Sun. 11/1, 1–4 pm
| Age | Adult |
| Event Type | Workshop |
| Department | Theory and Improvisation |
| Day | Sun |
| Instructor | Ben Stolorow, Bryan Bowman |
| Status | inperson event |
Explore improvisational techniques from Baroque music and how they can be applied to jazz. The workshop introduces practical approaches including guide tones, figuration, melodic sequences, and rhythmic variation, showing how these devices can be used to develop melodic ideas and create stronger improvised lines.
Participants will work with concepts drawn from Baroque practice while considering their connection to jazz harmony, phrasing, and improvisation. The workshop is designed to expand your improvisational vocabulary and provide new ways to organize and develop musical ideas in real time.
Recommended Experience
Fluency with major scales and a basic understanding of voice leading and counterpoint.
About Ben Stolorow
Bay Area pianist and composer Ben Stolorow is known for his sensitivity, lyricism, and wide-ranging influences, from Bach and Bill Evans to Thelonious Monk and McCoy Tyner. His albums I’ll Be Over Here (2008) and Almost There (2011) balance introspection and intensity, featuring original compositions alongside inventive interpretations of jazz standards.
An in-demand performer and Jazzschool faculty member, Ben has appeared at Yoshi’s, Kuumbwa Jazz Center, the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, and SFJAZZ, and has toured Japan. He has performed with Craig Handy, Akira Tana, Danya Stephens, Andrew Speight, Kenny Washington, and many others.
About Bryan Bowman
Bryan Bowman is a jazz drummer, pianist, and composer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Influenced by jazz, world music, and classical traditions, he has performed with Eric Reed, Mary Stallings, Matt Penman, Paul McCandless, Donald “Duck” Bailey, and others.
Raised in Los Angeles by a classical pianist father and a cellist mother, Bryan’s early musical exposure included North Indian tabla, Bulgarian and Macedonian folk music, and jazz. He has toured nationally with RCA artists Monica Behan and Deron Johnson, performed internationally, and recorded with Bulgarian accordionist Ivan Milev and Trio Mopmu.
Bryan studied at Berklee College of Music, CSU Long Beach, CSU Chico, and the Ali Akbar College of Music, and remains active as a freelance performer and composer throughout the Bay Area.