COTA All Stars 18 piece ensemble

Monday, May 27, 7:30 to 10:30 pm
music charge $10 (proceeds benefit COTA)
Deer Head Inn Jazz Orchestra Presents
"An 18 piece ensemble of COTA All Stars"

Cap off a Memorable Memorial Monday with the Deer Head Inn Jazz Orchestra, keeping the “Library Alive” performing the greatest hits from the Al Cohn, Phil Woods, and Kenny Soderblom collections.

The evening will benefit young musicians of COTA CampJazz with proceeds and donations going to reduce the Camp deficit caused by the loss of local grant funding. 

Help us keep COTA CampJazz a valuable educational opportunity for the next generation to become fluent in the language of Jazz. Come out for this “Star Spangled Forever” evening and help strangle the sequester with swing! 

36th Annual Festival Poster

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The Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts (COTA) is now accepting concept sketches and/or poster submissions for the 36th Annual Jazz and Arts Festival, which will be held Friday, September 6, 2013 through Sunday, September 8, 2013.   The poster requirements are as follows: 

...Read more

Andy Leon Memorial Young Teacher Jazz Award Mentorship Program

It’s here. Sunday April 28, 2013, 3:00 - 4:30 pm
at the Deer Head Inn, Delaware Water Gap, Pa.

Jay Rattman

The Andy Leon Memorial Young Teacher Jazz Award was established by Angelica Leon, Yuki Okuma, and the Rubinstein family to create mentorship opportunities between young talented performers and music students.  This program is meant to encourage young people, singers and instrumentalists, to enjoy jazz.  Through the generosity of the Andy Leon Memorial Fund the Deer Head Inn will be providing the venue for a mentoring opportunity for young jazz musicians by a professional young musician who is actively performing throughout the area.  We would like to invite middle school and older students with an interest in Music to attend.  Following the session the musician will be playing from 5:00-8:00 with his band so the young musicians will have the opportunity to hear a live performance. 

We are excited to have Jay Rattman, who Andy knew as a young boy and watched him become a talented musician, mentor this session.  A recipient of an ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award, Rattman holds bachelors and masters degrees from Manhattan School of Music. Jay is a much sought after sax and clarinet player. A woodwind artist and creative musician in New York City, he has performed at Jazz @ Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Coachella Festival, in addition to appearing on NPR’s Sound of Young America, The Late Show, and The Tonight Show.  As an educator, Rattman maintains an active private studio in addition to having taught group instrumental lessons in New York City public schools, at COTA Camp Jazz, and via distance learning from Manhattan School of Music. He also presented in a teaching artists’ master class with Yo Yo Ma and his Silk Road Ensemble.  During this class Jay will be joinedby pianist Can Olgun, an active member of the German Jazz scene, and now established himself as a fresh voice on the New York jazz scene.

Discussion, among other topics, will include:- How to learn songs,  How to interpret melodies and  How to develop improvisations organically from the songs

Come join us for a fun and educational afternoon at the Deer Head. There is no cost for the masterclass event.  A $5.00 charge for the performance happening from 5 to 8 pm. Looking forward to seeing you there.

For reservations, please call the Deer Head Inn at 570.424.2000

Ralph Hughes Dinner

Ralph Hughes Scholarship Dinner

Support the Ralph Hughes Scholarship

Purchase $5 Raffle Ticket

Enter to win this 30"x37" watercolor "Jazz in the Gap" donated by Holly Gravel, a gift to her late husband Robbie Rosenblum.

Ralph Hughes was a jazz musician based in the Poconos who passed away in 1997. An annual scholarship is awarded each year in his name to the COTA Cat student with the highest grade point average. The COTA Cats are a big band high school jazz ensemble that performs every September at the Celebration of the Arts (COTA) Jazz Festival in Delaware Water Gap.

The painting can be seen at Antelao Restaurant. Tickets may be purchased at Antelao Restaurant or the Deer Head Inn. Call 570-426-7226 for more information.

Winning ticket drawn at the Scholarship Dinner, Deer Head Inn, Tuesday May 21, 2013 (winner need not be present to win)

Deer Head Jazz Orchestra to present Jazz Composers Workshop

January 28 and February 25 at 7:30 PM
at the Deer Head Inn 5 Main St Delaware Water Gap, PA

photo: Bud Nealy

For its regularly scheduled “Last Monday of the Month” the Deer Head Jazz Orchestra invites composers of big band jazz to bring any compositions they might like to have the band read and along with the loyal Monday patrons, “have a listen”.

The Deer Head Jazz Orchestra is comprised of musicians from the Grammy nominated COTA Festival Orchestra. They have been preparing for a new recording of compositions by NEA Jazz Master Phil Woods scheduled for a late summer release.

Any composers or arrangers that would like to take part in these Jazz Composers Workshops should contact Rick Chamberlain at - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   to be included on the schedule.

The band will also perform compositions from its’ vast collection in keeping with the concept of “Library Alive”

DEER HEAD INN TO PRESENT 18 PIECE JAZZ ORCHESTRA SUNDAY - DECEMBER 30th, 2012 5-8PM

On Sunday December 30th from 5pm until 8pm the Deer Head Jazz Orchestra - featuring members of the COTA Festival Orchestra with guests Phil Woods, Bob Dorough, Nancy Reed and more - will usher out the holiday season with the "last hoorah and harumph" and the tossing of the musical yule log over the Christmas cliff. Come out all ye faithful for such gems as the Bob Dorough epic opus written for Miles Davis - "Blue Xmas" and Phil Woods arrangement of "White Christmas" as well as his composition - "Gifts for the Children". We promise many other swinging favorites for the last time this year. Promise!

WVIA BROADCASTS COTA FEST

National Public Radio partner WVIA FM will air the performances caught live at this year's jazz festival


For the 15th consecutive year, WVIA FM's All That Jazz with George Graham presents comprehensive coverage of the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts (COTA) Festival. Enjoy 12 nights of extraordinary jazz music starting Monday, November 5 at 7 p.m. on WVIA FM.
The series will feature music from all sets on the main stage of the festival which was held in the Poconos town of Delaware Water Gap on Sept. 7, 8 and 9, 2012

The complete broadcast schedule of featured performances on All That Jazz on WVIA FM is below and can also be found at: http://www.wvia.org/radio/all-that-jazz.

• Day 1- Monday Nov. 5: Niewood Plays Niewood / Craig Kastelnik and Friends
• Day 2-Tuesday, Nov. 6: Fernando Otera & Nick Danielson / JARO (Big Band)
• Day 3-Wednesday, Nov. 7: Cohn, Green & Walsh / "Sweet" Sue Terry & Dangerous Sax
• Day 4-Thursday, Nov. 8: Phil Woods and the Festival Orchestra / Nellie McKay part 1
• Day 5-Friday, Nov. 9: Nellie McKay part 2 / The SheilaMark Band
• Day 6- Saturday Nov. 10 at 10:00 PM - highlights from first week of coverage
• Day 7- Monday, Nov. 12: Bob Dorough / Dave Liebman & Nancy Reed & Neighbors
• Day 8-Tuesday, Nov. 13: COTA Cats / Spencer Reed "Not All Blues" Band
• Day 9-Wednesday, Nov. 14: Five Play / Eric Doney & Zach Brock - part 1
• Day 10-Thursday, Nov. 15: Doney & Brock part 2 / Lineage
• Day 11-Friday, Nov. 16: Vinny Bianch & La Cuchina / Highlights from week 1
• Day 12-Saturday Nov. 17: at 10:00 PM - Highlights from week 2

The series was recorded by Chiaroscuro Records and underwritten by the Stroudsburg Law Firm of Krawitz & Krawitz

WVIA FM can be found at 89.9 FM in northeast PA, 99.3 FM in Allentown, 105.7 FM in Bethlehem, 90.3 FM in Clarks Summit, 90.9 FM in Lewisburg, 89.7 FM (WVYA) in Williamsport, 89.3 FM in south central PA, 88.3 FM in Mainesburg, 94.9 FM in Pottsville, 94.3 FM in Stroudsburg/East Stroudsburg, 105.7 FM in Sunbury, and 103.5 FM in Wellsboro. WVIA FM can also be heard via an online stream at http://www.wvia.org/radio/listen-live

More information on the artists can be found at: http://www.cotajazz.org/schedule/2012-schedule/

Sherrie Maricle Interview in Jazz inside

Jazz Inside Magazine

Congratulations to drummer, bandleader, clinician, educator and COTA Board of Director Sherrie Maricle for a great interview in the October 2012 issue of Jazz Inside magazine.

Zoot Fest at ESU on Sunday October 21to honor Zoot Sims and Al Cohn for the benefit of jazz education and preservation

Zootfest

September 24, 2012
For Immediate Release
Contact: Bob Bush at (570) 422-3828 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Featuring: author Penny Von Eschen, Phil Woods, Bob Dorough, Bill Crow, Harry Allen, Dave Liebman, Joe Cohn, Rick Chamberlain, the COTA Festival Orchestra and more

To benefit the Al Cohn Memorial Jazz Collection and COTA CampJazz

EAST STROUDSBURG, PA – Zoot Fest, a relaxed afternoon of music, mirth and memories, will take place on Sunday afternoon October 21st from 12 Noon until 6 pm in the Keystone Room at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania. This second-annual jazz party will again honor saxophone partners Zoot Sims and Al Cohn, and serves as a major fundraising event for ESU’s Al Cohn Memorial Jazz Collection and community outreach partner, COTA CampJazz.

Dr. Penny M. Von Eschen, author of Satchmo Blows Up the World will kick off Zoot Fest with a multi-media presentation about the fascinating time period when the U.S. State Department dispatched jazz musicians abroad in its battle against Communism. Phil Woods, Bill Crow and Dave Liebman, participants in those historic tours, will be on hand to share stories and provide personal insights.  

Next, the music will take center stage as an array of multi-talented jazz artists take part in a “Jazz Jam á la Zoot” hosted by Adam Niewood. In addition to Woods, Crow and Liebman, the jam session lineup includes Joe Cohn, Harry Allen, Rossano Sportiello, Joel Forbes, Kim Parker, “Sweet” Sue Terry, Nancy Reed, Sherrie Maricle, Marko Marcinko, Rick Chamberlain, Nelson Hill, Jesse Green and most likely some surprise guests.

Finally, the Grammy-nominated COTA Festival Orchestra will close the afternoon in a swinging style with a ”Library Alive Big Band Jam,” performing the charts of Al Cohn and other composers and arrangers taken from the music inventory of ESU’s Al Cohn Memorial Jazz Collection.

Seating in the Keystone Room is limited and advance purchase is strongly recommended. The $50 per person admission fee includes the program plus a lunch buffet with drinks, desserts and other refreshments. For ticket reservations or to make a sponsor gift, call (570) 422-3658 or visit www.jazzatesu.com.

Dedicated to preserving all forms of jazz from all eras, the Al Cohn Memorial Jazz Collection (ACMJC) was founded in 1988 to honor the life and legacy of Al Cohn –

legendary saxophonist, arranger, composer and conductor, and long-time Pocono resident.  The collection is housed in Kemp Library on the ESU campus and consists of jazz recordings, oral histories, sheet music, photographs, books, videos, and original art and memorabilia, all generously donated over the years by supporters from around the world. Its official jazz magazine, The NOTE, is published two times a year and distributed to a world-wide readership. For more information about the ACMJC, visit www.esu.edu/alcohncollection.

COTA CampJazz, an educational outreach program of the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts Fund for Young Musicians, will benefit from a portion of the proceeds from the concert. This popular program, held for the sixth annual time this past summer in the Delaware Water Gap, provides an opportunity for young musicians to study the art of jazz improvisation by working in small groups with the jazz masters of the COTA organization. For more information about COTA CampJazz, visit www.campjazz.org.

Zoot Fest and Library Alive concerts are part of the ESU Jazz Synergy Series. For more information, visit www.jazzatesu.com, call (570) 422-3828, or send email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . 

Delaware Valley Band Student Awarded Academic Scholarship

To: For Immediate Release
From: Lance Rauh, Director of Bands
RE: DVHS jazz Student earns scholarship

Jaymarie Santana, senior band member at Delaware Valley High School, earned the 2012 Michael Lacey Memorial Jazz Scholarship. This $500 dollar award recognizes the dedication, commitment and community spirit of a deserving jazz student participating in the 2012 Celebration of the Arts Honors Jazz Band. The COTA Cats, as they are affectionately known, is a big band jazz ensemble that highlights the top high school jazz students in the Pocono area and performs every year at the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts (COTA) jazz festival.

The Michael Lacey Memorial Scholarship honors the memory of the former COTA Cat who was tradgically killed in an auto accident in the fall of 2007. Jaymarie Santana is the first Delaware Valley High School band member to be awarded this prestigious honor.

Delaware Valley Band Student Awarded Academic Scholarship

Alex Testino - Ralph Hughes Scholarship winner

To: For Immediate Release
From: Lance Rauh, Director of Bands
RE: DVHS jazz Student earns scholarship

Alex Testino, senior band member at Delaware Valley High School Band earned the Ralph Hughes Memorial Jazz Scholarship. This $1000 dollar award recognizes the most academically proficient jazz student participating in the 2012 Celebration of the Arts Honors Jazz Band. The COTA Cats, as they are affectionately known, is a big band jazz ensemble that highlights the top high school jazz students in the Pocono area.

The Ralph Hughes Scholarship honors the memory of Jazz trumpet player Ralph Hughes who was an integral personality in the Pocono Mountains jazz scene. The scholarship is sponsored by Michael and Elvi De Lotto of Antelao Restaurant in Delaware Water Gap, PA, and recognizes the most academically proficient senior COTA Cat based on his or her grade point average and class rank. Alex Testino is the third Delaware Valley band member to be awarded this prestigious honor.

Tom Mann

Tom Mann

COTA thanks you and welcomes you home!     Tom is the creator of the exquisite, mixed-media, shadow-boxed pieces of art pictured here. Both of them were created exclusively for COTA this summer. Top, for COTA's 2012 poster and accompanying print promotions; and below, for the Bob Dorough Duets CD.     The "back story": Tom (with his brother, Todd) was among the handful of artists/musicians who launched COTA in 1978; he designed four of our first five posters and our logotype. What a trip it's been! Tom now lives and works in New Orleans, where he oversees three studios/galleries, and exhibits his jewelry and sculpture at 250 galleries in the USA and abroad.     The two original, three-dimensional, framed pieces that Tom created for COTA this summer have now been donated by him to us.     When you see Tom, back home at this year's Festival, thank him (and ask if he'll autograph the great poster that you may purchase at the COTA Booth).

Bob Dorough CD Release Party

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New Bob Dorough CD

Bob Dorough DUETS

With thanks and appreciation for a grant from the ESSA Foundation - this recording project is a benefit for COTAl.
ALL proceeds will benefit COTA, and most involved donated part or all of their time and talent to make this vision a reality.

The line up and their duet song:

• Heather Masse – Love Came On Stealthy Fingers
• Nellie McKay – I’m Hip 
• Vickie Doney – Sunshine Morning
• JD Walter – I Got Just About Everything 
• Grace Kelly – I’m Waiting for Someone
• Nancy Reed - There’s Never Been A Day 
• Janis Siegel - Up Jumped a Bird with David Liebman
• Craig Kastelnick – Comin’ Home Baby
• Val Hawk - The Song of the Mourning Dove
• New York Voices – Devil May Care with Phil Woods 
• Donna Antonow – Small Day Tomorrow

Please see BobDoroughDuets.com to see and hear more!

COTA FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA TO APPEAR WITH the TEMPTATIONS

On July 22, 2012 at the Mountain Laurel Center for the Arts in Bushkill, PA at 4:00 PM there will be a reunion of sorts when the 18 piece Delaware Water Gap celebration of the Arts Festival Orchestra performs an opening set and then provides the back-up horn section for the “Temptations”  - an essential element of the original Motown Machine.

For years when the Pocono Mountains was in the heyday of live music entertainment in the many resorts, members of the COTA Festival Orchestra performed with the Temptations and many other prominent musical groups in bands on that stretch of Bushkill Falls Road that was home to the Pocmont, Unity House and Tamiment resorts. The “Tom Ridge Pavilion” (site of the concert) was built on the grounds of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (Unity House) resort. 

The Festival Orchestra’s opening set will feature special guest Bob Dorough – local and world renowned icon of Schoolhouse rock fame. Also featured will be music from East Stroudsburg University’s Al Cohn Memorial Collection and music of COTA Co-founder and NEA Jazz Master Phil Woods.

The opening act begins at 4 PM and the Temptations at 5 PM

Contact: Rick Chamberlain  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  570-421-2493

BASH FOR BRADER

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BASH FOR BRADER - DEER HEAD INN JAZZ ORCHESTRA TO HOST EVENING OF BIG BAND JAZZ TO BENEFIT AILING COLLEAGUE

On Monday July 30 from 7:30 – 10:30 the Deer Head Inn in Delaware Water Gap, PA will present a big band evening to help a fellow musician. Since last winter, Ken Brader – noted educator, and renowned lead trumpet player with the Philadelphia Pops, the COTA Festival Orchestra, JARO, the Phil Woods Big Band, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Patti Page’s Grammy –winning Carnegie Hall CD, just to name a few, has been suffering the effects of a debilitating illness that has left him in a dire financial situation because of the inability for him to earn a living. He has been transported many times to the Wills Eye Institute and Thomas Jefferson Hospital. He’s lost 90% of his vision and cannot walk.

The musicians of the Deer Head Jazz Orchestra would like to invite all to the Deer Head to contribute to this great cause. The first set will consist of the Deer Head Orchestra reading some new Phil Woods charts and then from there it will be a menagerie of performers playing big band music anyone wishes to bring. Collections will be taken throughout the evening. Come one come all –bring horns, charts and above all, the spirit of giving to help a truly great musician and friend.

Donation is $10. At the door and additional donations will be encouraged and appreciated. Checks can be sent to COTA Box 249 Delaware Water Gap, PA 18327

For more information contact: Rick Chamberlain  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   or Mary Carrig  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

To Donate:

Amount:   USD

2012 COTA Poster

COTA 2012 Poster - Tom Mann

COTA 2012 Poster designed by Tom Mann

Three Generations of Alto Sax Masters

Ralph Hughes Scholarship Dinner

Library Alive IX presents the third-annual “Scholastic Swing at the Sherman” featuring “Blue Lou” Marini and the COTA Festival Orchestra

East Stroudsburg, PA –The Sherman Theater will be filled with the sounds of swinging jazz music when three local high school ensembles join with guest soloist “Blue Lou” Marini and the Celebration of the Arts (COTA) Festival Orchestra to perform selections from the Al Cohn Memorial Jazz Collection on Wednesday April 11 at 7:30 p.m.

Dubbed “Scholastic Swing at the Sherman Theater,” this ninth Library Alive event will offer a unique educational experience for young jazz musicians from Stroudsburg, East Stroudsburg South and Quakertown Community high schools. The student bands are preparing to perform music from the Al Cohn library and will be participants in an afternoon workshop/clinic with members of the Festival Orchestra and Lou Marini. Later, in the opening set of the evening, the bands will perform with the acclaimed saxophonist. The concert will close with “Blue Lou” joining forces in a swinging set with the COTA Festival Orchestra.

When Lou Marini is introduced on stages worldwide, it’s amidst luminaries like James Taylor, Aerosmith, Eric Clapton, Aretha Franklin, Blood Sweat & Tears, Steely Dan, the Rolling Stones, and others. Many know “Blue Lou” from his participation in the Dan Akroyd / John Belushi cult band phenomenon, The Blues Brothers, born out of the Saturday Night Live band, where Lou’s signature wailing sax is imitated to this day.

Marini is no stranger to either the Poconos or the music of legendary saxophonist and arranger Al Cohn. About Al, Lou has said: “To me, his charts are the embodiment of a natural inherent swing. They just feel right and natural to play. They reflect his intelligence and great sense of humor. And, above all, they swing.”

The COTA Festival Orchestra has performed at the annual Delaware Water Gap jazz and arts festival throughout its 34-year run, and has twice toured Europe as the Phil Woods Big Band. The members scheduled to perform on April 11 include: Nelson Hill, Matt Vashlishan, Tom Hamilton, Bob Keller, and Jim Buckley (saxes); Danny Cahn, Eddie Severn, Luke Brandon and Patrick Dorian (trumpets); Rick Chamberlain, Najwa Parkins and Jim Daniels (trombones); Eric Doney, Evan Gregor, Bill Goodwin and Marko Marcinko (rhythm).

Library Alive concerts are sponsored by the East Stroudsburg University Jazz Synergy Series and benefit ESU’s Al Cohn Memorial Jazz Collection and COTA CampJazz, an educational outreach program of the Delaware Water Gap COTA Fund for Young Musicians. The sixth-annual jazz camp will be held from July 23 – 29 at various historic sites in Delaware Water Gap, including the Deer Head Inn. For more information or to register, visit www.campjazz.org.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and show time is 7:30 for the April 11 concert. Tickets are available at the Sherman Theater box office at 584 Main St. in Stroudsburg, by calling the box office at (570) 420-2808, or by visiting www.shermantheater.com. General admission for adults is $10, with discounted tickets for students for $5.

For more information, call (570) 422-3828 or visit www.jazzatesu.com. The event is part of the Smithsonian Institution’s nationwide celebration of Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM). To find out more about JAM, go to www.smithsonianjazz.org.

Bucky Pizzarelli and Jay Leonhart @ ESU 3/25/12

Bucky Pizzarelli and Jay Leonhart to lead “A New York Swing Session for John Bunch” on Sunday March 25 at 3:00 p.m. at East Stroudsburg University

East Stroudsburg, PA – A concert to pay tribute to the life and music of the late jazz pianist John Bunch will take place on Sunday afternoon March 25, 2012 at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania as the third presentation in the 2011-12 ESU Jazz Synergy Series.

Bassist Jay Leonhart was once quoted describing John Bunch as “one of the greatest jazz pianists the instrument has ever known.” Guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli said that John was “Benny Goodman’s favorite piano player.” These three masters of their instruments formed the group known as “New York Swing” and entertained jazz fans around the globe for decades with their elegance and musicianship.

This celebration, dubbed “A New York Swing Session for John Bunch,” will present Leonhart and Pizzarelli in performance with special guests, saxophonist Harry Allen and pianist Bill Mays. The event will also officially welcome the John Bunch special collection to ESU as part of the Al Cohn Memorial Jazz Collection in Kemp Library.

The concert will be presented in the Cecilia S. Cohen Recital Hall in the Fine and Performing Arts Center, Normal and Marguerite Streets, on the ESU campus. The suggested donation for general admission to the concert is $10; all students with a current ID will be admitted free. Doors will open at 2:45 p.m.

The 2011-12 ESU Jazz Synergy Series is presented by the ESU Regional Jazz Coalition and the Al Cohn Memorial Jazz Collection at ESU’s Kemp Library.

For more information, call (570) 422-3828 or visit www.jazzatesu.com. To check on other upcoming arts events at the University, call the ESU Cultural Events Hotline at (570) 422-3483.

Phil Woods/COTA Festival Orchestra New Music Reading

Phil Woods/COTA Festival Orchestra New Music Reading

On Tuesday March 13 at 7:30 PM The Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts (COTA) Festival Orchestra will be reading new works for big band by Phil Woods at the Deer Head Inn in Delaware Water Gap, PA.

This evening will be an opportunity to be part of the process of the creation of a new CD. It has been 15 years since the last COTA big band CD "Celebration" was released and nominated for a Grammy Award. On Tuesday evening March 13 at the "Home of Jazz in the Poconos" the 16 piece Festival Orchestra will read and rehearse new music by COTA Co-founder Phil Woods for inclusion in this project. Phil, (who recently celebrated his 80th birthday) has long been considered one of the world's leading alto saxophonists and received the Jazz Master Fellowship Award from the National Endowment of the Arts – our nation's highest honor for contributions toAmerica's indigenous art form – Jazz. All proceeds will be used for production of the new CD.

Additional contributions are welcome and may be made through the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts.

THE GAPTIME ENSEMBLE

3rd Annual "Scholastic Swing" Concert

East Stroudsburg, PA –The Sherman Theater will be filled with the sounds of swinging jazz music when three local high school ensembles join with guest soloist “Blue Lou” Marini and the Celebration of the Arts (COTA) Festival Orchestra to perform selections from the Al Cohn Memorial Jazz Collection on Wednesday April 11 at 7:30 p.m.

Dubbed “Scholastic Swing at the Sherman Theater,” this ninth Library Alive event will offer a unique educational experience for young jazz musicians from Stroudsburg, East Stroudsburg South and Quakertown Community high schools. The student bands are preparing to perform music from the Al Cohn library and will be participants in an afternoon workshop/clinic with members of the Festival Orchestra and Lou Marini. Later, in the opening set of the evening, the bands will perform with the acclaimed saxophonist. The concert will close with “Blue Lou” joining forces in a swinging set with the COTA Festival Orchestra.

When Lou Marini is introduced on stages worldwide, it’s amidst luminaries like James Taylor, Aerosmith, Eric Clapton, Aretha Franklin, Blood Sweat & Tears, Steely Dan, the Rolling Stones, and others. Many know “Blue Lou” from his participation in the Dan Akroyd / John Belushi cult band phenomenon, The Blues Brothers, born out of the Saturday Night Live band, where Lou’s signature wailing sax is imitated to this day.

Marini is no stranger to either the Poconos or the music of legendary saxophonist and arranger Al Cohn. About Al, Lou has said: “To me, his charts are the embodiment of a natural inherent swing. They just feel right and natural to play. They reflect his intelligence and great sense of humor. And, above all, they swing.”

The COTA Festival Orchestra has performed at the annual Delaware Water Gap jazz and arts festival throughout its 34-year run, and has twice toured Europe as the Phil Woods Big Band. The members scheduled to perform on April 11 include: Nelson Hill, Matt Vashlishan, Tom Hamilton, Bob Keller, and Jim Buckley (saxes); Danny Cahn, Eddie Severn, Luke Brandon and Patrick Dorian (trumpets); Rick Chamberlain, Najwa Parkins and Jim Daniels (trombones); Eric Doney, Evan Gregor, Bill Goodwin and Marko Marcinko (rhythm).

Library Alive concerts are sponsored by the East Stroudsburg University Jazz Synergy Series and benefit ESU’s Al Cohn Memorial Jazz Collection and COTA CampJazz, an educational outreach program of the Delaware Water Gap COTA Fund for Young Musicians. The sixth-annual jazz camp will be held from July 23 – 29 at various historic sites in Delaware Water Gap, including the Deer Head Inn. For more information or to register, visit www.campjazz.org.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and show time is 7:30 for the April 11 concert. Tickets are available at the Sherman Theater box office at 584 Main St. in Stroudsburg, by calling the box office at (570) 420-2808, or by visiting www.shermantheater.com. General admission for adults is $10, with discounted tickets for students for $5.

For more information, call (570) 422-3828 or visit www.jazzatesu.com. The event is part of the Smithsonian Institution’s nationwide celebration of Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM). To find out more about JAM, go to www.smithsonianjazz.org.

JARO to perform “A President’s Weekend Salute to Big Band Jazz” on Sunday February 19 at 3:00 p.m. at East Stroudsburg University

The concert, which is being billed as “A President’s Weekend Salute to Big Band Jazz,” will present multi-talented musicians from the Pocono region putting their own unique stamp on vintage compositions for jazz orchestra. In keeping with the theme of this annual big band event, the concert will feature tunes made popular by some of America’s most famous jazz orchestras, leaders, composers, arrangers and singers. And, as JARO’s legion of fans has come to expect, some neglected and obscure ones will be showcased as well.

Among the big bands that have been saluted in past year’s programs are those of Duke Ellington, Elliot Lawrence, Horace Henderson, Jerry Wald, Woody Herman, Marty Paich, Maynard Ferguson, Ray McKinley, Boyd Raeburn, Oliver Nelson and Noble Sissle, featuring such acclaimed composers and arrangers as Al Cohn, Gerry Mulligan, Dizzy Gillespie, Shorty Rogers, Billy Strayhorn and Clare Fischer.  

JARO is dedicated to preserving and promoting the rich heritage of big band jazz. Its members are comprised of many of the respected artists who live in the Pocono region, including such favorites as trombonist Rick Chamberlain, saxophonists Nelson Hill and Richard Barz, trumpeter Danny Cahn, vocalist Judy Lincoln, and pianist and musical director Wolfgang Knittel. JARO has been a fixture at the annual Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts jazz festival, and its members have appeared individually and collectively at many other major jazz festivals and venues both regionally and around the world.

The concert will be presented in the Cecilia S. Cohen Recital Hall in the Fine and Performing Arts Center, Normal and Marguerite Streets, on the ESU campus. The suggested donation for general admission to the concert is $5; all students with a current ID will be admitted free. Doors will open at 2:45 p.m.

The 2011-12 ESU Jazz Synergy Series is presented by the ESU Regional Jazz Coalition and the Al Cohn Memorial Jazz Collection at ESU’s Kemp Library.

For more information, call (570) 422-3828 or visit www.jazzatesu.com. To check on other upcoming arts events at the University, call the ESU Cultural Events Hotline at (570) 422-3483.

Zoot Fest at ESU on November 13

ZootFest

For Immediate Release
Contact: Bob Bush at (570) 422-3828 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Zoot Fest at ESU on November 13 to honor Zoot Sims and Al Cohn and remember the NYC jazz loft legacy of photographer W. Eugene Smith

Featuring: author Sam Stephenson, Phil Woods, Bob Dorough, Bill Crow, Lew Tabackin, Ronnie Free, Bill Goodwin and the COTA Festival Orchestra

To benefit the Al Cohn Memorial Jazz Collection and COTA CampJazz

EAST STROUDSBURG, PA – Zoot Fest, a relaxed afternoon of music, mirth and memories, will take place on Sunday afternoon November 13th at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania. This first-annual jazz party will honor saxophone greats Zoot Sims and Al Cohn, and will be held in the Keystone Room on the ESU campus from 12 Noon until 6 pm.

The theme for this inaugural Zoot Fest will be a remembrance of the jazz loft scene in New York City in the fifties and sixties, particularly the infamous digs at 821 Sixth Avenue where acclaimed Life magazine photographer W. Eugene Smith made his incredible images and historic tape recordings. Zoot and Al were frequent visitors to this infamous location in the Village.

Sam Stephenson, author of The Jazz Loft Project will kick off Zoot Fest with a multi-media presentation, including a digital display of a selection of Smith’s photos and tapes. Phil Woods, Bob Dorough, Bill Crow, Lew Tabackin, and Ronnie Free, amazing jazz musicians who personally frequented the NYC lofts, will share stories and participate in a “Jazz Jam á la Zoot” hosted by Bill Goodwin, with surprise guests. Finally, the Grammy-nominated COTA Festival Orchestra will close the afternoon in a swinging style with a ”Library Alive Big Band Jam,” performing the charts of Al Cohn and other composers and arrangers taken from the music inventory of ESU’s Al Cohn Memorial Jazz Collection.

Seating in the Keystone Room is limited and advance purchase is required. The $50 per person admission fee includes the program plus a lunch buffet with drinks, desserts and other refreshments. For tickets, call (570) 422-3828 or visit www.jazzatesu.com.

Zoot Fest is a major fundraising event to benefit the Al Cohn Memorial Jazz Collection at ESU’s Kemp Library, and its important outreach initiatives, including the ESU Jazz Synergy Series and Library Alive Concerts. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the COTA Fund for Young Musicians for COTA CampJazz.

Sponsors are needed to support Zoot Fest and its commitment to jazz education and preservation. For more information about how to donate, visit www.jazzatesu.com or call (570) 422-3828.

Performing at the annual Delaware Water Gap jazz and arts festival since 1992, the COTA Festival Orchestra has twice toured Europe as the Phil Woods Big Band.  Nominated for a Grammy Award in 1997, its members include: Nelson Hill, Jay Rattman, Tom Hamilton, Bob Keller, and Jim Buckley (reeds); Ken Brader, Danny Cahn, Eddie Severn, and Patrick Dorian (trumpets); Rick Chamberlain, Fred Scott, Kevin Haines and Jim Daniels (trombones); Eric Doney (piano), Evan Gregor (bass), Marko Marcinko and Bill Goodwin (drums).

Dedicated to preserving all forms of jazz from all eras, the Al Cohn Memorial Jazz Collection (ACMJC) was founded in 1988 to honor the life and legacy of Al Cohn –
legendary saxophonist, arranger, composer and conductor, and long-time Pocono resident.  The collection is housed in Kemp Library on the ESU campus and consists of jazz recordings, oral histories, sheet music, photographs, books, videos, and original art and memorabilia, all generously donated over the years by supporters from around the world. Its official jazz magazine, The NOTE, is published three times a year and distributed to a world-wide readership. For more information about the ACMJC, visit www.esu.edu/alcohncollection.

COTA CampJazz, an educational outreach program of the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts Fund for Young Musicians, will benefit from a portion of the proceeds from the concert. This popular program, held for the fifth annual time this past summer in the Delaware Water Gap, provides an opportunity for young musicians to study the art of jazz improvisation by working in small groups with the jazz masters of the COTA organization. For more information about COTA CampJazz, visit www.campjazz.org.

Zoot Fest and Library Alive concerts are part of the ESU Jazz Synergy Series sponsored by the ESU Regional Jazz Coalition and the Al Cohn Memorial Jazz Collection. For more information, visit www.jazzatesu.com, call (570) 422-3828, or send email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Jazzman Bob Dorough star of COTA festival

photo: Garth Woods

Bob Dorough, the jazz pianist who wrote and produced the original "Schoolhouse Rock" for ABC in the 1980s, will be feted at the 34th annual Celebration of the Arts (COTA) jazz festival Friday through Sunday in Delaware Water Gap.

Dorough has long been a friend and contributor to COTA. When NEA jazz master and festival co-founder Phil Woods was asked why COTA chose to honor Bob, he replied: "Let me count the ways! Turn to page 189 in the Encyclopedia of Jazz and prepare to be amazed! From music director for Sugar Ray [Robinson] to teaching America how to count with the celebrated series 'Multiplication Rock' to recording his Christmas song with Miles — come on, man! About time I say!"

Introducing Dorough will be one of his personal friends, Emmy-winning TV and film actor Peter Coyote.

A thread of Dorough will be woven into the festival all weekend, with bands playing Dorough tunes and special guests. Dorough will perform at 5 p.m. Saturday.

Two ten-minute excerpts of the upcoming feature-length documentary about Dorough, "Devil May Care," will be shown. The screenings will be Friday night Church of the Mountain and at the Saturday and Sunday night performances on the main stage. The filmmakers of the documentary, three years in the making, will also be at the screenings. For more information about the film: http://www.devilmaycarethemovie.com

Appearing for the first time with her own band is Grace Kelly, who has been honored for the third year as "Alto Saxophonist Rising Star" in the 2011 Annual Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll.

The line-up also features NEA Jazz Master Dave Liebman, Urbie Green, Peggy Stern and Sweet Sue Terry, Zen for Primates, and two former COTA Cats returning to the festival as band leaders — saxophonist Jay Rattman and vocalist Najwa Parkins.

The festival begins at 6 p.m. Friday with a musically-themed art show and reception, followed by theater, dance, poetry and classical music at the Presbyterian Church of the Mountain 7-9:30 p.m. Performances run noon-10 p.m. Saturday. A free Jazz Mass is at 10 a.m. Sunday, followed by performances noon-8:30 p.m.

Tickets are $25 per day; $40, Saturday and Sunday; $15 per day, students and seniors; $10 per day, ages 5-12; free, under 5.

Info: 570-424-2210, http://www.cotajazz.org.

—Jodi Duckett

Copyright © 2011, The Morning Call

Jazz Pianist Bobby Avey Scores Prestigious Award

photo: Garth Woods

Jazz pianist Bobby Avey  ’07 winner of the 2011 Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz Composer’s Competition, will perform his piece on Sept. 11 at the Smithsonian Institute’s Baird Auditorium in Washington, DC. The performance of  “Late November” will take place during the semi-final round of this year’s piano performance competition.

The announcement of Avey’s selection in the Monk competition came just three months after he was awarded a New Jazz Works grant by Chamber Music America, to develop an hour-long piece inspired by the 1791 slave revolt in Haiti that led to the nation’s independence from France in 1804. He received a $10,000 award from the Monk Institute and a $21,500 grant from the Doris Duke Foundation for the work he’s creating for Chamber Music America. 

“It’s such an honor to have been selected in both competitions,” says Avey, 26, of Brooklyn. “And I’m humble to the task. The music is bigger than me. It’s like the definition of infinity – there’s more music to check out. I’ll always be someone who is just learning.”

This marks the second year consecutive year that a Purchase College Music Conservatory graduate has been recognized in the Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz competition, considered the world’s most prestigious competition for emerging jazz artists. In 2010, singer Cyrille Aimee, ’09, placed third in the Monk vocalist competition. 

Avey’s piece for Chamber Music America will explore the rhythms of Haitian drummers – those first-generation West Africans brought to the Caribbean island as slaves. Avey is drawn to the drumming that accompanies Voodoo ceremonies, which conjures up spirits that take its adherents into an altered world, closer to their God. 

“It’s a great universal language, and while those brought over to Haiti didn’t know their neighbors, they all had drums, and they could find that common language with rhythm and music,” he says. 

Avey discovered Haiti’s heroic, yet tragic, history in Tracy Kidder’s masterpiece, “Mountains Beyond Mountains,” the story of Paul Farmer and his Partners in Health organization. The grant will take him to Haiti later this year, to listen to the rhythms, and incorporate that into his hour-long piece. After all, the piano is a rhythm instrument, and Avey plays it with breathtaking virtuosity. 

Avey says his studies at Purchase from 2003 to 2007 laid a strong foundation for his music career. While at the conservatory, he studied jazz piano with Hal Galper, and Charles Blenzig, while studying classical piano with Steven Lubin. Avey says he’d spend long hours in the Conservatory practice rooms, working on his assignments, then finding time to develop his own musical voice.

“First I’d take care of business, and do what the professors asked of me,” says Avey. “Then I’d be able to get down to my own stuff, which could have me in the practice room all day.”

Todd Coolman, director of Jazz Studies at Purchase, says Avey was already considered “an advanced player” when he enrolled in 2003.  His skills at composition deepened at the Conservatory. 

“Bobby has a very unusual drive to express himself through music,” says Coolman. “He was utterly self-motivated and never required a lot of input from any of us.”

Avey, who grew up in northeastern Pennsylvania, vaulted into prominence while still in high school, where he played in a big band called the COTA Cats. While playing at the Celebration of the Arts Jazz Festival in 2001 in the Delaware Water Gap, renowned saxophonist and jazz educator David Liebman heard about his playing, and called Avey to invite him to play at his vacation home in the Poconos. 

“I was just shivering, with this jazz icon calling some 10th-grader,” recalls Avey. “But I went to his house. I played, and he told me what I’d have to do to come back to the house again. I came back, and he has been a musical and life-mentor to me ever since. I don’t know many men who are busier than Dave, but he always has the time to answer my calls, and has the time to show me the love.”

Liebman has played on Avey’s two CDs – Vienna Dialogues, which he recorded with Liebman in 2006, and A New Face, in 2010, featuring Liebman, Thomson Kneeland, and Jordan Perlson. Both are available athttp://www.bobbyavey.com.

Liebman says Avey has the attitude and talent to make a name in jazz. 

“He’s very serious, and straight-ahead,” says Liebman. “He knows what it takes to get a position in the jazz world, and he’s pursuing his own path musically. He’s got his own thing, and has found a place for himself.”

Bob Dorough of 'Schoolhouse Rock!' fame still performing around region, world

Published: Sunday, August 21, 2011, By Tom Shortell | The Express-Times

Bob Dorough, a jazz pianist and the man behind the "Schoolhouse Rock!" series of the 70s, sits by a piano at the Deer Head Inn in Delaware Water Gap.

Express-Times Photo | BILL ADAMS

 

Bob Dorough was writing jingles for a New York ad agency in the 1970s when the company's president approached him for a special project.

The man's son was having a difficult time learning his multiplication tables, but the father noticed the boy knew all the words to his Beatles songs. The president asked Dorough to write rock songs that reviewed his son's math lessons.

Dorough, now of Upper Mount Bethel Township, was an accomplished jazz pianist, but he gave educational music a shot. The result was "Schoolhouse Rock!," the series of educational shorts that have taught generations of school children about math, science and history.

"It was a bolt of lightning coming down," Dorough said of the series, which aired on ABC during the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

It was a drastic turn of events for the now 89-year-old musician. Dorough had achieved mild fame as a jazz performer in the 1940s and 1950s. He lived in New York City, but he toured the continent and Europe as part of various bands and groups. He was even the musical director for the brief entertainment career of boxing legend Sugar Ray Robinson before his dancing act bombed in Paris.

Music changed in the 1960s. Rock bands like The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix became mainstream, and the demand for jazz dropped off for anyone who wasn't a household name. With the suburbs around New York City too expensive, Dorough moved his family to Upper Mount Bethel, where his daughter, Aralee, started school. Dorough took the job for the ad agency and commuted to New York City as a way to pay the bills.

"I was just trying to make a living. My jazz career in the 60s and early 70s was kind of meager," he said Monday at the Deer Head Inn in Delaware Water Gap, where he's performed for decades.

The idea of Math Rock! quickly changed that. Recordings of his math songs were presented to ABC to air as a possible educational cartoon. Chuck Jones, the legendary animator who directed Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and Michael Eisner, then the head of ABC's daytime programming, quickly signed off on the project. Parental groups had been storming the networks for years, pressuring them to provide more quality programing for children. The cartoons fit the bill perfectly, Dorough said.

"It was an easy sell," he said.

Bob Dorough is an 89-year-old Upper Mount Bethel Township resident whose music has national recognition.

Express-Times Photo | BILL ADAMS

It took Dorough two years to write 11 songs about numbers and math. While the songs centered on situations children would recognize, not every song was on the grade school level. The song "Little Twelvetoes" tells how an alien with twelve fingers probably counts. The math lesson in the song focuses on Base 12, a counting system where the numbers 10 and 11 are single digits. Dorough said the agency had to confirm the math with a college professor before approving it as it was.

 

"I'm something of an amateur mathematician," said Dorough, who took an advanced math course while studying at Colombia University on the GI Bill.

Even Aralee got in on the action. Dorough said he was stumped trying to come up with a song for the number four. One day Dorough went on a walk with Aralee and her friend, and the girls suggested a song about a four-legged zoo.

"I didn't know quite what that was, but I liked the sound of it," Dorough said looking back. He ran with the idea, and it became the song "The Four-Legged Zoo," which names about 70 quadrupeds in three minutes.

Math Rock! caught on, and more cartoons focusing on history, grammar and science were soon ordered under the name "Schoolhouse Rock!" A team of song writers came on board, and they produced music faster than the animators could draw the shorts, Dorough said. He would regularly tune in with Aralee to watch the new material air, he said.

"Imagine me. I'm already 50 years old and I'm watching Saturday morning cartoons," he said.

ABC kept playing the shorts into the 1980s, and a new batch was ordered in the mid-90s. The cartoons have also been put onto DVDs so new generations can learn about sentence structure and the American Revolution, among other topics.

These days, Dorough is still going strong. He's performing at a jazz festival in Norway this weekend and next month he's the headliner for the Delaware Water Gap's Celebration of the Arts. Erin Harper, the producer behind the independent film "My Best Day," is also working on a documentary on Dorough's career.

Dorough said people will still sometimes approach him at performances and ask him why his voice sounds so familiar. When word gets out he's the man who wrote "Lolly Lolly Lolly Get Your Adverbs Here" and other songs, he usually gets a few "Schoolhouse Rock!" requests. He enjoys it for the most part, but he admitted it can be distracting when people request songs about pronouns when he's at a jazz club.

"Sometimes it does grate on my nerves," he said.

Even with those passing moments of aggravation,  Dorough said he's happy to be working the career he chose as a high school student. He's traveled the world and is still willing to, though he's not sure if he'd go as far as Asia for a gig.

"I'd go anywhere if the money was right," he said.

© 2011 lehighvalleylive.com. All rights reserved.

Water Gap's Phil Woods a national Living Legacy

Courtesy Pocono Rcord - June 12, 2011

Saxophonist Phil Woods will be honored with the BNY Mellon Jazz 2011 Living Legacy Award in a special ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 14.

The BNY Mellon Jazz 2011 Living Legacy Award is a program of Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation and is sponsored by BNY Mellon, a global financial services company. The award honors living jazz masters from the Mid-Atlantic region who have achieved distinction in jazz performance and education. The celebration will include a reception, the award ceremony and a performance by the 2010 Legacy award recipient, Roy Haynes, in the Terrace Theatre.

Born in 1931 in Springfield, Mass., Woods is considered a master jazz alto saxophonist whose lineage is clearly rooted in the tone and phrasing of the great Charlie Parker, Benny Carter and Johnny Hodges. After graduating from high school at age 16, Woods moved to New York City and enrolled in the Juilliard School, where he remained through 1952, majoring in clarinet performance. In the 1950s, he led his own groups and toured the Near East and South America with one of his musical idols, Dizzy Gillespie. Woods went on to perform in Buddy Rich's quintet and toured Europe with Quincy Jones (1959-60) and Russia with Benny Goodman (1962). He also played and recorded with Clark Terry, Bill Evans, Oliver Nelson, Charlie Barnet and Thelonious Monk.

In 1972, Woods returned to Pennsylvania and formed a jazz group with Mike Melillo, Steve Gilmore and Bill Goodwin. With this ensemble, he became recognized as the finest alto saxophonist in mainstream jazz, confirmed by performances with Michel Legrand and on Billy Joel's hit recording "Just the Way You Are."

He has been the recipient of four Grammy Awards and the NEA Jazz Master Award. Woods remains active internationally as a band leader, composer-arranger, soloist and recent steward to younger players such as the emerging saxophonist Grace Kelly. Woods lives with his wife, Jill, in Delaware Water Gap.

For information, visit www.midatlanticarts.org/funding/artists_programs/living_legacy/index.html.

Scholastic Swing at the Sherman” featuring guest artist Lou Marini

Click for Tickets

Stroudsburg, PA – On April 14, 2011 the Sherman Theater will be filled with the sounds of swing music with local high school musicians and the COTA Festival Orchestra performing music from the Al Cohn Memorial Jazz Collection (ACMJC). For the second time, a special treat will be the appearance of “Blue Lou” Marini of Saturday Night Live and The Blues Brothers fame. The event celebrates the Smithsonian’s Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM). The concert begins at 7:30 PM, and tickets are available at the Sherman Theater box office for $15 ($5 for students with valid ID).

This seventh Library Alive event, dubbed “Scholastic Swing at the Sherman Theater,” will offer a unique educational experience for young jazz musicians from the Stroudsburg AreaHigh , East Stroudsburg South High School and Kutztown Area Middle School. The three student bands are preparing to perform music from the ACMJC library and will be participants in an afternoon workshop/clinic with members of the Festival Orchestra and special guest “Blue Lou” Marini. Later, in the opening set that evening, the bands will perform with Mr. Marini. The concert will close with “Blue Lou” joining forces in a swinging set with the COTA Festival Orchestra.

...Read more

A President’s Weekend Salute to Big Band Jazz

JARO

The imaginative and crowd-pleasing big band JARO (Jazz Artists Repertory Orchestra) will perform on Sunday afternoon February 20, 2011 at the Cecilia S. Cohen Recital Hall as the next presentation in the 2010-11 ESU Jazz Synergy Series.

The concert, which is being billed as “A President’s Weekend Salute to Big Band Jazz,” will present multi-talented musicians from the Pocono region putting their own unique stamp on vintage compositions for jazz orchestra. In keeping with the theme of this big band event, the concert will feature tunes made popular by some of America’s most famous jazz orchestras, leaders, composers, arrangers and singers. And, as JARO’s legion of fans has come to expect, some neglected and obscure ones will be showcased as well. Among the big bands to be included in this year’s program are those of Duke Ellington, Elliot Lawrence, Horace Henderson, Jerry Wald, Woody Herman, Marty Paich, Maynard Ferguson, Ray McKinley, Boyd Raeburn, Oliver Nelson and Noble Sissle, featuring such acclaimed composers and arrangers as Al Cohn, Gerry Mulligan, Dizzy Gillespie, Shorty Rogers, Fred Sturm and Clare Fischer. 

JARO is dedicated to preserving and promoting the rich heritage of big band jazz. Its musicians reflect the many respected artists who live in the Pocono region, including such favorites as trombonist Rick Chamberlain, saxophonists Nelson Hill and Richard Barz, trumpeter Danny Cahn, vocalist Judy Lincoln, and pianist and musical director Wolfgang Knittel. Three of its acclaimed members are employed at East Stroudsburg University: trumpeter Patrick Dorian and trombonist Jim Daniels are music professors, and drummer Bob D’Aversa is ESU’s chief information officer. JARO has been a fixture at the annual Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts jazz festival, and its members have appeared individually and collectively at many other major jazz festivals and venues both regionally and around the world.
 
The concert will be presented in the Cecilia S. Cohen Recital Hall at the Fine and Performing Arts Center, Normal and Marguerite Streets, on the East Stroudsburg University campus. General admission suggested donation to the concert is $5; all students with a current ID will be admitted free. Doors will open at 2:45 p.m.

The 2010-11 ESU Jazz Synergy Series is presented by the ESU Music Department, in conjunction with the ESU Regional Jazz Coalition and the Al Cohn Memorial Jazz Collection at ESU’s Kemp Library. For more information, call Bob Bush at (570) 422-3828 or send email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . To check on other upcoming arts events at ESU, call the ESU Cultural Events Hotline at (570) 422-3483.

Miles Fagley-Orfanella earns 2010 scholarship

 Miles Fagley-Orfanella, a senior band member at Wyoming Valley West High School, earned the 2010 Ralph Hughes Memorial Jazz Scholarship. This $1,000 dollar award recognizes the most academically proficient jazz student participating in the 2010 Celebration of the Arts Honors Jazz Band. The COTA Cats are a big band jazz ensemble that highlights the top high school jazz students in the Pocono area and performs every year at the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts (COTA) jazz festival. The Ralph Hughes Scholarship honors the memory of jazz trumpet player Ralph Hughes who was an integral personality in the Pocono Mountains jazz scene. The scholarship is sponsored by Michael and Elvi De Lotto of Antelao Restaurant, Delaware Water Gap, and recognizes the most academically proficient senior COTA Cat based on their grade point average and class rank. Fagley-Orfanella is the first Wyoming Valley West band member to be awarded this prestigious honor.

COTA 2010

Written by Paul Adam Smeltz

The Celebration of the Arts (COTA) held their 33rd Annual Jazz and Arts festival throughout the town of Delaware Water Gap, PA during the three day weekend beginning Friday September 10th and ending Sunday September 12th. The festival have proven to be a haven and Mecca for jazz and art lovers throughout the world attracting people who have traveled as far away as the European nations as well as people who live within a few miles. Those returning to this year’s festival found it to be everything they loved about it and more while those who attended it for the very first time discovered its delightfully addictive quality inspiring them to mark their calendars so they would be sure to attend next year.

The festival began Friday September 10th with an Artists’ Reception at The Antoine Dutot Gallery and Museum featuring works created by numerous artists exploring a variety of medium all centering on the “Music Motif Show” central theme which was (as the exhibition‘s title suggests) music. A number of people waited outside the gallery as the final preparations were made for their entry.

It was during this waiting period that the first of many new additions to the festival made itself known. The Classical Trio “Calliope” (consisted of Laura Goss on Basson along with Gina Bertucci and Barbara McMahon on Flute) performed outside the gallery. The enthrallment of the Classical and Baroque movements almost enticed them to stay even when the long awaited moment of the gallery opening its doors occurred. However, once they found the will power to leave this musical entreatment, they soon found their explorations of the Dutot’s a very worthy endeavor.

A wall singing the delightful tunes of colors and images transfixed those who were fortunate to cast their gaze upon them. The atmosphere was electrifying which increased as the enchanting energies of conversation and delicious foods enhanced the evening’s event. One felt a shear joy while experiencing the work and the camaraderie of those who love the festival and were overjoyed with the event that opened it.

The “Music Motif” Show has long been a part of COTA and features a juried show inviting artists throughout the Pocono Area and beyond to share their talents with the gallery. Jurors for this year’s exhibition were Steve Berger, James Gloria, and Joni Oye-Benintende. Although the work presented was of the highest quality, special awards were given to those artists listed below. Their endeavors were truly outstanding and, as a representative of The Forwardian Arts Society, I congratulate them and I encourage all who read this to share their congratulatory sentiments as a comment to this article.

The Best of Show was given to Garth Woods for his photographic piece titled, “Spencer Reed.” The 1st place award in Photography was given to  Francine Douaihy for her work titled, “Philly Groove” while the 2nd place award went to Bud Nealy for his work titled, “Marko.” The 1st place award in Painting was given to Ka-Son Reeves for his work titled, “Jazz in Space” while the 2nd place award went to Bob Doney. The 1st place award in Crafts was given to Lenore Fiore Mills for her work in Batik titled, “Bastille Day at Cercle Rouge” while June Auger was awarded Honorable Mention for her Quilt titled, “JAZZ.”

The Antoine Dutot Museum and Gallery is an Art Gallery and Museum housed in a brick school house build around the year 1850. The Museum focuses on the local history Delaware Water Gap, PA which was settled by Antoine Dutot which gave the town its original name “Dutotsville.” The French flavor of the early settlers can still be seen in Delaware Water Gap’s architecture. This and the prevalence of Jazz has led some to dub the town as “the New Orleans of the Poconos.”

The Gallery features a variety of exhibitions throughout the summer and early fall months featuring an eclectic array of artists whose qualities enhance the community through their talents. The “Music Motif Show” continues until September 19th. The next exhibition will feature the work of Arthur Kvarnstrom with an Artist’s Reception on Friday September 24th beginning at 7pm and continuing until October 10th. Please Explore The Antoine Dutot Gallery and Museum Website at www.dutotmuseum.com or call them at 570-476-4240 for more information.

The first day of the festival continued with an evening filled with music, theatre, dance, and poetry at The Presbyterian Church of the Mountain (PCOM) located across the street from The Dutot. This presentation has long been part of COTA and has become well known for the grace, beauty, and burlesque aspects of the performances. This festival proved to be no exception as expectations were not only satisfied but were exceeded beyond imagination....Read more

COTA Cats jazz fest band includes 6 DVHS students

COTA Cats

Times-Herald Record - Published: 10/08/10

MILFORD, Pa. — Six Delaware Valley High School band members participated last month in the 33nd annual Celebration of the Arts Jazz Festival in Delaware Water Gap, Pa.

Josh Smith, Jason Sandonato, Emily Fox, Ian Walack, Tyler Williams and Nadege Hoeper represented the Delaware Valley music department in the Celebration of the Arts (COTA) Honors Jazz ensemble.

The group, called the COTA Cats, was founded in 1981 by festival founder and world-famous saxophonist Phil Woods. This group is composed of jazz students from all over northeastern Pennsylvania.

Starting in early August, the group began the season with intensive three-hour rehearsals in preparation for the prime-time performance at the COTA jazz festival in September.

Under the direction of Lance Rauh and Ryan Curchoe, the band performed a program of six selections. The program included compositions and arrangments written or arranged specifically for the COTA Cats past and present.

COTA’s successful, unique approach

Celebration of the Arts Jazz Festival, Delaware Water Gap (Exit 310 off Interstate 80), Fri. Sept. 10 through Sun. Sept. 12.

by Michael Lello - Weekender Editor

To say the organizers of the Celebration of the Arts Jazz Festival — commonly known as COTA — are in a unique situation would be quite an understatement. The annual event, which will take place in Delaware Water Gap for the 33rd time this weekend, has survived despite a decision to eschew outside sponsorship since day one. The festival also has had the luxury of being located in a town teeming with musical talent.

“Everybody has to have some kind of local connection to be on the festival. We don’t go out and look for bands of international notoriety,” said Rick Chamberlain, a COTA cofounder. “We have international notoriety right here.”

Chamberlain’s fellow founder, Delaware Water Gap resident Phil Woods, is a renowned jazz saxophonist who will again perform at COTA this year. Fellow sax standout Dave Liebman, who also lives in the area, is on the bill, too. Both have been named National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Masters — the highest honor bestowed in the United States on jazz musicians. In late August, the New York Times published an article about Liebman.

Chamberlain said paying all the musicians the same amount and avoiding corporate sponsors has helped COTA steer clear of the money-related arguments that he feels derail some festivals.

“It boils down to we don’t have to answer to anybody about what it is we do,” said Chamberlain, who is the principal trombonist with the New York City Ballet Orchestra and a graduate of the New England Conservatory. “We don’t have to put up a logo where they tell us to or do whatever they tell us to do. … And because it was started by the musicians, we all make the same amount of money. It’s just a little honorarium we get every year. It’s not driven by the dollar.”

Woods, who will perform with the COTA Festival Orchestra at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, will also have his new album, “Songs For COTA,” available for purchase It’s a limited-edition CD featuring nine songs from the American songbook performed as a duo with pianist Jesse Green, as well as a new tune, “Keep it Simple,” recorded with violinist Mark Woodyatt. Woods recorded “Songs for COTA” at Red Rock Recording in Saylorsburg, and it will later be released in Europe by Italy-based Philology Records

The proliferation of jazz musicians living in and around the Monroe County village of Delaware Water Gap, near the Pennsylvania-New Jersey border, has helped define the municipality.

“Delaware Water Gap was first on the map as being a resort town, and now it is known all over the world as where they have that little jazz festival,” said Chamberlain. “It has an identity. Being identified as an area of culture is certainly beneficial to any area.”

Chamberlain himself moved from Bucks County in Southeastern Pa. to the Poconos during the heyday of the resorts and their nighttime entertainment.

“That’s a big part of why the musicians are here,” he said. “First of all, it’s a short shot from New York, and for years and years there was a lot of work here for jazz musicians at Mount Airy Lodge, the Tamiment, etc. I came to the Poconos to work at Mount Airy Lodge.”

While artists like Woods and Liebman have been part of the jazz scene for decades, there is a youthful flair to the festival, too. The COTA Cats, a collection of high school jazz players from the area, perform at the event each year. COTA also awards college scholarships to local high school musicians and hosts the COTA camp.

Chamberlain expects about 4,000 attendees at this year’s event. Festival-goers, he said, come from as far away as upstate New York and Western Pa. He added there’s a man that travels to COTA from Toronto each year, and there was an annual attendee from Australia, too.

The event has grown quite a bit to get to that point.

“It’s gotten bigger and better,” Chamberlain said. “We started out with a couple card tables on the street and a patched-together PA. Now we have professional sound and lights. We’re doing things right.”

Master of Jazz Fusion Gets His Due

By PHILLIP LUTZ

WHEN the National Endowment for the Arts gives the 2011 N.E.A. Jazz Masters Award to the saxophonist David Liebman in January, it will represent more to him than a personal achievement. It will also mark the establishment’s de facto validation of the fusion aesthetic, he said, because few, if any, of the 118 other award recipients since 1982 have been as strongly identified with fusion and its challenge to mainstream jazz conventions as he has.

“It got a really bad rap for years, the fusion thing, no question about it. Miles got killed for it,” he said, referring to Miles Davis. “Suddenly it’s become the holy grail. ‘Oh boy, he was there before everyone.’ Of course he was. We knew that.”

Vic Juris, Tony Marino, Marko Marcinko, Dave Liebman

Mr. Liebman’s defense of 1970s fusion will be reflected in his appearances over the next few months, including one on Sept. 19 at the Turning Point in Piermont. He and his longtime working band — Vic Juris on guitar, Tony Marino on electric bass and Marko Marcinko on drums — will be employing more of the tone and textures he developed nearly 40 years ago with his own groups, like Lookout Farm, and the Davis-led bands that recorded “On the Corner” and “Get Up With It.”

“I’m kind of entering a new stage with the band: a little bit more electronic, a little bit more free, back to only soprano — putting the tenor down for a while,” he said.

Whatever direction Mr. Liebman is taking at any moment — and over the years he has explored jazz of the free, fusion, straight-ahead and various European schools, in addition to his special brand of world music — he reveals certain constants. He takes, for example, the impressionistic view of melody: he breaks up a theme from the first note and makes it his own.

At the same time, he makes the case for the horn as a band’s prime mover — a view he came to hold more strongly watching Davis take control onstage with his trumpet. “Standing next to him even in the midst of the stuff we played, which was certainly not melodic or in song form, it didn’t matter, because you could still see the way he transformed something and set the mood for the listeners and, most importantly, for the band.”

That attitude, he said, will be evident in his set at the Turning Point, whether he is playing an original or “Lonely Woman,” the haunting classic on “Turnaround: The Dave Liebman Group Plays Ornette Coleman.” Voted the 2010 record of the year by German jazz writers, the album probes the mind of another horn player who upended jazz conventions of his day — and found his ideas validated years later by the N.E.A.

THE DAVID LIEBMAN GROUP WILL PERFORM AT COTA ON SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

Festival Volunteer Information

The Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts Festival is still recruiting volunteers to assist at the 33rd  Festival slated for September 9 to 11, 2011. Volunteer positions include hospitality, production, set up, security, and office assistance. This is an exciting and fun way to experience the COTA Festival from behind the scenes and meet new people.

• Why Should You Volunteer? By volunteering for COTA, you participate in an incredible event in our community, make new friends, socialize and have fun! Join us in welcoming the many visitors and residents who celebrate the Festival each year.
• Who Can Sign Up? We are looking for friendly, helpful, reliable volunteers to help with this exciting festival. Volunteers 18 and over are welcome.
• What Will You Have To Do? Volunteers are asked to assist in various areas including but not limited to event set-up, visitor interaction, security, and site maintenance (see list below)
• How Do You Register? To volunteer for the Delaware Water Gap Celebration of the Arts Festival, use our on-line contact form or come to the next meeting! (meeting dates and times are found on the front page of the web site)

Program Ad Sales Manager-Person needed to oversee the whole process of selling and collecting ads for the program and also collect and reconcile the money paid

Program Ad Salesperson-Person needed to physically go out and acquire new advertisers for our program

Back gate workers-Person will deal with signing in musicians and volunteers, help with directions and give out necessary supplies. Requires time on your feet, shifts are 2 hour intervals

Front gate workers-Person will sell tickets, help with wrist bands or sign people in. Shifts are 2 hour intervals and are standing shifts

Security-People needed to help oversee the festival and make sure everyone is adhering to the rules. Security also helps with parking. This is a labor intensive job and most volunteers do full days but full days are not required.

Physical plant-Person needed for general overseeing of the sight prior to the festival, setting up the site the days before and clean up afterwards. We always need extra people for clean up day in August, the Friday before the festival and the day after for clean up. Job is physically demanding. Mostly weekend work but only a couple of times per year.

Marketing/PR personnel-Person with prior experience preferred, writers that know how to target the media and can help us further our marketing efforts

Administrative-Person to pick up mail and distribute, retrieve voice messages, and do general admin stuff. Ex. Address letters and mailings, database upkeep, etc. Help stuff packets, return phone calls and do follow up phone calls for various departments. Year-round position.

Delaware Water Gap's jazz fest struggles to stay solvent without sponsorships

Courtesy Pocono Record
By Michael Sadowski Pocono Record Writer May 12, 2010 12:00 AM

Everything with a name is for sale these days.

But for years, one thing that decidedly wasn't on the market was the Celebration of the Arts (COTA) jazz festival in Delaware Water Gap every September.

Festival organizers are facing a dilemma for this year's festival and for the future as they continue to turn down the offers of corporate sponsorship and keep the event a Poconos original.

"That's the way it was intended when it started," said Lauren Chamberlain, president of the COTA board of directors. "And that's the way we want to keep it. It's always been local and independent."

Rising costs and bad weather have put COTA in financial dire straits, and now the organizers are starting to whisper: Should we start taking sponsorship money?
The answer, so far, has been a resounding "No," and the festival is looking for other ways to defray the cost of the yearly event that brings thousands into the Delaware Water Gap.
Held over two days on the second weekend in September, rainy and dreary conditions all but wiped out COTA in 2008 and 2009.

It was still held each year, but attendance — where COTA makes its money to pay for next year's festival — was way down, especially in 2008.

"It absolutely poured," Chamberlain said. "We had to have the whole thing under the tent, which gave it a different feel and made it more intimate. "But where we get more than 3,000 people on Saturday, we were lucky if we had 500 people under the tent. And most of those were our volunteers who don't pay for admission."

There had been a reserve fund to pay for the festival if the weather didn't cooperate for a year, but when rain and low temperatures hurt festival attendance again in 2009, the organizers started to worry about how they would raise about $60,000 to pay for the 2010 festival.

One way is Friday's COTA Spring Fling Celebration art auction at the Willowtree Inn on Ann Street in Stroudsburg starting at 6 p.m.

Another method not on the table — not yet — is corporate sponsorship dollars. Chamberlain, whose father Rick was one of the founders of the festival, said she gets at least one call a year from businesses offering to sponsor the COTA, offering anywhere from $3,000 to $15,000.

"Last year, it was a time-share company that just wanted to set up a booth," she said. "But we don't want people soliciting our customers, and that's one of the things a sponsor asks for.
"If this keeps up, some day we're going to have to ask ourselves the question: Do we want to get corporate sponsorship, or do we want to stop the festival?"

Tim Helman, who has worked at the festival for 30 years, said Friday's fundraiser is a start to keeping it an all-local, all-volunteer event, and COTA organizers will continue to do whatever they can to keep it a local endeavor.

"We will not let it go corporate," said Helman, COTA's local artisan coordinator and a member of the board of the directors. "Once you have a corporate sponsor, they take over. We have certain standards we want to uphold ourselves."

For more information on the fundraiser or COTA, visit www.cotajazz.org.

What: Celebration of the Arts Spring Fling Celebration
Where: Willowtree Inn, 601 Ann St., Stroudsburg
When: Doors open 6 p.m. Friday, live auction starts at 8 p.m.
Auction: More than a dozen local artists have donated more than 25 pieces to the auction, and local businesses also have donated items.
Tickets: $30, available at www.cotajazz.org or at the Willowtree Inn. Includes hors d'oeuvres and music. All proceeds go to the planning and operations of the yearly COTA Festival in Delaware Water Gap in September.
Live performances: Local jazz artists Bill Goodwin, Nancy and Spencer Reed, Jesse Green and others will supply the music.