Michael Tracy

St Xavier High School
2024-04-19 02:15 - 02:45 (America/Kentucky/Louisville)
Mike Tracy and Hora Certa – school concert

Ballard High School
2024-04-23 10:00 - 12:00

Mike Tracy Jazz Quartet - Jeffersontown Library, Jeffersontown, KY
2024-04-27 02:00 - 16:00

Hora Certa @ Crawford County Indiana elementary schools
2024-04-29 08:00 - 15:30

Hora Certa @Brown School (elementary)
2024-04-30 10:30 - 11:45

Hora Certa @ Youth Performing Arts School
2024-04-30 13:00 - 14:17

Mike Tracy Jazz Trio @ Amelia Place
2024-05-03 19:30

Hora Certa @ Butler High School
2024-05-06 10:30

Hora Certa @ Echo Trail
2024-05-06 12:30 - 17:00

Mike Tracy Jazz Trio @ Forest Spring Health Campus
2024-05-09 17:00

Brazilian Music Workshop 2024
2024-05-16 00:00 - 2024-05-26 23:59
Michael Tracy, Director Hamilton Pinheiro, Coordinator / Bella Rocha, Assistant Coordinator

The Brazilian Music Workshop was an exciting new opportunity for all, where participants traveled to Brazil to become immersed in the music and the culture of this wonderful country. The workshop especially designed for musicians and non-musicians alike, where all will work alongside experienced Brazilian artists/educators who speak English. You did not have to be a practicing musician to attend and to have a very enjoyable experience. The workshop provided numerous opportunities to experience all things Brazil – the people, music, culture, food, environment and much more.

The Workshop was based in Brasília, the capital of Brazil. Designed by Oscar Niemeyer, Brasília is a futuristic city like no other, an UNESCO Heritage City. Participants also visited Pirenópolis, another UNESCO site, just a short drive from Brasilia. There the group experienced a Portuguese colonial village with colorful buildings and waterfalls surrounded by nature.

Everyone had the opportunity to participate daily in Samba school drumming classes, where they experienced first-hand playing the unique rhythms of Brazil – Bossa Nova, Samba, Baião, Partido-Alto, Frevo, Afoxé, Maracatu and more. There were daily demonstration concerts by the faculty, showcasing these rhythms and styles for all to appreciate. Following, the musicians of the group played in a combo along-side the faculty in a supportive environment, learning how to interpret and create their own music. They were part of a true Brazilian band. Non- musicians of the group had the opportunity to visit other sites within the cities during this time or stay and support your friends. There were presentations for all to enjoy on the history of the music, it’s musicians and composers and on the two UNESCO cities – Brasília and Pirenópolis.

Check out our videos and images, be part of the experience. Look for information on the Brazilian Music Workshop 2025. Join us for a fantastic educational and cultural experience.

BRAZILIAN MUSIC WORKSHOP 2024 – videos

BRASILIA CONNECTIONS – Opening Concert

BRAZILIAN MUSIC WORKSHOP 2024 – images

Brazilian Music Workshop - Brasilia and Pirenópolis, Brazil
2024-05-17 08:00 - 2024-05-26 17:00
https://sites.google.com/hamiltonpinheiro.com/brazilianmusicworksop/

Mike Tracy with Brazilian All-Stars - Casa Thomas Jefferson, Brasilia, Brazil
2024-05-17 19:00 - 20:30

Mike Tracy Jazz Trio @ Seelbach Hotel
2024-06-14 17:30 - 19:30

Hora Certa @ Treyton Oaks
2024-06-22 19:30 - 21:00

Louisville Jazz Workshop
2024-07-21 12:00 - 2024-07-26 12:00

Louisville Jazz Workshop 2024
2024-07-22 00:00 - 2024-07-26 23:59
Third annual Louisville Jazz Workshop. Please review the images and videos of our week.

Louisville Jazz Workshop 2024 images

Louisville Jazz Workshop 2024 video playlist

Faculty

Michael Tracy – Director, saxophone

A veritable “Ambassador of Jazz,” Professor Michael Tracy is one of America’s foremost jazz educators, with more than forty-five years of performing and teaching experience. In classrooms, studios, and concert halls, he has developed a variety of innovative approaches to jazz education, enabling him to work with students of any proficiency. Tracy has taught and performed throughout the United States and more than thirty countries around the world.

As the retired Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Louisville School of Music in Louisville, Kentucky (formally the Jamey Aebersold Jazz Studied Program), Professor Tracy taught jazz saxophone, jazz repertoire and numerous ensembles. In addition to his duties at the University, he was a Fulbright Senior Specialist and a longtime faculty member of the widely renowned Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshops, where he served for over forty-two years, and is the founder and director of the Louisville Jazz Workshop, a summer jazz experience for adults.

Tracy has also made forays into the worlds of recording with eight CDs to his credit – Fotografia (2019), Hora Certa (2016), Surfboard (2012), Wingspan (2010), Conversations (2008), Gusting (2004), Tracings (2003), and Facets (1999). He and his group Hora Certa were recognized as the Best Latin Jazz Artist of 2019 by Latin Music Awards Kentucky. Tracy’s publishing accomplishments include authoring the books Jazz Piano Voicings for the Non-pianist, co-authoring Pocket Changes: 421 Standard Chord Progressions and Pocket Changes II, 381 Standard Chord Progressions and Jazz Saxophone Survey: A Descriptive Analysis of 38 Saxophonists. He is also the artistic Director of JazzAnywhere.com, an online jazz education site which offers a variety of courses on jazz, Brazilian, Colombian music. In addition, Mr. Tracy is actively involved presenting online master classes for organizations in Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador, Russia and more.

Professor Tracy holds a Master of Arts in Higher Education and Bachelor of Music Performance and Music Education degrees from the University of Louisville. He is also the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts Study Grants in jazz performance.

Michael Tracy is Yamaha Artist, a D’Addario Artist (playing exclusively on D’Addario Jazz Select Reeds)and a Friend of Bambú (ligature).

Jerry Tolson – Assistant Director, vocal/keyboard

Jerry Tolson is professor of jazz studies and music education at the University, where he is chair of the department of academic and professional studies and teaches jazz pedagogy, jazz style, jazz history, Black Church Music, American Soul Music, and African American Music classes.

Tolson has made presentations at state, regional, and national Music Education conferences, the International Association for Jazz Education Conference, Jazz Education Network, the International Academy of Law and Mental Health, and the Midwest Clinic,as well as universities in the U.S. and abroad. As a composer/arranger Tolson has written over 150 original tunes and dozens of arrangements for both large and small instrumental ensembles as well as vocal jazz ensembles. His vocal jazz works are published by UNC Jazz Press and ArrangeMe.com. He is a clinician/consultant for Kendor Music Publishing Company, a division of Excelcia Music, a content consultant for Pearson/Prentice Hall Educational Publications, and serves as an adjudicator, guest conductor, and jazz camp instructor internationally. Tolson has directed All-State and Honor Jazz Ensembles in Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, and Kentucky. In addition, he was a long-time faculty member of the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshops.

He is the founding educational director for the University of Louisville Jazz Festival and co-founder of U of L’s African American Music Heritage Institute, a celebration of the contributions of African Americans to America’s musical history, and the Louisville Jazz Workshop, an adult summer jazz experience, as well a national series of jazz teacher training institutes. Tolson’s articles have appeared in Music Educator’s Journal, Jazz Educator’s Journal, The Journal of Jazz Studies, The International Journal of Law and Psychiatry and The Instrumentalist, and he is a contributor to the following publications: Teaching Music Through Performance in Jazz, Volumes I and II (GIA, ed. Carter and Miles), Jazz Pedagogy: The Jazz Educator’s Handbook and Resource Guide (Warner Bros (Alfred) Dunscomb and Hill), and The Jazzer’s Cookbook: Creative Recipes for Players and Teachers (Meredith Publ.). His jazz pedagogy book, The Jazz Commandments: Guidelines for Jazz Articulation and Style, is published by Kendor Music. He is also the author of the e-text, African American Music: History and Heritage (Great River Learning, a division of Kendall-Hunt Publishing).

Performing on keyboards, woodwinds, and vocals, Tolson has recorded five CDs, Nu View, Back at the Track, Late Night Cruise, Black Sand Beach, and Fresh Squeezed, and has worked with artists such as Delfeayo Marsalis, Antonio Hart, Don Braden, Rufus Reid, Kevin Mahogany, James Moody, Benny Golson, Mark Gross, Winard Harper, and Grace Kelley. His groups have appeared at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, the Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy, and in Barbados, Brazil, and Trinidad.

Marlin McKay – trumpet

An exciting new addition to the incredibly talented faculty at Georgetown College, Marlin McKay brings a unique skillset and a fascinating background to his new role as Director of Bands and Assistant Professor of Music.

Originally from Amarillo, Texas, Professor McKay is a jazz recording artist who began his studies in Music Education at Amarillo College before transitioning to the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point to complete his bachelor’s degree and later received his master’s Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.

After graduating with his master’s degree from Indiana University, McKay worked in the music department at IU before eventually taking a professorship at Kentucky State University, where he taught for several years before recently accepting his new position at Georgetown College.

He has self-produced two recordings under his own name and the Nostalgic Records label and has performed with such notable artist as: Bobby Watson, Stefon Harris, Slide Hampton, Wycliffe Gordon to name a few.

His unique position as both a musician and a professor are a benefit to music students in helping them gain real-world, relevant knowledge. “In addition to my teaching philosophy, my biggest joy in my career has been my ability to have one foot on the band stand and one foot in the classroom. I feel that this keeps the information relevant for the classroom by keeping a finger on the pulse of a changing world.”

Marlin McKay is a Brand Ambassador of Hammond Design mouthpieces.

Sean Parsons – piano

Sean Parsons is a jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and educator and is the director of the Ohio University Contemporary Music and Digital Instrument program. Originally from Illinois, Sean holds a Bachelor’s degree in music composition from Illinois Wesleyan University, a Master’s degree in jazz studies from DePaul University, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Illinois. Prior to his appointment at Ohio University where he directs the Contemporary Music and Digital Instrument program and teaches Jazz Studies and Music Theory, Sean has held faculty positions at Marshall University and Illinois Wesleyan University. He is in demand as a performer and clinician nationwide. Sean has shared the stage with many of the most notable musicians in jazz including Clark Terry, James Moody, Aretha Franklin Jon Faddis, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Steve Turre, and Randy Brecker.

Craig Wagner – guitar

Equally at home in many styles and known for his unique fingerstyle approach forged in a tradition from his home state of Kentucky, guitarist Craig Wagner has performed extensively throughout North America, South America and Europe. From venues as legendary as Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center to as intimate as Liverpool’s Cavern Club and New York’s City’s Blue Note; from rock festivals as huge and divergent as Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza to as cutting edge as CBGB’s and The Knitting Factory, he has performed at the highest levels in the jazz, orchestral and rock worlds.

In addition to his work in his hometown with the innovative young conductor Teddy Abrams and the Louisville Orchestra, Craig has performed with the LA Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and New World Symphony working with some of the world’s most renown conductors such as Michael Tilson Thomas and Erich Kunzel. Most recently he performed on the Louisville Orchestra’s Grammy-nominated (2024) album “The American Project” featuring the phenomenal Yuja Wang on piano. He recorded a live performance in Miami of Tilson Thomas’ “Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind” with the New World Symphony for the classical channel Medici.TV with MTT himself conducting. He also played at the piece’s premier performance at Carnegie Hall. His jazz guitar work will also be featured on an upcoming PBS special called “American Rhapsody.”

Louisville, Kentucky has always been a city with a vibrant and diverse musical heritage and it was growing up in this environment that Craig was fortunate to have great musical mentors such as the legendary jazz guitarist Jimmy Raney. The ever present sounds of Bluegrass music and the thumb-style guitar tradition of Merle Travis also had an incredible influence his playing. In keeping with his loyalty and love for his hometown, Craig has been an active member of the jazz faculty at the University of Louisville since 2003. In this role he has performed with jazz greats such as Lee Konitz, Bill Watrous, David Liebman, Bobby Shew, Eric Alexander, Bob Sheppard, John Riley, and many others; and has traveled across the globe as a performer and guest clinician. He is also on the music faculty at Bellarmine University and has been a long time faculty member for Jamey Aebersold’s Summer Jazz Workshops. Along with his many solo guitar instructional videos (available on Mel Bay and Stefan Grossman’s Workshop Records), his most recent jazz recordings are a duo album with vocalist Carly Johnson, ‘It’s Pretty Standard’ and a trio album ‘The Busker’ with alto saxophonist and composer Jacob Duncan and bassist John Goldsby. He has also recently been a featured artist in Fingerstyle Guitar Journal.

Craig is a proud endorser of Buscarino guitars.

Doug Elmore – bass

As a performer on the double bass, Doug Elmore has worked with the Louisville Orchestra, the Owensboro (KY) Symphony, Michael Feinstein, Andrea Bocelli, Byron Stripling, Music Theatre of Louisville, Actor’s Theatre of Louisville, Derby Dinner Playhouse, the Jerry Tolson Quartet, the Ron Jones Quartet, the Mike Tracy Trio, the Platters, the Ron Haydn Trio, Carly Johnson, the Don Krekel Orchestra, and the Sarah Stivers Quartet. A 1986 graduate of DePauw University (IN), Elmore completed his graduate work in Applied Double Bass at the University of Louisville in 2001. He was a charter member of the “Jazz Prophets” a significant fixture on the Louisville scene in the early 2000’s. He served on the faculty of Bellarmine University in Louisville as Instructor of Jazz Bass, and taught String Methods at the University of Louisville. Elmore has been featured on cd recordings by University of Louisville faculty members Jerry Tolson and Mike Tracy. As an educator, for over 35 years, he has conducted Youth Orchestra and school orchestra performances across North America and Europe, including performances in Louisville’s Whitney Hall, New York’s Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. As a conductor, Mr. Elmore’s performances have been described as “Vibrant, stunning, and brilliant”…”Outstanding and amazing”…”Fiery, clean, and still elegant”. Mr. Elmore is in his 38th year as Orchestra Director of the Floyd Central High School Orchestra (Indiana) and the Highland Hills Middle School Orchestras. He is currently serving as Music Director of the Louisville Youth Orchestra, Mr. Elmore recently served as Music Director with the Floyd County Youth Symphony (IN).

Elmore has conducted festival orchestras, youth orchestras, All-State, and All-County orchestras throughout the Midwest. In 2019, he was a quarterfinalist for the Grammy Awards “Music Educator of the Year”. In 2023, he was recognized by School Band and Orchestra magazine as one of “50 directors who Made a Difference”. Later that year, he received the “Manilow Music Award” a national award from the Barry Manilow Music Foundation.

Terry O’Mahoney – drums

Jazz drummer Terry O’Mahoney has appeared with such jazz greats as saxophonists Phil Woods, Bud Shank, Jimmy Heath, George Garzone, Tom Scott, and Jerry Bergonzi; pianists James Williams and Oliver Jones; guitarists Mike Stern, John Abercrombie, Gene Bertoncini, Ed Bickert, and Lorne Lofsky; trumpeters Randy Brecker, Marvin Stamm and Terell Strafford; trombonist Curtis Fuller; and bassists Dave Young and Larry Grenadier.

He performs regionally with Harry Pickens, Hora Certa (Brazilian jazz ensemble), Dave Clark, Don Krekel Orchestra, the Louisville Orchestra, Ron Jones, Blue Wisp Big Band, as well as the PNC Broadway Series at the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts (touring Broadway musicals), the Louisville Ballet and Kentucky Opera.

His education includes studies with jazz great Jeff Hamilton, a B.M.Ed. from the University of Louisville (KY) and a Master’s degree from the University of Miami (FL). He endorses Crescent cymbals and Vic Firth drumsticks. He retired as Professor of Jazz Studies from St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia (Canada) in 2016 after 30 years of service. While in Canada, he performed with Symphony Nova Scotia (Halifax, Nova Scotia), jazz festivals, performed masterclasses and adjudicated numerous music festivals.

Guest Artists

Scott Wendholt – Trumpet

Scott Wendholt is an articulate, passionate, and lyrical trumpeter who approaches music with energy and spirit. He communicates to audiences with sincerity and ease.

Born in the mid-sixties and nurtured in the Mile High City (Denver), this young veteran left for Indiana University and subsequently moved on to Cincinnati, Ohio. Still feeling a pull from farther East, he, like so many other musicians, migrated to New York City and has remained ever since.

Mr. Wendholt is a much in demand artist and has found himself in a variety of settings. He has recorded and/or worked extensively with artists including Kenny Garrett, Cyrus Chestnut, Christian McBride, Don Braden and Bruce Barth. For nearly 7 years, Scott found a home with Vincent Herring’s quintet. This highly acclaimed band has recorded three albums, including Folklore-Live At The Village Vanguard. He has toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, South America, Africa and Japan with these bands as well as others.

To his credit, Scott has been recorded on more than 100 CD’s. However, he is recognized as a leader as well. His second recording for the Doubletime Jazz label was released in the spring of 2000, following three successful Scott Wendholt offerings on Criss Cross. This CD has received much favorable press including a 4 star review in Downbeat. Look for his most recent release with a new quartet he co leads with Adam Kolker on tenor saxophone. The recording features Victor Lewis on drums and Ugonna Okegwo on bass in a “chord-less” quartet setting with all new music. (Fresh Sound)

The “Big Band Scene” has also sought out this trumpeter for his versatility and formidable abilities. His list of credits include: The Carnegie Hall Big Band (led by Jon Faddis), Maria Schneider’s Big Band, the Bob Mintzer Big Band and Toshiko Akiyoshi’s big and. He currently has the honor of being included in the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra (formerly Thad Jones/Mel Lewis) where he has been a featured soloist for more than 20 years.

Mr. Wendholt continues to be in demand on the playing scene as well as in the educational arena. Scott is currently on the faculty at Manhattan School of Music and the Jamey Aebersold summer jazz camps and is in demand as a player/clinician in many colleges and various other learning institutions around the world.

Tom Walsh – Saxophone

Saxophonist Tom Walsh is Professor of Saxophone and Chair of the Jazz Studies Department at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. An active performer of jazz and classical music, he has presented concerts and workshops in South Africa, China, Brazil, Japan, Germany, Austria, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Azerbaijan, Costa Rica, and across the United States. He is the co-author with Scott Reeves of the 5th edition of Creative Jazz Improvisation (Routledge, 2022). His beginning improvisation book, Jazz Master Teaches You to Improvise was published by Shanghai Music Publishing House in 2019. Recent recordings include The Gennett Suite with the Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra (Patois Records), The Pandemic Sessions by the IU Jazz Faculty, Luke Gillespie’s Moving Mists, Basically Baker, Volume 2 with the Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra (Patois Records), and Mike Hackett’s CD New Point of View (Summit Records) and two CDs released on the IUMusic label: Holiday Celebration and Sylvia McNair’s Romance. Premiere performances include Scott Jones’s concert band arrangement of Russell Peck’s The Upward Stream, Chris Rutkowski’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble, and David Baker’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra. His solo CD releases are Intersections (Arizona University Recordings) featuring Luke Gillespie on piano, New Life (RIAX), and Shaking the Pumpkin (RIAX). Other CD releases include the David Baker Concerto with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra (Paul Freeman Introduces David Baker, Volume XII–Albany Recordings), Basically Baker with the Buselli/Wallarab Jazz Orchestra (Patois Records), and Sky Scrapings: Saxophone Music of Don Freund (AUR Recordings).

Walsh has performed and presented at conferences of the International Association for Jazz Education, the Jazz Education Network, the North American Saxophone Alliance, and the World Saxophone Congress. He is a Yamaha Performing Artist and a Vandoren Artist. Dr. Walsh taught at the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshops for 28 years. He co-leads the Indiana University Summer Saxophone Academy with Dr. Otis Murphy and is an organizer for the IU Summer Jazz Workshop and the IU Jazz Band Directors Workshop.

Dr. Walsh holds degrees in Saxophone Performance and Jazz Studies from Indiana University, where his principal teachers were distinguished classical saxophonist Eugene Rousseau and renowned jazz educator David Baker. Other influential teachers in his development were Mike Tracy, Pat LaBarbera, Jerry Coker, and David Liebman.

Louisville Jazz Workshop 2024 (2)Download

CTI + @ Louisville Jazz Workshop
2024-07-22 06:00 - 18:30 | Highland Presbyterian Church, 1011 Cherokee Road, Kentucky, 40204, United States
Concert featuring the music from the CTI record label (1970-80’s) jazz

Nouvelle w/ Carly Johnson and Craig Wagner
2024-07-26 20:00 - 22:00 | Nouvelle, 214 S Clay St B, Louisville, Kentucky, 40204, United States

Mike Tracy Jazz Quartet @ Jazz Alley - Paramount Theater, Ashland KY
2024-07-27 19:00 - 21:00

Mike Tracy @ The Temple - Louisville, KY
2024-08-08 12:00 - 13:00

CTI+ @ Hill House - Louisville, KY
2024-08-17 20:00 - 22:00

Hora Certa @ WorldFest
2024-08-31 19:00 - 20:00 | The Belvedere, Louisville, Kentucky

CTI+ @ Autumnal Jazz Fest
2024-09-07 17:00 - 18:00 | Ascension Lutheran Church, 13725 Shelbyville Road, Louisville, Kentucky, 40245

Hora Certa @ Tyler Park Jazz Fest
2024-09-08 17:00 - 19:00 | Tyler Park, 1501 Castlewood Ave, Louisville, Kentucky, 40204

Moura Duo & Hora Certa - St. Catherine College
2024-10-13 15:00 - 17:00

Mike Tracy Trio - Speed Museum
2024-10-16 17:45 - 21:15

Mike Tracy with Ghetto Classics - Nairobi, Kenya
2024-10-23 12:00 - 2024-12-03 12:00 | Nairobi, Kenya
I will be working alongside students, faculty and administrators at Ghetto Classics in Nairobi, Kenya, helping to develop a jazz component to their extensive music program. Visit https://www.artofmusic.co.ke/gc for additional information. My visit is being made possible by the Fulbright Senior Specialist Program.

“Ghetto Classics is the flagship programme of the Art of Music Foundation established in 2008. It is a community initiative that involves over 500 children in Korogocho, one of Kenya’s biggest slums, plus many more in 10 satellite areas around Nairobi and Mombasa.”

Tribal Gallery - Nairobi, Kenya
2024-10-31 18:00 - 20:30

German Ambassador's Residence - Nairobi, Kenya
2024-11-14 18:00 - 21:00
