concert in Mytilene

Jon May;Ben Street; Bill Street; Minister of the Aegean and Island Policy, Aristotelis Pavlidis, Mary Snell; Dan Strange; Vasso Polychroni

Concert in kaloni

Jon May and Ben Street instruct students at a workshop.

Bill Street instructs saxophone students at a workshop.

Dan Strange instructs students at a workshop.

Vasso Polychroni; Jon May; Mary Snell; Mayor of Mytilene, Aristidis Hatzikomninos; Bill Street; Dan Strange; Ben Street

Workshop

Ben Street instructs bass students at a workshop.

Jon May, Bill Street, Dan Strange, Ben Street and Mary Snell.

Theater of Mytilene

The Maine Street Jazz Quartet was sent by the exchange program in June 2005 to Mytilene, Lesvos, Greece where they taught clinics in jazz and gave two concerts.

Led by USM School of Music artist faculty member Bill Street of Gorham, the Maine Street Jazz Quartet included Daniel Strange of Windham, then a music student at USM; Jonathan May, a graduate of the USM School of Music, now living in Canada; and Ben Street, an internationally known performer who currently lives and performs in New York City.

The exchange was an unqualified success! A series of clinics held early in the week included a general discussion of jazz as well as focus on specific instruments. After a week of one-on-one teaching, the quartet performed their main concert June 11 in the Public Theater of the City of Mytilene and another outdoor concert on June 12 in a seaside village.


Through television and press coverage word spread quickly through the local Greek music scene that these American teachers and artists were in town, thus growing numbers of young and old flocked to the clinics. The only complaint heard was that the residency was not long enough. More than 500 people attended the concert in Mytilene.

As official guests of the government of Greece, the members of the quartet met with local and national leaders including the president of the University of the Aegean, Sokratis K. Katsikas, the Mayor of Mytilene, Aristidis Hatzikomninos, the Governor of the Lesvos Prefecture, Pavlos G. Vogiatzis, and the Minister of the Aegean and Island Policy, Aristotelis Pavlidis.

Bill Street is currently an instructor of saxophone and jazz studies and coach of jazz ensembles at the University of Southern Maine. His undergraduate training was done in composition and woodwind performance at Michigan State University. Street enjoys the research and study of acoustics that relate to instrument mouthpiece making, and has consequently created original mouthpiece designs for saxophones and clarinets which are used by jazz musicians and musicians in major symphony orchestras across the United States. Street has played professionally and is known throughout New England for his original compositions as well as the Bill Street Jazz Quartet. He spent a number of years in the Boston area where he recorded commercially with Alan Dawson, Gary Burton, Charlie Mariano, Dick Johnson and Herb Pomeroy, and many others. Street also made public appearances with Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, and Hal Crook, was featured in concert with McCoy Tyner, and has backed up a number of other well-known musicians. He has appeared with the Portland Symphony Orchestra. Other public performances include the Maine Blueberry Festival, the Maine Festival, and the Deering Oaks Family Festival, as well as numerous private performances. He served as Director of the Maine All-Star Jazz Band (state competition) in 1980 and 1986, and as saxophonist in the Maine State Professional All-Star Jazz Ensemble in 1985. He is on the touring roster of the Maine Arts Commission, and is a member of the original board of Jazz Alliance of Maine, Maine's first jazz association.

Ben Street studied at The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston with Miroslav Vitous and Dave Holland and moved to New York City in 1991. He has performed and toured with Danilo Perez, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Roswell Rudd, Lee Konitz, David Sanchez, James Moody, Mark Turner, Frank Foster, Clark Terry, Junior Cook, Charles Davis, Sam Rivers, Clifford Jordan, Billy Harper, Buddy Montgomery and Jimmy Scott. Street's selected discography includes work with Kurt Rosenwinkel - The Next Step, The Enemies of Energy and Heartcore (Verve); Danilo Perez - Til Then (Verve), Live at the Jazz Showcase(Artist Share); David Sanchez - Coral (Sony Music) Ed Simon - La Bikina (Mythology); Anthony Coleman - Morenica (Tzadic), Shawn Colvin - Holiday Songs and Lullabies (Columbia); Cyndi Lauper - At Last (Epic); Ethan Iverson, Jorge Rossy, Chris Cheek - Guilty (Fresh Sound); Barney Mcall - Widening Circles (MJC); Ben Monder Trio - Dust (Arabesque); Space Cowboys - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Warner Bros.)

Jonathan S. May is a teacher, recording artist, and musician. He started playing the drums at age 10 and has studied music for years with teachers from all over the globe. He received his degree in music in 2004 from the University of Southern Mains School of Music. May started playing in public at the age of 14 and now performs with countless acts all over the East coast. He is currently playing with national touring Folk/Jazz artist, Emilia Dahlin as well as The Jason Spooner Band. He has also worked with jazz artists such as Bill Street, Portland Maine's Super Sax, Dave Wells Trio, Sharon Jones, and Dan Cole. May has played in numerous rock, funk, and soul groups, playing with such groups as Crushworthy, Two Ton Shoe, Sly-Chi, and Solid 8. He has also played with the University of Southern Maine's Concert Band and Wind Ensemble as well as the University's top Jazz Ensemble. He also had the privilege of performing in the University of Southern Maine's Honor's Recital in 2003. May teaches privately, and has taught at the Summer Youth Music School (SYMS) at the University of New Hampshire and at Long Lake Camp for the Arts in New York.

Daniel Strange is a Jazz Performance major at the University of Southern Maine. Daniel won the Rossini Club's Ralph Gould Award in 2000, the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award in 2000 and 2001, the 2001 Nathan E. Corning Jazz Prize at Bay Chamber Concerts, and the 2002 Emily K. Rand Piano Scholarship. He has performed with many different theater orchestras including Windham Center Stage, School House Arts Center, Freeport Community Players, Sanford Players, Portland Players, Lyric Theater and Maine State Music Theater. Daniel was the Musical Director for Chebeague Island Players production of "Carousel" in 1999 and Breakwater School's production of "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" in 2003. He has been a part of the Music On The Hill, "A Night of Broadway," for the last four summers and has produced/directed the show for the last three. He previously directed the North Gorham United Church of Christ Choir and the Standish Congregational Church Choir. He also directed the Gorham Ecumenical Combined Churches Choir in 2000 and 2001, which involved eight different church choirs in the Gorham/Standish area. Last year Daniel moved to Boston, Massachusetts and studied at Berklee College of Music. He is currently the director of Music Ministries at West Scarborough United Methodist, while also finishing his Jazz Studies Degree at the University of Southern Maine.

Vasso Polychroni; Irwin Novak; Mary Snell; Bill Street;Governor of the Lesvos Prefecture, Pavlos G. Vogiatzis; Dan Strange; Jon May; Ben Street

University of the Aegean Prof. John Hatzopoulos; Bill Street;University of the Aegean Rector, Sokratis K. Katsikas;USM Prof. Irwin Novak; Exchange Director Mary Snell; University of the Aegean Prof. Nikos Soulakellis.