A 5-day guitar intensive for intermediate to advanced jazz guitarists directed by Mimi Fox with special guest instructor Beth Marlis!
July 31 – August 4, 2023
9 am – 4:30 pm, Monday – Friday
Friday evening 7:30 pm joint student and faculty concert
Age: Adults and Advanced Teens
Tuition: $850
| 9 – 10:30 am | Master class with special guest artist Beth Marlis |
| 10:45 am – 12:45 pm | Daily rhythm section workout |
| 1:30 – 3:30 pm |
Mimi Fox leads classes on a range of topics including: Transcriptions of Masters, Essential and Exotic Scales, and Their Use Additional Transcriptions, Wonderful World of Arpeggios and Their Use Solo Guitar Mastery, How to Organize Your Practice Time Solo Guitar Mastery, Motivic Development Building a Strong Chordal Vocabulary |
| 3:30 – 4:30 pm | Practice and jam time |
To register, please contact program director Mimi Fox for a placement consultation, mfox@cjc.edu. Once placement has been approved, you will be sent a tuition payment link to secure your enrollment.
Limited to 14 guitarists. Early enrollment recommended!
For more information, please contact Mimi Fox mfox@cjc.edu
Mimi Fox
Internationally renowned guitar virtuosa, composer, and recording artist Mimi Fox is a six-time DownBeat magazine International Critics Poll winner and has been recognized by writers and colleagues alike as one of the most eloquent guitarists on today’s scene. In one of many feature stories, Guitar Player magazine hailed Mimi as “a prodigious talent who has not only mastered the traditional forms but has managed to reinvigorate them.”
She has performed and recorded with a who’s who of great artists, including Abbey Lincoln, Joey DeFrancesco, Charlie Byrd, Branford Marsalis, Diana Krall, and Stevie Wonder, among countless others. She performs at prestigious concert halls worldwide; recent sold-out shows include those at the Kennedy Center, Montreal Jazz Festival, and Newport Folk Festival.
With her 11th album as a leader or co-leader, This Bird Still Flies, Fox delivers a seamless but far-ranging album that’s breathtaking it its beauty, emotional immediacy and stylistic reach. The all-acoustic recording captures a commanding artist in full – transforming folk tunes, jazz standards, original compositions and popular songs into exquisitely crafted improvisational vehicles. The new reviews rolling in could not be more glowing:
“Utter mastery, four stars!” —Downbeat Magazine
“A Tour de Force from one of the preeminent practitioners of our time” —Midwest Record
“A dazzler from start to finish…remarkable.” —Jazz Times
“Wonderful…glows like a candle.” —Jazz Weekly
As a composer, Mimi has written and performed original scores for orchestras, documentary films, and dance projects and received grants from prestigious funders, such as Meet the Composer and the California Arts Council. Mimi has repeatedly received grants from the William James Association and California Arts Council to give concerts and workshops in California prisons as part of the highly successful California Arts in Corrections program. A devoted educator and clinician, Mimi has taught master classes worldwide while serving as associate professor at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley and adjunct professor at New York University.
Whether delivering jaw-dropping solo sets, performing dazzling duets with sympathetic partners, or leading a hard-charging combo, Mimi is a consummate improviser who seizes the imagination of her listeners with her passion, soul, and unerring ear for beauty.
Beth Marlis
As a Benedetto Guitars endorsed artist, Beth Marlis is a member of an elite group of jazz guitar’s finest players. She is a highly respected music industry leader, veteran performer, champion of music education and trailblazer who has carved out an important path in the guitar world.
While deeply rooted in jazz, Beth’s diverse credits include sharing the stage with artists from every style and sound, including Ledisi, Helen Reddy, Brownie McGee, Louis Bellson, Harold Land Jr., Nelson Riddle, Jackie DeShannon, Judith Hill, Barbara Morrison, and countless others in performances at venues and festivals across the US, Japan and France.
Rodney Jones: “Beth Marlis is a guitarist with a soulful touch and narrative in her artistry. In addition, Beth is a Master teacher who imparts wisdom, insight and practical tools in a compelling and powerful way”
Joe Diorio: “She is a talent deserving of wider recognition”
Hristo Vitchev: “Beth Marlis is an absolutely phenomenal and unique world class player”
As an educator, Ms. Marlis has risen from GIT faculty member to serving as Guitar Department Chair, on to Assistant Dean, and now to Vice President at Musicians Institute. She considers her 36 years as a member of its esteemed guitar faculty (GIT), teaching thousands of students as one of her proudest achievements.
Beth is the author of two best-selling guitar instructional method books by Hal Leonard/MI Press, and a freelance music writer for Los Angeles Magazine and Jazz Guitar Today. She received her undergraduate music degrees from The University of California, GIT and a Master of Music degree in Studio/Jazz Guitar from USC.
As a constantly evolving guitarist, non-profit leader and educator, Beth Marlis is an integral bridge to new generations of jazz guitarists.
Summer Guitar Intensive Accompanists
Jeff Denson is a bassist, composer, and dean of instruction/full professor at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley. He has recorded 16 albums as a leader/co-leader and over a dozen more as a sideman. He has played with an impressive and diverse array of remarkable musicians, including Lee Konitz, Brian Blade, Joe Lovano, Jane Ira Bloom, Kenny Werner, Dave Douglas, Bob Moses, Rachel Z, Omar Hakim, Joshua Redman, Gerald Cleaver, Ralph Alessi, and many more. Jeff’s interest in jazz started with fusion – Jaco Pastorius and Stanley Clarke – but shifted direction one fateful day when he heard Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue. Jeff is deeply committed to his students and his own contribution to the passing-down continuum that is the legacy of jazz.
Deszon Claiborne, a Bay Area native, began his musical journey at the young age of ten. Initially self-taught, he honed his craft under the tutelage of renowned drummers such as Richard Peterson, Rick Quintinel (Chuck Brown School of Drumming), James Levi, Billy Cobham, and Kenneth Nash, gaining a solid foundation in jazz, rhythm & blues, and world music.
Deszon has had the pleasure of performing and recording with a wide range of artists, including Peter Apfelbaum, Don Cherry, Charles Brown, Angela Bofill, Les McCann, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Robin Ford, Boz Scaggs, Greg Howe, Henry Butler, Giovani Hidalgo, Kai Eckhardt, John Handy, Taj Mahal, Donald Harrison, Rodney Franklin, and many others.
Apart from his performance and recording credits, Deszon is also a dedicated educator. He has taught private and group lessons to students of all ages and levels, from youth to adults, beginners to advanced. Over the last 20 years, he has participated in various music education programs in the Bay Area, including the Jazzschool, Jazz Camp West, Stanford Jazz Camp, Lafayette Summer Music Camp, Moody’s Jazz Camp, Just Say Jazz, and Adventures in Music.
