Kyle Matsuda (Photo courtesy of HPA)

MEDIA RELEASE

Kyle Matsuda, a senior at Hawaii Preparatory Academy, has been invited to participate in the Vail Jazz Workshop, a 10-day jazz performance program for dedicated and gifted high school musicians.

Matsuda is the first participant ever selected from the state of Hawaii in the program’s 16-year history.

The workshop – open to students whose primary instruments are piano, bass, drums, trumpet or saxophone – is Aug. 27-Sept. 5 in Vail, Colo.

Admission to the program is highly selective and based on a competitive application and audition process. Matsuda is one of just two pianists out of a total of 12 student musicians from across the United States invited to participate.

The Vail Jazz Workshop consists of intensive instruction and performing sessions with a highly-regarded faculty, all of whom are active performing and recording jazz artists.

John Clayton, noted jazz educator, bass virtuoso, and co-leader of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra and the Clayton Brother Quintet, is the workshop director. Other instructors include Jeff Clayton, saxes and woodwinds; Terell Stafford, trumpet; Bill Cunliffe, piano; and Lewis Nash, drums.

At the end of the workshop, the students will be featured performers, along with their instructors, at the annual Labor Day Weekend Party, an internationally-acclaimed event featuring five days and four nights of the world’s greatest jazz musicians.

The students will have opportunities to perform multiple times and see, hear, and interact with the world-renowned jazz artists at the Party. This year’s performers include the Monty Alexander Trio — The Reunion with John Clayton and Jeff Hamilton, the Clayton Brothers Quintet, Terrell Stafford Quintet, Shelly Berg, and Wycliffe Gordon.

“Attending the Vail Jazz Workshop has been a dream of mine since I started to seriously study jazz in seventh grade,” Matsuda said. “I’m looking forward to working with other students who share my passion for jazz.”

Matsuda has pursued jazz by playing with local professional jazz musicians. After studying under Doug Johnson at age 8, Matsuda studied improvisation with saxophonist/pianist Charlie Peebles, and classical with pianist Alex Czerny, both for two years.

He also studied independently from Mark Levine’s “Jazz Piano Book,” and an Advanced Horn Arranging course from Berklee online.

For the past year, Matsuda has been mentored by bassist/composer Dean Taba of Oahu.

In 2010, Matsuda was selected for the Brubeck Institute Summer Jazz Colony. His accolades and awards include Brubeck Institute Summer Jazz Colony (2010), Stanford Jazz Residencies (2009, 2010), and full merit scholarships to study classical piano technique at the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival (2010, 2011).

An accomplished student, Matsuda enjoys basketball, volleyball, surfing, and bodysurfing, and has attained the rank of student black belt in Kempo Karate.

He is the son of Richard and Leslie Matsuda of Waimea.