The New Jersey
Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) will host
the Milt
Hinton Institute for Studio Bass, an exceptional
summer music education program for teens, in residence at Montclair State
University, in July 2024.
Unique among music camps, the Hinton Institute is designed to support intermediate and
advanced bass players ages 14 through 18, for a
week of expert classes, performances, ensemble work, studio
sessions, lectures, workshops and more.
The camp will run from July
14 through July 20, 2024. Registration is open
December 16, 2023, through June 7, 2024; for more information on
applying to the Milt Hinton Institute, please visit
njpac.org/hinton. Student musicians will be
required to submit a video of themselves playing two performance
pieces during the application process. Need-based tuition
scholarships are available.
Peter
Dominguez, acclaimed bassist and Professor of
Double Bass and Jazz Studies at University of Wisconsin–Madison,
will serve as the Institute’s Artistic Director. An
extraordinary faculty of professionals from the music world —
including Rufus
Reid, Ben
Williams, Luis Perdomo, Jeremy Smith, Sam Suggs, Martin Wind,
Marcus McLaurine, Bill Moring, Mimi Jones, Emma Dayhuff, Diana
Gannett, and Bill Crow — will focus
camp instruction on bass performance techniques and ensemble
playing in a range of musical genres including classical, Latin and
jazz.
The camp is named for Milt
Hinton (1910-2000) a prolific jazz bassist,
studio musician and photographer whose career intersected with many
of the greatest musicians of the 20th century. The Institute
has been held biennially since 2014. It joined forces with the Arts
Center this season in part to draw a larger faculty of professional
bass players from among the many musicians living and working in
the New York City area. Notable guest artists from the region are
expected to visit with campers as well.
“We’re very pleased to have this program be part of the larger
vision of NJPAC and its extensive Arts Education offerings. The
work being done by the Arts Center has a significant social impact”
said David
G. Berger, a lifelong friend of Hinton’s, whose
Berger Family Foundation helped support the camp. “That
would have been extremely attractive to Milt. He wanted everybody
to be involved with music — old and young, men and women, all
colors, all creeds. Long before it was popular, that’s the way he
lived his life — he welcomed everyone.”
"I grew up in the jazz festival business, and there was no one
whose artistry matched his heart better than Milt
Hinton,” said John
Schreiber, President and CEO of NJPAC. “He was
a brilliant bassist and he also was a brilliant human being. He was
the heartbeat of any band he played in and he exuded a kindness
that to me exemplified the spirit of jazz.”
Known as “the dean of jazz bassists,” Hinton played with jazz
greats from the early 1930s on, performing with Jabbo Smith, Eddie
South, Cab Calloway, Ethel Waters, Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman,
Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, Erroll Garner, Billie Holiday, Sarah
Vaughan and many others. Hinton also recorded with pop superstars
including Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra, Sam Cooke, Barbra
Streisand, Paul McCartney, Bette Midler and Willie Nelson. Hinton
also toured extensively, and in 1993, he was awarded the National
Endowment for the Arts Jazz
Master Fellowship. He was also well known for his
photography, through which he documented seven decades of jazz
history.
Hinton was renowned for his willingness to mentor young players; a
scholarship program in his name was established by his friends and
admirers on his 70th birthday. After Hinton’s passing, the
Institute was conceived as a way to continue his work in supporting
younger bass players.
“Two of Milt’s favorite words—‘cohesiveness’ and ‘sharing’—are
at the core of this week-long Institute that brings together
emerging bassists who often are the singular players in their own
community and school ensembles,” said Artistic Director
Dominguez, (whose own career was advanced when he
became one of the first winners of a Hinton Scholarship
Competition in 1981).
“To be a bass player is often to focus not on being a soloist, but
on musical collaboration—making other musicians in an ensemble
sound better. Bass players are the soul of ensemble playing, and to
develop these young souls through arts education programming at
NJPAC is both an honor for us and an important responsibility,”
said David
Rodriguez, NJPAC’s Executive Producer and Executive Vice President
— and himself a well-known professional bass player.
The camp will be housed on the campus of Montclair State
University in Montclair, where students will live,
study and have the opportunity to take part in multiple
performances.
“Bringing the prestigious Milt Hinton Institute for Studio Bass to
the campus of Montclair State University marks an exciting chapter
for the College of the Arts, reinforcing our commitment to
providing exceptional opportunities for young musicians,” said Daniel Gurskis, Dean of
the College of the Arts. “With NJPAC as our
partner, we look forward to creating an environment where passion
meets skill, fostering a new generation of accomplished and
versatile bassists. We are confident that the Institute will become
a beacon, attracting talent from diverse backgrounds who are the
future of bass music.”
About
NJPAC
New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), located in downtown
Newark, New Jersey, is among the largest performing arts centers in
the United States. It is the artistic, cultural,
educational and civic center of New Jersey — where great
performances and events enhance and transform lives every
day. As New Jersey’s anchor cultural institution, NJPAC
brings diverse communities together, providing access to all and
showcasing the state’s and the world’s best artists, while acting
as a leading catalyst in the revitalization of its home
city. Through its extensive Arts Education programs,
NJPAC is shaping the next generation of artists and arts
enthusiasts. NJPAC has attracted more than 11 million
visitors (including more than two million children) since opening
its doors in 1997, and nurtures meaningful and lasting
relationships with each of its constituents. Visit njpac.org for more
information.
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