Pacific Palisades teenager Adam Goldman has been awarded a Brubeck Fellowship, a one-year full scholarship in jazz performance given annually to graduating high school seniors. Nationwide, five students receive the honor to participate in the Brubeck Jazz Quintet, which this upcoming year will have Goldman on bass, joined by a percussionist, a pianist, and alto and tenor saxophone players. Goldman, a senior at Crossroads, was one of 10 musicians nationwide selected to audition at Yoshi’s Jazz House in Oakland for three open positions. ’I would have loved to take all 10 because they were all wonderful,’ said the program’s executive director Simon Rowe. ‘Our final selection was based not only on the students’ advanced technical level, but also on their compatibility with the other musicians. They also had to have a high level of academic ability.’ Brubeck Fellows take classes in the Conservatory of Music at the University of the Pacific (UOP) and have individual lessons, group rehearsals and coaching, and meet with visiting artists and clinicians throughout the year. The Fellows make at least one recording and earn university credit for all classes and lessons which may be applied to degree programs either at UOP or other institutions to which they may transfer after completing their certificate program. Starting in 2003, Goldman took lessons from Palisadian Greg Alper for two years and when he entered Crossroads as a seventh grader in 2006, became a member of the middle-school jazz band. By high school, he was a member of the Crossroads Jazz Band and the Colburn School Jazz Band. For the past three years he has been a semi-finalist in the Spotlight Award competition at the Music Center. Last summer he won a full tuition merit award to the Stanford jazz workshop and was selected to the Brubeck Summer Jazz Colony. Goodman’s Colburn ensemble ‘The Monday Night Band’ placed second at the April Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival in the ‘open combo’ category, including high school and college bands. They will play at the Colburn School on Friday, May 25 at 7:30 p.m. The Crossroads Jazz Band will play at Catalina Bar & Grill in Hollywood on June 3 at 7 p.m. Goldman is the son of architect Judith Wyle and screenwriter Gary Goldman. His brother Noah is studying bio-engineering at UC Berkeley, supported by Regent and Chancellor scholarships.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
