Lincoln College Contemporary Jazz Film “The Jump Jive Jukebox” Online Premiere

 

[June 23, 2020] 

Lincoln College Contemporary Jazz students are proving the old adage that “The Show Must Go On,” as they anticipate the premiere of “Jump Jive Jukebox,” a new film that represents two semesters of contemporary jazz student original writings and performances.

The film (25 minutes and nine seconds) will premiere Thursday, June 25, 7:00 pm on the Contemporary Jazz Studies You Tube page at: https://youtu.be/O9O1
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A two minute 10 second trailer for the film can be found here: https://bit.ly/30
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“For students in the performance arts, the coronavirus pandemic has been especially challenging. Working together to bring a live performance from initial concept through to polished performance is integral to their studies. Jazz, especially, is all about the interaction between the performers and improvisation is the vehicle to creative activity, so I’m very proud of the students who have persevered through this pandemic,” Dr. Denise LaGrassa, Contemporary Jazz lead faculty, said.

At the end of every semester, Lincoln College’s jazz students present a live, onstage performance to unveil original music written that school year, as well as perform jazz standards. For the December 2019 showcase, they wrote a mini play as a wraparound device to present the music.

The show, “The Jump Jive Jukebox” used the story of a shady talent agency called $tar Farm to present each student’s original composition. That complete show was recorded by students from the college’s Radio, TV and New Media program.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, students were unable to present a live performance during the second semester, so La Grassa edited the December archival recording into a short film to share the student’s musical creativity, acting and script writing talents with the world via YouTube and on social media platforms.

To that archival footage, new clips have been added of students performing new songs recorded at home this spring.

“While we all wanted a live performance, we are looking at this pandemic as an opportunity to refine existing skills and explore new ways of presenting a performance to a wider audience,” La Grassa said. “It’s not what we would have chosen, but we are taking the challenges and turning them into opportunities to experiment and try new ways of reaching the public.”

To support "The Jump, Jive Jukebox" and other activities from the Lincoln College Contemporary Jazz Studies program, the viewing public can make a donation by going directly to this online link https://lincolncollege.giving
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[Lauren Grenlund
Director of Public Relations
Lincoln College]