Jazz Power Youth Master Class

Thursday, February 14, 2019 from 4:30-7 PM

United Palace, Washington Heights

Special Guest Artist, Jeannette LoVetri, known to her friends as “Jeanie”, is one of the most recognized singing teachers in the world and has taught world wide as an expert in Contemporary Commercial Music. That term, CCM, was created by Ms. LoVetri in 2000 to replace the term “non-classical” and is now in accepted use in academia, research, medical and clinical journals.

Ms. LoVetri is a trained classical soprano who sang at Marble Collegiate Church and Riverside Church in New York, Off-Broadway at the former “Village Gate”, at Lincoln Center under Chapman Roberts of Broadway renown, and at the Henry Street Settlement Theater. She has performed recitals, concerts and solos in classical repertoire and is a frequent guest with the New York City Community Chorus, but continues to also do jazz songs and music theater pieces.

Her students are Grammy winners, Tony-nominated Broadway leads, and jazz stars, and have appeared in the world’s great venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Albert Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, and on TV, in jazz venues, and in international theaters and concert halls. She worked as Singing Specialist for 20 years with the Grammy-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus and has worked with children, both professional and not, from the beginning of her teaching career in 1971. Ms. LoVetri is the recipient of the Van Lawrence Fellowship, a lifetime achievement award from the NY Singing Teachers’ Association and a citation from the Centro Estudos da Voz in Sao Paulo, where she was a guest lecturer. She is on the Advisory Board of the Voice Foundation in Philadelphia, and has taught in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Berlin, London, Florence, Sydney, Perth, Toowoomba (Australia), Sao Paulo, Santiago, and Bogota. She is currently working with a principal in the Broadway show, Anastasia.

Jeanie LoVetri is a long time supporter and mentor of the Jazz Power Initiative. She currently serves on the Advisory Board and previously served on the Board of Directors.

Artistic Director Eli Yamin is a pianist, composer, singer, and educator who has been spreading the joy of jazz through his work for 30 years including 10 years as founding director of Jazz at Lincoln Center's Middle School Jazz Academy. Eli tours with his blues band and jazz quartet, has released several CD's and has performed at The White House, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and over 20 countries as a cultural ambassador for the U.S. Department of State. Eli sincerely believes learning about jazz should feel as creative as playing jazz and consistently shares this experience with students of all ages.

Dancer/Choreographer Mickey Davidson won an Audelco award for choreography of "For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf" directed by Ntozake Shange. She joined Dianne McIntyre's ground breaking "Sounds In Motion" in 1975 and danced with the company for eight years. She has worked closely with jazz artists Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, the World Saxophone Quartet and was mentored by original Savoy Ballroom dancers Frankie Manning and Norma Miller. A beloved New York veteran of arts education, Ms. Davidson has an extensive background in African American dance styles and led the African American Dance program at Wesleyan University for 17 years. In addition to teaching with Jazz Power Initiative, she teaches at the Louis Armstrong Jazz Camp in New Orleans and is a passionate advocate for making the authentic jazz dance traditions available to the next generation. 

Jazz Power Initiative is an uptown, New York City-based not for profit 501 (c) (3) organization whose mission is to ignite the power of jazz arts education to transform lives by fostering self-expression, leadership, collaboration and diversity. Jazz Power Initiative was originally founded as The Jazz Drama Program in 2003 by jazz musician/educator Eli Yamin and writer/educator Clifford Carlson. Since then, thousands of young people in New York City, across the US and around the world have made friends with jazz and in jazz through Jazz Power Initiative programs.