John Laporta
John Laporta is a legendary figure in jazz education, but is also highly regarded as a player. When Laporta first studied the Clarinet as a child, his private lessons and education at Settlement Music School were geared towards a more classical style. However, John decided that the genre was not interesting as he stated “I didn’t want to be playing like that”. After transferring to Mastabaum High School, Laporta began to pursue a career in jazz music. His playing style is indicative of his upbringing and well renowned for his ability to incorporate classical styles and techniques into his jazz sound.
Laporta gained his first teaching experience working as a substitute teacher part time during college at Manhattan School of Music. He continued to teach private lessons in New York City for ten years and then moved to Boston after taking a position at Berklee College of Music. At Berklee, Laporta founded the jazz program and formalized jazz education in American universities for years to come. He expanded his reach outside the classroom by overseeing the musical instruction at the Stan Kenton Summer Jazz Clinics, where students would come for weeklong sessions of jazz study. Even though Laporta’s playing career slowed after he began teaching, his writings and lessons found a niche for Jazz in the American University, thus providing students with exposure for generations to come. His legacy is embraced today in the form of the John Laporta Jazz Educator Award, presented by Berklee, and by his many recordings and textual works.
Quotes:
“The same kinds of tempos that people could relate to them and dance to them”
“As jazz started to become more of an art form, it got into, by the very process of evolution, got into different kinds of things…”
“There weren’t records. People had to go. Sometimes the drove a hundred, a hundred fifty miles to go see a band you know.”
“So the young people have their own voice in terms of what seems to satisfy them, and the music that is produced is created for the things that seem to be happening with the younger people.”
“And then I’d play in a Black session and nobody seemed to be bugged about the so-called wrong notes I was playing see, so I felt like I was at home. So I’ve always had that kind of sort of contradiction going on in my life.”
Music By John:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMCoZ5t9dEM
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