Contemporary Improvisation and Jazz at NEC: Bert Seager, Gospel, and Mark Walker World Jazz Ensembles

Over the course of the semester, students analyze and learn two-dozen classic jazz standards. They also review the old tunes each week to keep them alive in their memory.

The Gospel Ensemble explores contemporary gospel music as it is currently being created and performed. This ensemble works with repertoire composed within the last 20 years of contemporary gospel music and highlights key composers and choir leaders. All music is taught/learned through oral tradition with a focus on the importance and role of music in African American social and spiritual settings.

This ensemble explores two facets of modern jazz: the authentic use of world rhythms of South America and the Caribbean and the works of high-level jazz composers such as Ralph Towner, Lyle Mays and Paquito D’Rivera, all of whom Walker has worked with and who have utilized these rhythms in ground-breaking compositions.