Drum Fantasy Camp is excited to announce the
addition of music classes for bass, guitar and keyboard
players! This is your chance to
learn from world-class performers Vinny
Valentino (Vital Information, George
Benson), or John Benitez (Chick
Corea, Eddie Palmieri).
How It Works
Click here
to learn about music classes at the Turkish camp!
Bass and guitar classes work very much the
way drum classes work:
- you will have two
three-hour master classes per day on August 9, 10,
11, and 12 - there will be no more than 15 in the class (very intimate!)
- you will have the opportunity to "sit in" with the
Jam Night Band and hang with our world-class
drummers! - you will get a ticket to the
opening concert
These
classes are designed for players of all ages who are
at an intermediate or higher level. Classes will
focus on technique, musicality, gear, and more. You
will get to play along to tracks, receive feedback,
and provide feedback on others in the class.
This is a rare opportunity to learn from top
performers!
REGISTRATION WILL OPEN IN
FEBRUARY, 2013!
Make sure to join our
e-mail list,
Facebook page, and
Twitter feed, and we'll let
you know when registration opens!
Cost and
Registration
Only full-camp
registrations (four days) are available for music
classes:
Full Camp (no hotel room):
TBA Full Camp with hotel
(includes roommate):
TBA Full Camp with private room:
TBA
Guitarist Vinny Valentino
continues to redefine jazz music, to the acclaim of
audiences worldwide.
His international debut recording,
The Distance Between Two Lines, shot straight up
the charts to #2 and stayed on the national charts
for more than 14 weeks--an unprecedented achievement
for a first international release. Paul Anthony of
Jazz Unlimited called it "one of the top five albums
of 1993."
Vinny's 1996 international
release,
Now and Again, extended his critical acclaim.
George Benson refers to Vinny as a "young genius
with brilliant tone and fresh ideas." Vintage Guitar
Magazine writes "wonderful jazz player with killer
chops, wonderful compositional skills…" (March
1997). "Valentino doesn't hide behind reconstituted
Wes Montgomery licks like so many guitarists these
days... crafty fingerings…. delectable originals"
(Gavin Jazz, May 10.1996). Ralph Mitchell of WFSK-FM
raves, "My goodness. Talk about hot house jazz, that
CD is smoking!!"
Playing guitar since age
six, this native Virginian began touring in a
progressive rock band while still in high school. At
age 16, influenced by the music of George Benson,
Vinny began pursuing Jazz as a career. He recalls,
"The turning point for me was hearing George Benson
in concert; I had never heard anybody play like
that. It was an eye-opening experience." Vinny and
his mentor have since developed a close friendship.
Vinny earned his Bachelor of Music in Jazz
Studies at Howard University. He began his musical
studies at Northern Virginia Community College and
continued them at George Mason University before
concentrating on jazz at Howard. In 1988, he
released his first solo recording entitled, Vinny
Valentino, and now has five recordings to his
credit. Endorsements include Yamaha Guitars and
Guitar Synthesizer, D'Addario strings, Cakewalk
Music Software, and Bag End speakers. Vinny has
shared the stage or recording studio with such jazz
greats as Tom Scott, Gary Bartz, Jeff Andrews, John
Benitez, John Pattitucci, Richie Morales, Bob Moses,
George Benson, Keter Betts, Steve Gadd, Patrice
Rushen, Charlie Byrd, Buck Hill, and Jimmy McGriff.
Vinny and his band have opened for Ramsey Lewis,
Joey DeFrancesco, Spyro Gyra, Steve Morse, Paco
deLucia, and David Crosby.
Vinny
Valentino: The Importance of Groove
Vinny appeared as a guest and guest host on
BET's "Bet on Jazz," the cable jazz channel. He and
his band were the feature performers in a one-hour
"Bet on Jazz" program. One of the first musicians to
perform live on the World Wide Web, Vinny continues
to pioneer on the Internet (www.vinny.com). The
National Endowment for the Arts and the Virginia
Commission for the Arts have recognized Vinny's
talents as composer, arranger, and recording artist
with a grant for a series of works entitled "New
Music for Three Guitars." He also was selected three
years in a row for the prestigious Virginia
Commission for the Arts Tour Directory.
Based in New York City, Vinny tours extensively,
playing concerts, festivals, and club engagements
around the world. Vinny and his trio were selected
by the Kennedy Center and the Department of State to
represent the United States in the U.S. Jazz
Ambassadors Program. He and the trio featuring
bassist John Benitez and percussionist Gilad toured
7 countries (Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela,
Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia, and Brazil) in South
America for six weeks playing concerts and giving
music master classes. "Vinny and the group provided
an eclectic combination of new rhythms and sounds
mixed with old Ellington Classics that, by the end
of the evening, had the entire audience clapping
along in admiration and accompaniment." (AMERICAN
EMBASSY MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY) "The Extremely talented
and eminently likeable Vinny Valentino Trio gave new
meaning to jazz in Ecuador."
Click
here
to register for guitar classes with Vinny!
About John Benitez
Grammy award-winning bassist John Benitez, born in
Rio Piedras Puerto Rico, started playing
gospel music in church at the age of thirteen.
Already a gifted musician, John began his formal
education at “Escuela Libre de Musica” followed by
study at the University of Puerto Rico and later the
Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music with master
bassist Federico Silva.
By age nineteen, John
was the first-call bassist in San Juan's thriving
Jazz and Latin music scenes. He performed with,
among others, such well-known artists as Chick
Corea, Lucecita Benitez, Batacumbele, Lalo
Rodriguez, Cuco Peña, Roberto Roena, and Justo
Betancourt. In his early twenties, he toured with
Batacumbele to Columbia, South America where he
continued to play and study music. Always in demand,
John was asked to play with some of the top names in
the country like Joe Madrid and often accompanied
international touring artists like trumpeter
“Chocolate” Armenteros.
John Benitez
Performs Rumba
In 1993, John move to New York and attended
the City College of New York where he studied with
the legendary acoustic bassist, Ron Carter and later
with the contra bass guitarist Anthony Jackson. His
education, however, was not limited to formal
classroom study. John learned on the bandstand
performing with some of the finest Jazz and Latin
musicians including, Wynton Marsalis, Tito Puente,
Michele Camilo, Dave Valentin, Eddie Palmieri, Bobby
Watson, David Sanchez, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Roy
Hargrove, Antonio Hart, Danilo Perez, Kenny
Kirkland, Will Calhoun, Vinny Valentino, Chucho
Valdez, Don Pullen, Dave Samuels, and Mongo
Santamaria, to name just few.
He recorded
with Roy Hargrove's Crisol band (whose recording,
“Habana,” was awarded the Grammy for best Latin jazz
performance in 1997), David Sanchez (the Grammy
nominated, “Obsesion”) Tito Puente, Hilton Ruiz,
Antonio Hart, the Tropi-Jazz All Stars, the Mingus
Big Band, the Caribbean Jazz Project, and Eddie
Palmieri.
John has participated in two
instructional videos with master percussionist
Giovanni Hildalgo and Cuban drummer Ignacio Berroa.
He can also be seen on the national tv and cable
shows, Good Morning America, The Today Show and BET
On Jazz.
As a sideman and a featured special
guest, John has performed in all of the major jazz
festivals and venues around the world including
Turkey, Jordan (where he played for the royal
family), South America, Canada, Norway, Finland, and
all over Europe. John was chosen by the United
States Information Agency and the Kennedy Center to
represent the United States as a Jazz Ambassador on
a tour of South America.
John has played and
recorded with some of the finiest Jazz, Latin, and
R&B musicians and has learned something from each
and every one of them. This diversity of influence
and experience is reflected in his latest project
and first recording as a leader, “Descarga in New
York,” released in August 2001 on Khaeon World
Music. Together with his Trio (the gifted
pianist/composer Luis Perdomo and the powerhouse
drummer Dafnis Preito) and special guest
percussionist, Richie Flores and the tenor
saxophonists Ravi Coltrane, John has created a
strong musical statement which highlights his
prodigious talents as a bassist--both acoustic and
electric-composer, arranger, and and producer.
Benitez was the bassist on Ray Barretto’s last
record “Standards Rican-ditioned,” in 2006, which
was a set of jazz standards performed by an all
Puerto Rican ensemble, which incidentally included
the late Hilton Ruiz on piano.
Although
Benitez is extremely fluid in the jazz idiom, he
excels at interpreting the rhythms and styles of his
native Afro-Caribbean region and the entire Pan
American music book. As he puts it himself, “For me
it's all the same, one great dance music, all the
Caribbean, South America and New Orleans are but an
extension of African music, music with that special
bounce. That's what I like the most.” John Benitez,
an excellent example of a true musician, an
educator, artist, gentleman and a spiritual human
being.
His international debut recording,
gospel music in church at the age of thirteen.
Already a gifted musician, John began his formal
education at “Escuela Libre de Musica” followed by
study at the University of Puerto Rico and later the
Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music with master
bassist Federico Silva.
