Some of the Chicago Jazz Ensemble's most important education efforts involve mentoring the artists and audiences of the future: Chicago-area elementary and highschool students. The annual Louis Armstrong Legacy Program and Celebration (LALPC), the CJE's signature education program, is designed to reach Chicago Public School students, many of whom have had little or no formal music education.
The Louis Armstrong Legacy Program and Celebration from Chicago Jazz Ensemble.
Established in 2008 through a collaboration between former CJE Artistic Director Jon Faddis, the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation, and the Columbia College Chicago Music Department, LALPC integrates customized arrangements of Louis Armstrong’s music into school programs and provides one-on-one and group mentorship with Chicago Jazz Ensemble teaching artists. Over the course of the term, the students not only practice the music and learn extra-musical skills such as collaboration, critical thinking, and focus; they also have the opportunity to learn Armstrong’s history and its connection to Chicago.
The program currently serves over 250 students in over a dozen Chicago Public Schools. Each spring the program culminates in May with the Celebration event - a day of student ensemble performances for the public at the Chicago Cultural Center. Promising music students in the program receive ongoing opportunities for free lessons and camp sessions. The program also features free, public Listening Sessions focusing on the music of Armstrong through discussion about his life in Chicago and influence on the city’s cultural history.
Special thanks to our LALPC sponsors.
Read the press release: Wycliffe Gordon announced as LALPC's 2012 Artist-in-Residence
Find LALPC on Facebook and Twitter or view photos from LALPC 2011
Download the 2012 LALPC brochure
Participating schools and CJE mentors
LALPC 2012 Celebration Program Schedule
The Chicago Jazz Ensemble is a frequent contributor to and participant in highschool jazz festival programs around Chicago and nationally. The Ensemble musicians serve as mentors, adjudicators, and clinicians for these festivals, working with young musicians on individual and group skill development and participating in productive critique sessions as adjudicators. In addition, the CJE often performs as a featured headliner of the festival.
