Registration for 2025-26 is now open!
These are online music classes, taught via Zoom
Through video and audio recordings as well as demonstrations, trumpeter/pianist/composer Alan Matheson takes you on a lively exploration of fascinating topics hand-picked from the world of jazz. Sign up for the classes that interest you most, or enroll in the entire series of 12 for a $96 discount!
| The Roots of Jazz-from Africa to Ragtime and Early Jazz (1850-1920) | Sep 24, 2025 |
| African-American musical practices deeply transformed American popular music in the years following the Civil War. African folk music, work songs, Gospel music and the Blues helped combined to create Ragtime and Jazz. This class will explore the music of influential performers and composers from this period including: Scott Joplin, James Reese Europe and Jelly Roll Morton. We will also hear the very first jazz recordings that featured vocalist Mamie Smith and the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. | |
| Early Jazz (1922-1933) | Oct 8 |
| This class will explore the music of some of the pioneering recording artists in jazz including King Oliver, Lil Hardin, Paul Whiteman and Bessie Smith. We will also follow the career and work of perhaps the most influential of all jazz soloists, trumpeter and vocalist Louis Armstrong. | |
| Pioneering Jazz Soloists (1926-1943) | Oct 22 |
| Following in the wake of the great Louis Armstrong, a number of important jazz soloists came of age during this period. Musicians like Bix Beiderbecke, Earl Hines and Jack Teagarden helped to develop the role of the jazz soloist along with great vocalists like Bessie Smith and Ethel Waters. | |
| The Development of the Big Band (1926-1934) | Nov 5 |
| The large jazz-based dance orchestra became an important creative outlet for jazz composers and arrangers during the 1920s. Pioneering arrangers like Don Redman, Bill Challis and Mary Lou Williams were among the architects of the “big band sound” which would dominate popular music well into the 1940s. We will explore the nuances of how jazz arranging works via “comparing and contrasting” three arrangers (Bill Challis, Fletcher Henderson, Bill Finegan) versions of the standard tune “The Blue Room”. | |
| The Swing Era (1935-1949) | Nov 19 |
| This class will cover the period when jazz had its greatest influence on popular music. In this class we will explore the music of some of the greater big bands (including Benny Goodman’s and Count Basie’s) along with the work of some of the important soloists from this era including Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins. | |
| Oscar Peterson: A Centenary Tribute | Dec 3 |
| This class will celebrate the music and life of one the greatest of all jazz pianists, Canada’s own Oscar Peterson. We will explore his growth and development as a musician from his first recordings done in Montreal in 1945 as well as the great music of his many trios and quartets into the 21st century. Highlights will include his collaborations with such giants of jazz as Ella Fitzgerald, Clark Terry and Ray Brown. | |
| The Music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn | Jan 14, 2026 |
| The Duke Ellington orchestra remains one of the most unique jazz ensembles in the music’s history. Via audio and video recordings, we will hear what made the compositions and arrangements by Ellington and Strayhorn so distinctive. The major instrumental and vocal soloists with the Ellington orchestra will be featured in this class including: Johnny Hodges, Cootie Williams, Alice Babs and Ivie Anderson. | |
| Be-Bop, Cool Jazz and Hard Bop (1945-1957) | Jan 28 |
| This class will examine the main “sub categories” of Modern Jazz via the music of some of the main exponents including Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughan and Betty Carter. | |
| Miles Davis: A Centenary Tribute | Feb 11 |
| Miles Davis’ career encompassed six decades and during that time, he was an important innovator and creator. We will trace his development from his earliest recordings with Charlie Parker through the many stages (from “cool jazz” to jazz/rock) of his creative process as he collaborated with other major artists like John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter. | |
| Modal Jazz and “Free” Jazz (1959-1970) | Feb 25 |
| The quest for greater freedom of expression led many younger jazz musicians to “new territory” in terms of composition and performance during the 1950s and 60s. We will listen to and examine the work of such innovators as: Miles Davis, Melba Liston, Charles Mingus and Ornette Coleman. | |
| Fusion / Jazz-Rock (1963-1979) | Mar 11 |
| During the 1960s, jazz musicians began to incorporate elements of rock and rhythm and blues in their music. This move helped to increase the audience for jazz and was also an outlet for some very creative music. Herbie Hancock, Joni Mitchell and Pat Metheny will be among the wonderful musicians we’ll listen to in this class. | |
| Jazz In Our Time – Recent Developments (1980-2020) | Mar 25 |
| Jazz continues to grow and develop via new talents while absorbing the sounds of musical cultures across the globe. Among the innovative musicians featured in this class will be Toshiko Akiyoshi, Ingrid Jensen, Maria Schneider, Esperanza Spalding and Finnish saxophonist/composer Kaisa Siirala. | |