Welcome to Hudson Jazzworks
We offer the Hudson Jazz Workshop, a weekend immersion in Jazz improvisation and composition in a supportive and focused atmosphere conducive to intensive study and mutual encouragement, through individual and group instruction, jam sessions and a faculty/student concert, with two of today's leading practitioners of duo playing, Armen Donelian and Marc Mommaas.
2024 Summer Program
SUMMER 18th Annual HUDSON JAZZ WORKSHOP SUMMER INTENSIVE
On August 1st - 4th, 2024
For 2024 the program will include live participants who will attend the workshops, masterclass and performance (with social distancing in mind). On August 11th, two events - a Master Class with a special guest and the HJW Concert at the Hudson Opera House in Hudson, NY.
Armen Donelian
An experienced educator and artist of distinction. Sideman, Sonny Rollins, Chet Baker, Mongo Santamaria et. al. Pianist/composer/producer, 13 recordings with world-class musicians including Eddie Gomez, Billy Hart and Dick Oatts featuring penetrating originals, enduring folk songs of Armenia and classic American standards. Performer/bandleader/lecturer in 23 countries. Author, Training the Ear Vol. 1 & 2 and Whole Notes: A Piano Masterclass. Awards, Fulbright Scholar (5 countries), NEA Jazz Fellow (6-times). Faculty, New School (since 1986) and Wm. Paterson University (since 1993). Graduate, Westchester Conservatory of Music, Columbia University. Private studies, Richie Beirach (Jazz piano), Harold Seletsky (Schoenberg harmony and counterpoint), Ludmila Ulehla (advanced harmonic analysis), Michael Pollon (Classical piano), and Carl Bamberger (conducting).
Marc Mommaas
A gifted communicator and strong presence in today’s global Jazz scene. Saxophonist, Cum Laude graduate Manhattan School of Music, William Borden Award recipient, international guest lecturer at MSM , NYU, William Paterson University, Rhythmic Music Conservatory/Denmark and the Conservatory of Amsterdam, co-director of the New York Jazz Workshop, faculty member of the New School NYC, bandleader of his celebrated formation Global Motion and composer of innovative works featured on Global Motion, Balance and Landmarc (Sunnyside Records), a tour de force solo saxophone recording "irreversible momentum", the celebrated "Ballads and Standards" including Nikolaj hess, Vic Juris and Thomas Morgan. In the fall of 2022 Sunnyside records will release Mommaas' newest release, 'the Impressionist', compositions inspired by the French impressionist composer Gabriel Fauré which includes Gary Versace, Nate Radley and Jay Anderson. As a side-man he can be heard with the quintet and duo of Armen Donelian, the sextet of Amina Figarova, the quintet of Tony Moreno, the quintet of Sebastian Noelle and the octet and quintet of Tim Horner/Ron Horton. In 2023 two releases will come out, the music of Andrew Hill lead by Ron Horton and a collaboration between Kenny Wessel and Jay Anderson.
Hudson Jazz Workshop is in collaboration with:
Special guest Summer Intensive Ed Neumeister - Sunday Aug.4, 2024
As a trombonist, composer-arranger and bandleader, Ed Neumeister is a musician’s musician. Saxophone star Joe Lovano has valued Neumeister as a colleague for some four decades, praising him as a conductor of “infectious flair” as well as “a soloist of deep expressive passion.” Another renowned saxophonist, Dave Leibman, simply dubbed him “one of the best trombonists in the business.” Neumeister has five decades of experience on both sides of the Atlantic as an artist and an educator. Raised in the Bay Area, he was professional musician by his mid-teens. He backed such iconic vocal stars as Frank Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan there, performed in various symphony orchestras, and collaborated with Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia as well as such jazz notables as Jerry Granelli. Moving to New York City in 1980, Neumeister worked in the Duke Ellington Orchestra as both player and arranger for 15 years; he was simultaneously playing in the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra, earning a Grammy nomination in 1992 for his arrangement of “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square.”
In 2000, Neumeister moved to Austria to serve as a professor for 17 years at the University of Music in Graz. He wrote for various jazz bands while in Europe and performed extensively, along with composing classical chamber pieces and largescale concert works. Following a stint scoring films in Los Angeles, Neumeister returned to the New York area where he has been active as an educator, currently teaching at the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music at The New School, New York University and City College of New York, as well as William Paterson University in New Jersey.
As a leader, Neumeister has recorded nine albums, ranging from large ensembles to small groups to solo trombone. He has released many of them via his own label, MeisteroMusic, including his latest: 3 for the Road, presenting his trio with vocalist Jay Clayton and the late pianist Fritz Pauer. The current version of that trio includes Gary Versace on piano. Another Neumeister gem is Suite Ellington, an album showcasing his arrangements for an all-star sextet of works by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn; recorded in 2010 for Austrian Radio, Suite Ellington was hailed by Jazz Weekly as “a great tribute and intro to the world of Ellingtonia.” Neumeister’s new working small band is a New York quartet featuring the trombonist alongside Versace, bassist Drew Gress and drummer Tom Rainey.
