El Paso Jazz Girls summer program makes return this week

EL PASO, Texas ( KTSM ) – The 7th annual cost-free summer program where female musicians, from ages 11 to 18, learn to write and perform their own original music is back and ready to start on Monday.

This year, El Paso Jazz Girls is taking place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, July 8 through Thursday, July 11 at the Ysleta Independent School District Young Women’s Leadership Academy, 8040 Yermoland.

There will be a slight schedule change on Friday, July 12 with the program starting from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

That day, El Paso Jazz Girls LIVE concert will be held where participants will perform and premiere their original music at 6 p.m. at YISD Young Women’s Leadership Academy.

This year’s summer program will be taught by professional female musicians from El Paso including: award-winning composer and multi-instrumentalist Amanda Ekery (founder and director); composer and Latin Grammy Ambassador Jhoely Garay; percussionist and music therapist Amy Smith; local songwriters The PIE Sisters; producer and DJ Luisa Navarro; trumpeter and educator Flora Newberry; saxophonist Stephanie Munoz; percussionist Sarah Vasquez; woodwinds player Carmen Salas; and El Paso Jazz Girls alumnae Chantal Camus and Danika Scholten.

KTSM spoke with the summer program’s founder, Ekery, who shared with us what’s new this season in El Paso Jazz Girls.

“Luisa Navarro came last year and did an hour-long workshop with electronics and this year, she’s coming back to record the concert. So, I’m really excited about having high quality recordings of the students and for them to have a good record of their songs,” Ekery said.

Ekery said that the program also has new teachers this year including Garay from Mexico City, local band PIE Sisters and three former El Paso Jazz Girls students.

“We have three former students who are coming back to teach. Danika Scholten is a cello player; Beau Tredway is a pianist; and Chantal Camus is a bassist player. They were all part of El Paso Jazz Girls in 2018 when we first started, so it’s nice to see them come back,” Ekery said.

When it comes to classes, Ekery broke down the schedule for us.

“Every day we have ‘comp lab’ in the morning, which I teach. And this year I’m really excited because we are going to write a song together for the first time, all 60 (students) of us. Then they (students) break out into theory improv sections where there’s like different levels. And then we have our special topics classes, lunch and our combo lessons,” Ekery said.

Ekery said that special topics include: Garay talking about big band writing, Latin Grammys and commission work she does as a composer; the PIE Sisters are going to talk about music business; former student Camus has a Spotify account and she’s going to talk about how she records music at home; and Yale University professor Ross Wightman is going to talk about instrument building modification.

Having so many interesting classes, Ekery said most of the people involved in the program are bilingual, and students can also be taught in Spanish if that’s their preference. This makes the summer program inclusive for all girls in the Borderland.

The biggest change this year, and what Ekery said is the “most exciting implementation,” they will playing together.

“I’m most excited to play all together because we’ve never done that. Like in the past, it’s always been split up. What I like about everybody playing together is that not only is it going to be a challenge for me as a teacher, but I also think it’s good for students to be playing alongside students from a different age — have that age difference that they don’t have when they are split up during the combos. I’m excited to see how they work with each other that way,” Ekery said.

Ekery is advising young girls who want to pursue music to be part of El Paso Jazz Girls and make connections.

“Come to El Paso Jazz Girls because you create a network with other players, which is essentially what all music is, is relationships. You come here and you meet other players that you can email and call, be like, ‘Hey, do you want to do a gig together? Do you want to get together and play at my garage?’ It’s a way to just meet others who also love music,” Ekery said.

Girls interested in being part of El Paso Jazz Girls still have a chance to apply and live this experience.

You can sign up and learn more about the summer program here .

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