Famed Jazz Composer Fred Sturm To Present Jazz Clinics

by Richard Veit

Fred Sturm, one of the world's most prominent jazz composers, arrangers and bandleaders, will present a series of clinics in Baylor University's Glennis McCrary Music Building during a two-day campus residency Feb. 9-10.
Monday's events will include a jazz arranging clinic from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in Room 131 and a music education clinic, "All Ears: Improvisation, Aural Training, and the Creative Process," from 4 to 5 p.m. in Daniel Sternberg Rehearsal Hall (Room 118). Sturm will rehearse the Baylor Jazz Ensemble at 5 p.m., followed by the Baylor Concert Jazz Ensemble from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Both rehearsals will be in the Sternberg Rehearsal Hall.
On Tuesday, Sturm will present a session on jazz improvisation from 12:30 to 1:50 p.m. and then a clinic on jazz composition from 4 to 5 p.m. He also will rehearse the Baylor Jazz Ensemble from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in that same hall. During Tuesday's jazz composition clinic, Sturm will discuss a concept he calls "recomposition."
"I can show how many of us are taking the essence of composed tunes (standards, etc.) and completely revamping them with significant liberties," Sturm said. "By the end, it's almost impossible to distinguish the original. This has escalated the arenas of form, structure and architecture in jazz composition to new levels."
A Grammy-nominated composer and arranger, Sturm is the former director of the jazz program at the Eastman School of Music. His résumé includes compositions for television, radio, film, orchestras, jazz ensembles and more. He is an internationally sought-after clinician and bandleader.
All events with Fred Sturm are free and open to the public. For more information, call the Baylor School of Music at 710-3991.