Jazz Combos

The Vision:

• To serve the mission of the Institute for Jazz Studies: “To restore IMPROVISATION to the landscape of music education in our community, by empowering musicians of all ages both to CREATE their own new music and to COLLABORATE with others in its creation.”

• To train students with one of the most effective musical idioms for nurturing holistic musicianship.  These students will “breathe with two lungs,” ie, they will play “by sight” and “by ear.”

Overview:

Jazz combos are a wonderful opportunity to explore jazz improvisation, literature and practices in a safe and welcoming environment.  They are perfect both for students who are new to jazz as well as those who have lots of experience.

The Details:

• Meet weekly (a full hour of instruction and jam time) at our Wheaton Campus

• FALL SEMESTER: 12 weeks - Sept 15 - Dec 12, 2025 (No Classes Nov 24-39)

• SPRING SEMESTER: 12 weeks -Feb 16- May 22, 2026 (No Classes Mar 30-April 11)

• SUMMER TERM: 6 weeks - June 1 - July 11, 2026

• 1 hour of rehearsal and coaching each week.

• Exciting Public Performances!

• Performances may include: being featured at Bellas Artes Monthly Student Jam Sessions, Fall Parlor Concert, Spring Recital Performance, IJS Battle of the Combos and possible performances at Jazz Up Glen Ellyn 2026!

• In the past our combos have performed at exciting events such as the Bellas Artes Jazz Brunch and Jazz Up Glen Ellyn!

• Combos will be scheduled according to instructor and student availability

• NEXT STEPS

  1. FILL OUT A PLACEMENT REQUEST FORM:

  • This will provide us with your schedule availability and pertinent background information.

  • Once we receive all placement requests, we will group/place students accordingly, and notify everyone.

  2. FILL OUT JAZZ COMBO ENROLLMENT FORM

  • You will receive a link to this form once you have been placed in a combo. Please wait to be notified about your placement.

  Once we have received your enrollment form, our Office Manager, Kimberly, will schedule your tuition payment.

• Contact: kevin@baschoolofmusic.com for questions.

The Requisites:

• No prior experience with jazz needed; however students need to have at least 3 years of experience with their instrument and must be enrolled in private lessons with their instrument (open to non-BA students); or must have demonstrable proficiency and have an ability to read music, knows basic major/minor chords, and play scales.  Specific proficiencies include:

  • Guitar: students should read notes in first position, be able to transition comfortably between basic chords and be able to play a pentatonic scale and a major scale.

  • Piano Method Levels: Faber 3+, Suzuki 3+, AIM 3+

  • Strings: Suzuki Book 3

  • Woodwinds: A few years experience in a band program at school, or instructor approval.

• Placement auditions will be scheduled on an as needed basis with BA Faculty and may include a prepared a piece (does not have to be jazz) you have been working on, as well as the tune Blue Monk.  An audition may also include some basic sight-reading and some improvisation.

• Students will be placed in groups according to their age/experience in order to make sure all students have the most valuable experience.

• Combos will be range from to 3-8 students

• This ensemble should be supplementary to private lessons

Pricing per student:

• $30/session. $360 for 12 weeks (fall/spring terms), $180 for 6 weeks (summer)

• Receive a discount for referring a friend that is new to BA (5% per friend, up to 10% for the first semester they are enrolled).

• Register for 2 combos and receive 10% off the second one.

Instructors:

Courses will be taught by James Davis, Deanna Witkowski, Anthony D’Agostino and/or Kevin Brown, all of whom have extensive backgrounds in Jazz and perform professionally throughout the Chicagoland area.  For detailed biographies see below. 

Course Syllabus

Description:

This is a small jazz combo rehearsal as well as an introduction to the styles of jazz and improvisation in general. We will make sure to cover the fundamentals of theory and jazz history but will spend a ton of time playing the music.

Objectives:

• Develop a repertoire/setlist of at least 4-5 tunes in a variety of jazz-related styles.

• Become comfortable with improvising – this includes the general concept of making up melodies on the fly, swung 1/8th notes, and specific knowledge of jazz scales and harmony.

• Develop a strong ear for playing with others – listening to others and making music together instead of fixating on just your part.

• Learn the basics of jazz theory – especially chords and scale types.

• Improve at sight-reading music - reading rhythms, melodies, and interpreting chord symbols quickly.

• Memorize the most common jazz song forms: 12-bar blues, AABA (including rhythm changes), ABAC, etc.

• Become comfortable with the format of a jazz jam session. This includes knowledge of basic jazz tunes, knowing how to start and end a tune, soloing protocol, etc.

• Become familiar broadly with the history of jazz, from late 19th century/early 20th century New Orleans to present-day jazz.

• Develop your own personal voice on your instrument. (Don’t worry, this is a lifelong objective that the greatest jazz musicians are still working on!) This could include composing your own jazz pieces.

Expectations:

• Be warmed up and ready to play by the designated start time of class – instruments set up and in tune.

• Spend time practicing your music on your own throughout the week – minimum of 5 days a week of practice.

• Spend time listening to a variety of jazz during the week. Periodically, listening recommendations/assignments will be given by the instructor.

• Bring all music we are working on, pencil, and paper to every rehearsal.

• All students should own a copy of the Real Book, Vol. 1, 6th edition (published by Hal Leonard) as well as a metronome. A great, free metronome app for iOS and Android is here: http://www.frozenape.com/

Instructor Bios:

Kevin Brown

Canadian-born guitarist Kevin Brown is an experienced educator, performer, and composer in the Chicago area. He holds a B.M. in guitar performance from the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music and a M.M. in Jazz Composition from DePaul University. 
Some of his primary instructors have included Peter Ulrich, Willie Wiebe, Larry Roy, and Stephen Ramsdell with additional lessons and masterclasses with Scott Hesse, Mike Allemana, Steve Coleman, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Rez Abassi, John Patitucci, and many others.
He has performed with musicians such as Bobby Watson, Jimmy Greene, Benny Golson, Jon Irabagon, and Marquis Hill and has appeared in some of Chicago's top venues for jazz including the Green Mill and the Jazz Showcase. Kevin has performed at the Chicago Jazz Festival, The Chi-Town Jazz Festival, Jazz Up Glen Ellyn and the Iowa City Jazz Festival.
Kevin Brown serves as guest lecturer of Jazz Guitar at the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music and serves as an adjunct faculty member at Olivet Nazarene University where he teaches, music appreciation, world music, jazz combo and applied guitar.  In addition to teaching jazz guitar and combos at Bellas Artes he also serves as director of its Institute for Jazz Studies. 

James Davis

James Davis, a Chicago trumpeter and music maker, is comfortable in and always enjoys exploring a wide array of musical environments.  As a composer and improviser, Davis is involved in a diverse blend of musical communities in Chicago.  His diverse background and ranging interests can be heard in his own Chamber-Jazz group Beveled and with many collaborators in the Chicago area. 

James’ playing and compositions are featured on his group Beveled’s newest release Arc and Edge, as well as his previous releases RemainCalm (2022), Disappearing Roads (2018),Beveled (2014), and Angles of Refraction (2009), among others. He is currently on faculty at Triton College, Wheaton College, and Harold Washington College.

Deanna Witikowski

Winner of the 2002 Great American Jazz Piano Competition, pianist, composer, and scholar Deanna Witkowski moves with remarkable ease between Brazilian, jazz, classical, and sacred music. Her first book, Mary Lou Williams: Music for the Soul (Liturgical Press), is the winner of the 2022 ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Award and the 2022 Jazz Journalists Association Award for Biography of the Year. Her seventh recording, Force of Nature (MCG Jazz), featuring her trio and quartet arrangements of compositions by Williams, reached number five on the JazzWeek nationwide radio chart and remained in the top ten most played albums on jazz radio for more than ten weeks. In 2024, Witkowski completed her PhD in jazz studies at the University of Pittsburgh and is currently writing her second book, Jazz in the Pews: Experiments in Sunday Worship in the 1960s. Her 2025 awards include the Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation/Jazz Education Network research fellowship and a project grant from The Crossroads Project supported by the Henry Luce Foundation and Princeton University.

Dedicated to bringing communities together through jazz, Witkowski has worked as a guest music leader in over one hundred churches across the United States. Her weekly video series, “Off the Page: Sacred Jazz,” shares practical resources for church musicians and her jazz hymn arrangements that appear on her recording, Makes the Heart to Sing: Jazz Hymns, have been purchased by over 500 churches. A prolific choral composer, Witkowski has won multiple competitions for her concert and sacred works. Her modern justice anthem, “We Walk in Love,” is part of the Justice Choir Songbook and has been sung at the sixtieth anniversary of the Little Rock Nine at Central High School in Arkansas in 2017, at the 2018 St. Olaf Choral Festival, and as the closing song at the 2020 Chorus America conference.

Witkowski currently directs the jazz ensemble at Wheaton College and co-directs the jazz combo program at Evanston Township High School. Experience her work at deannajazz.com

ANTHONY D’AGOSTINO

Anthony D’Agostino is a double bassist and educator based in Chicago. Originally from Wisconsin, he developed a love for music at a young age, beginning on the saxophone but eventually switching to the bass. He went on to receive a Bachelor’s degree in Jazz Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2017, and a Master’s degree in Double Bass Performance from DePaul University in 2025.

Anthony enjoys a multi-faceted career as a bassist, appearing in venues such as the Jazz Estate, Fitzgerald’s, Evanston Space, Fulton Street Collective, and many others, as well as with orchestras such as the Sheboygan Symphony, Milwaukee Philharmonic, and Bloomington Symphony. In addition to these fields, Anthony also has a deep interest in creative music and has had the opportunity to attend several workshops including the School for Improvising Musicians in Brooklyn, NY (2016), the Toronto Creative Music Lab (2018), and the Montreal Contemporary Music Lab (2021).

As an educator, Anthony loves to work with students and has found a passion for the teaching and learning process. He maintains a studio of students of all ages and abilities, and employs an open-minded and open-hearted approach to accepting anyone where they are.