Jazz institute's program moves to Loyola University in New Orleans

Published: 2007-04-16

NEW ORLEANS (CNS) -- Keeping jazz alive has been the goal of the nonprofit Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz since it was founded in 1986. And the institute strengthened that goal when it announced it would bring jazz studies home to the birthplace of the music, New Orleans. Jazz greats Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Thelonious Monk Jr. and local trumpeter Terence Blanchard were in town April 2 to herald the relocation of the institute's graduate-level performance program from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles to Loyola University in New Orleans. The announcement kicked off National Jazz Appreciation Month. "Jazz has been a unifying cultural force in this city for over 100 years," said Hancock, the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz chairman. "Jazz began in New Orleans and emerged as the music of pain and suffering. ... Jazz offers the possibility of bringing New Orleans back," he said, referring to the city's ongoing recovery from Hurricane Katrina. The move of the program, noted as the "world's most intensive graduate-level college jazz education program," is part of the institute's four-year "Commitment to New Orleans" using jazz as a catalyst to bolster local education in the community.

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