come back to jazz - wed 6:30-8 pm

"For those playing, or have played an instrument and wish to hone-in a bit on jazz and improvisation skills a bit more in a friendly, relaxed, non-academic surrounding. Sharing with Master Musician, improviser, mentor, and experienced jazz educator Paul Contos, who brings real-world and simple skills where anyone who can play 4-5 notes can learn how to play original and lyrical solo improvisations. With an enormous wealth of material accumulated from performing and conducting around the world and in many musical styles, Paul stimulates creativity in a workshop environment for those wishing to widen their musical horizons."

Paul Contos has been involved in jazz performance and education for nearly fifty years. His contributions to the Monterey Jazz Festival’s Education Program as Saxophone Clinician and Director of both The Next Generation Jazz Orchestra and Monterey County All-Stars are distinguished and thoroughly comprehensive. He is also currently the Director of the SF Jazz High School All-star band. He is a faculty member at UCSC and previously at CSU Monterey Bay, having singularly developed the curriculum for their Music Recording/Technology Concentration. Contos has played, recorded and shared the stage with such luminaries as Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Christian McBride, Regina Carter, Wayne Shorter, and many others. In 2017, he received DownBeat Magazine’s national “Jazz Education Achievement Award” and in 2015 was also honored by the Arts Council for Monterey County as a “Champion of the Arts/ Educator”.