UCLA Fall Jazz Concert 3

Over a life-long career in music, Michele Weir has touched the lives of students around the globe and significantly influenced the growth and development of jazz education. Through her many creative vocal group and instrumental arrangements, and her talents as a pianist and singer, Weir is widely distinguished for her versatile skill set and ability to inspire. As one student put it, “Thank you again for being such an amazing mentor. You are truly the person I strive to be.”

Weir’s arrangements are performed by renowned vocal groups including The Manhattan Transfer, New York Voices, The Swingle Singers, M-Pact, Beachfront Property, Chanticleer, Voice Trek, and her orchestral works played by various symphonies including the Boston Pops. Her educational arrangements are distributed by leading publishers including Hal Leonard, Alfred Publishing, Shawnee Press, SMP Jazz as well as her own online company, MichMusic. As vocal producer for the Manhattan Transfer’s 2009 CD release, The Chick Corea Songbook, Michele worked closely with the Transfer and contributed two arrangements to the project. Other arrangements or compositions have been featured on the Shari Lewis TV show, Disney’s 101 Dalmations Sing-along CD, and the Holland America Cruise line.

Currently on faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Weir taught previously at USC, CSU Long Beach, and the Phil Mattson School. As a highly sought-after teacher and clinician, Michele has been invited to teach in twenty-three countries to date and has delivered presentations for some of the world’s most prestigious music conferences including the World Choral Symposium, the IAJE and JEN Conferences, and the ACDA National Conference. Her educational book/CD sets, Vocal Improvisation (Advance Music), Jazz Singer’s Handbook (Alfred Publishing), and Jazz Piano Handbook (Alfred Publishing) are available internationally.

Roberto Miranda is a dynamic bassist who is noted for his inventive, high-energy improvisations. He is adept in both soulful passages and fleet percussive lines, and is fluent in all jazz idioms. He has toured, played and recorded with an impressive array of jazz artists, including Kenny Burrell, Horace Tapscott, Bobby Bradford, John Carter, David Murray, Cecil Taylor, Charles Lloyd, and Bobby Hutcherson. He has recorded extensively including albums with his own group, showcasing his successful blend of African-American, Latin, and experimental jazz.

Miranda released his CD With Groaning Too Deep for Words in 2002. He also wrote the appendix for the book The Dark Tree, by Steven L. Isoardi (University of California Press, 2006).

As a young player Miranda studied with jazz legends Ray Brown, Red Mitchell, and master classical musicians Bob Stone, Dennis Trembly and Fred Tinsley of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. While studying for his M.M. at USC, he received two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. These grants enabled him to score two compositions for symphony strings, jazz bass, bassoon, and trombone, one of which was performed by the Carson Symphony Orchestra.

Today, Miranda balances a dual career as a performer and teacher. Besides teaching for the UCLA Jazz Studies Program, he is a retired middle school teacher for the Los Angeles Unified School District, where he worked for twenty-four years.

Clayton Cameron is known as a dynamic drummer who has also experimented with and perfected the art of brush technique. Cameron has toured with Sammy Davis Jr. and Tony Bennett, as well as other legends of the jazz world including George Shearing, Joe Pass, and Joe Williams. During Cameron’s time with Tony Bennett the group performed with many great artists including Frank Sinatra, Billie Joel, Sting, Mariah Carey, Brandy, the Back Street Boys, James Taylor, K.D. Lang, Elvis Costello, and Ricky Martin.

In 1990, after the release of his video, The Living Art of Brushes, Clayton was given the honorary title “Brush Master.”

Born in Los Angeles, California, Cameron received a degree in music from California State University at Northridge. During college, he played in clubs around L.A behind artists such as O.C Smith, Ernie Andrews, Jimmy Weatherspoon, instrumentalist Teddy Edwards, Larry Gails (of Thelonious Monk fame) and Gerald Wilson. After graduating from college, Clayton moved to Las Vegas to perform nightly with a jazz group called the Kirk Stuart trio. While in Las Vegas Cameron experimented with brush techniques. It was during this time that some of the rough ideas for his future videos and books were developed.

In addition to his video, Cameron has created a ground-breaking book on the elusive art of brush playing, entitled Brushworks. You can hear his masterful work on his 2012 CD Here’s to the Messengers: A Tribute to Art Blakey.