Contemporary Jazz

Ensemble

Contemporary Jazz Ensemble

Contemporary Jazz Ensemble

Course Info:
Global Jazz Studies 176A

Director: Hitomi Oba

Jazz Orchestra classes (91 and 161T) are designed for students in the global jazz studies major. These courses help to fulfill the global jazz studies degree requirements and are designed to train the students to become professional jazz musicians.

Occasionally there are openings in the Contemporary Jazz Orchestra for advanced-level UCLA student musicians who play instruments that are not covered by jazz studies students. There is an audition in the fall.

The Contemporary Jazz Ensemble studies and performs contemporary repertoire spanning diverse musical aesthetics and concepts with an emphasis on compositions by living artists. The ensemble regularly engages directly with modern innovators – most recently with San Francisco-based pianist/composer/social activist Jon Jang, developing a new arrangement of his extended work, “Reparations Now!,” celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. Over the past year, the ensemble has also focused on compositions by Toshiko Akiyoshi, Peter Apfelbaum, Anthony Braxton, John Hollenbeck, Jon Jang, Maria Schneider, and Miguel Zenon, alongside student compositions.

 

May 20 Tue
7:00pm
Free
contemporary, jazz
An Evening with Tigran Hamasyan
In Celebration of the Promise Chair in Armenian Music, Arts, and Culture at UCLA   This event celebrates the establishment of the Promise Chair in Armenian Music, Arts, and Culture
Schoenberg Hall Learn More
May 29 Thu
11:00am
Free
chamber-music, classical, contemporary, jazz
UCLA Gluck Musicians Year End Showcase Concert
The Gluck End of Year Showcase Concert features performances from many different UCLA Gluck Ensembles for an audience of K-12 students from partner schools throughout the Los Angeles area.  
Schoenberg Hall Learn More
Jun 1 Sun
4:00pm
Free
jazz
UCLA Spring Jazz Concert 1
UCLA student combos and ensembles directed by world-class jazz artists will be performing well-known jazz standards, contemporary works, and pop songs, as well as compositions by the faculty directors and
Schoenberg Hall Learn More
From the Classroom to Coachella
The Channeltone Horns, a trio comprised of three global jazz students at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, are set to perform at the 2025 Coachella Valley Music and
The Poem is the Music, the Musician is the Poet
Celebrated Poet Nathaniel Mackey Talks About the Deep Connections between Jazz and Language On Friday, February 14 at 7:00 p.m. in Schoenberg Hall, Salim Washington, professor and chair of global
Cheryl L. Keyes's "Sundiata Keita Overture" Wins Global Music Award
Cheryl L. Keyes, professor of ethnomusicology and global jazz studies and chair of the African American studies department, was recently awarded the silver medal in the Global Music Awards for her “Sundiata Keita Overture.” The overture received its world premiere in Royce Hall on June 5 during a multimedia event, “Prelude to Juneteenth.”