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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