CWU Music Student Wins 'Jazz Ahead' Residency

March 8, 2005

Contact: Vijay Singh (509-963-1566/fax: 509-963-1239/e-mail: singhv@cwu.edu)

ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Jazz has been called an original American art form. First heard in New Orleans around 1900, it has developed through increasingly complex styles over more than a century. A new generation of performers is now putting its mark on the idiom.

Among them is Central Washington University music major Rani Weatherby, from Snohomish. The senior has been selected as one of just 10 singers internationally for all-expenses paid, weeklong residency program at "Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead" at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

"Applying for this program was a great experience, but not as great as the day I opened the acceptance email!" Weatherby says. "I am thrilled to get the opportunity to travel to Washington D.C., and work with people who are doing what I want to do. I hope that this trip will open many more doors for me. I'm sure that the people I will meet and the education I will get in that short week will shape me into a better musician."

Weatherby, 22, applied and auditioned last fall for the program, established by jazz legend Betty Carter, which identifies outstanding, emerging artists and brings them together to work with experienced artist and instructors, helping them to polish their performance, composing and arranging skills. This year's clinics will be held from March 23 to April 1.

"For the application, I sent in a compilation of solos that I've recorded over the last couple of years," she says. "Some of the solos were live recordings from college jazz festivals and concerts. I also had to include an original song, which I recorded with the help of my boyfriend and his digital recording equipment. Putting together this demo CD was a fun and valuable project."

Now in its 8th year, a number of former Jazz Ahead program participants have gone on to successful recording and performing careers, including pianists Cyrus Chestnut and Jacky Terrasson.

Weatherby earned her associate of arts degree in 2003 from Edmonds Community College before transferring to CWU.

"Rani is a splendid example of the quality of musicians we attract, recruit and nurture in our jazz program at Central," Vijay Singh, CWU vocal jazz professor, says. "Our program is nationally known for quality performance ensembles, composers and arrangers, and soloists. Our program's foundation is music education, and both Chris Bruya, our director of jazz studies, and I are committed to nurturing strong performance ensembles within our music and jazz pedagogy environments."