International Jazz Quartet

The University of Louisville’s Jamey Aebersold Jazz Studies Program is committed to promoting jazz and jazz education worldwide.   In addition to students enrolling from throughout the United States, individuals from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, England, Germany, Japan, Russia, Scotland and Turkey have joined the program.

International outreach has been an important component of the educational experience. The Jamey Aebersold Jazz Studies Program was one of only a few prestigious institutions in the United States selected to participate in an international music exchange sponsored by the Open World Leadership Center at the Library of Congress.  Support for the Open World cultural program was provided through partnership and funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.  Recently the Jazz Studies Program received a FIPSE/CAPES grant for the exchange of students between the University of Louisville and the Universidade de Brasília.  Students from each institution will spend a semester studying and experiencing the music and culture of a foreign land.

Student and faculty groups, from a duo to more than forty, have toured and performed in numerous foreign countries. These countries include Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, Ecuador, England, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago and Wales.  In addition to our continued interaction with Russian and Brazilian musicians, there are exchange programs currently in place with the Akademia Muzyczna in Katowice, Poland; the Central Conservatorium of Music in Rockhampton, Australia; Universidade de Brasília in Brasilia, Brazil; and EMU Edcacion Musical in La Plata, Argentina.  Exchanges with institutions in Ecuador and additional ones in Brazil are being developed.  Finally, the Jazz Studies Program hosted the 2006 International Association of Schools of Jazz Annual Meeting and Jazz Faculty presented extended workshops in the Barbados (2006), Sao Paulo and Brasilia (2008) and Trinidad (2010).

In 2006, the International Jazz Quartet was founded to support foreign Master’s students and to promote jazz education in their home countries.  Members of the International Jazz Quartet are awarded two-year Graduate Teaching Assistantships with full out-of-state tuition, stipend and health benefits.   Students from non-English speaking countries must past the TOFEL for acceptance into the program.  Duties include performing and extensive teaching responsibilities.  Participants are expected to act as mentors and role models for undergraduate students in the program.  

International Jazz Quartet members have included:

For application information, please visit:
http://graduate.louisville.edu/admissions/apply-for-admission.html
http://louisville.edu/music/future-students/graduate/graduate-admissions

Contact Mike Tracy by email or 502 852 6032 for additional information on the International Jazz Quartet.