In NYC we are so lucky to have access to so many cultural institutions like Lincoln Center. This winter our kids can enjoy a bit of the Jazz music from LC with the release of WeBop: A Family Jazz Party, a CD featuring kid-tested and approved music. The recording brings the very best of JALC’s WeBop classes in NYC home to families worldwide. Critically-acclaimed drummer and music director Matt Wilson leads an intergenerational band of celebrated jazz musicians, including trumpeter Marcus Printup and trombonist Vincent Gardner of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, guitarist Doug Wamble and 90-year-old percussion legend and NEA Jazz Master Candido Camero, to bring a playful approach to classic jazz tunes.
Featuring songs like Duke Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing,” Bob Thiele’s “What a Wonderful World,” John Coltrane’s “Syeeda’s Song Flute,” and originals from the WeBop classroom, the CD covers the full range of jazz music from New Orleans marches and Delta blues to free jazz. All are welcoming to listeners of every age, inviting families to move, sing, and play together. “On this recording we gathered an amazing cast who maintain a joyous sense of immaturity,” says Wilson, whose own children sing on the CD. “The sessions were like a big play date. We gave them the music and allowed them to create in the sonic sandbox. I believe the results are remarkable-more than a ‘children’s record,’ it’s a family record that parents and kids can enjoy together.”
WeBop complements Jazz at Lincoln Center’s acclaimed early childhood music education program of the same name. Named “best music class in the city” by New York Family, this interactive jazz class for children ages 8 months to 5 years and their caregivers invites families to explore their creativity and musicality through jazz concepts, instruments, and great performers. WeBop classes are held at the Louis Armstrong Classroom at New York City’s Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Photo credit Ayano Hisa for Jazz at Lincoln Center
For more information, visit jalc.org. The CD will be released on February 28th, 2012.
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