Jazz Jamboree

The Medical Center Nursery School is proud to be part of the Jazz Education Network, an organization “founded in a spirit of celebration… celebrating music, celebrating community, and celebrating endless learning. Jazz isn’t just about performing. It’s about making music together… keeping the love and education of jazz alive.”

Our own music specialist, Louise Rogers, one of the founders of Jazz WaHi and an accomplished singer/educator, has organized this much-anticipated annual event since its inception in 2009.

For two weeks every spring, the school is filled with live performances and jazz-related classroom activities such as recreating the A Train, dancing barefoot in the paint as jazz music is playing, and reading stories about musicians, such as Tito Puentes, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and Ella Fitzgerald.

The children from all classrooms gather in our lobby/playroom for interactive performances featuring drums, piano, bass, saxophone, trumpet and even tap dancing. After the performance, the Trailblazers have their own Q&A with the musicians and have a chance to try out the instruments.

All parents are invited to participate in their child’s classroom during the festival. Many parents read a story, play an instrument, sing, juggle to jazz music, dance with the children, or do an art project. Parents are enthusiastically encouraged to partake in the celebration in any way they feel comfortable.

Past performers include:

• Justin Hines, an extraordinary and much loved percussionist who has been an MCNS favorite for many years

• Max Pollak, the world-renowned tap dancer, whose unique melding of Afro-Cuban music and dance called RumbaTap has been delighting children for the past several years

• Darmon Meader, the distinguished saxophonist founder of New York Voices, whose trio has been a big hit with the children. Darmon is accompanied by bassist Jennifer Vincent, drummer Jarrett Walser, trumpeter Sharif Clayton, and pianist Mark Kross.