. The NAC’Äôs broadband infrastructure includes state-of-the-art optical network access in all its performance spaces as well as on-site videoconference and audio-video production facilities. Hexagon projects include tele-mentoring sessions with master teachers in music, theatre and dance.