Jazz Aspen Snowmass Academy Big Band performs with José James and Alicia Olatuja

The JAS Academy Big Band program led by Christian McBride will have a special performance at the 2025 JAS June Experience’s Rio Grande VIP Tent at 9 p.m. Friday, June 27, with guest artists José James and Alicia Olatuja. 

The 2025 June JAS Experience runs from Thursday, June 26, to Sunday, June 29, for all ages in downtown Aspen. Passes are still available.

The Big Band students will also perform in their smaller ensembles from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, June 28, at the Hotel Jerome Wheeler Room for JAS June Experience passholders, along with a third free public performance from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday, June 25, at the Limelight Snowmass.

“When you hear the JAS Academy Big Band, or the students in their individual combos, you will not believe that these groups just met less than two weeks prior,” Jazz Aspen Snowmass Chief Operating Officer Andrea Beard said. “What they are able to accomplish together within a matter of a few days is incredible and speaks to the volumes of the levels that the JAS Academy attracts.” 

“James is a featured R&B artist who has previously performed in Aspen, when he did a tribute to the famous musician Bill Withers, including his 1970s song, ‘Lean on Me,'” Horowitz said, looking forward to seeing him perform in Aspen for the first time with a full big band.

The other honored guest, Olatuja, is a St. Louis-based vocalist, composer, and educator. Olatuja is known to weave together jazz, blues, gospel, classical, pop, and Afropop. She will also be performing fresh big band arrangements.

“It should be an amazing show,” Horowitz said.

The current 2025 Big Band session welcomed 23 students from elite music schools nationwide. It is led by McBride, a nine-time Grammy-winning bassist and JAS Academy director, alongside Frost Dean Shelly Berg, JAS President and CEO Jim Horowitz, and Program Director Chuck Bergeron. 

“It’s a spectacular program. They are rehearsing right now,” Horowitz said of the Big Band session. “They are super, super high-level best-in-class. The students are here based on their talent. It’s a very special program since it’s tuition-free.”

The students receive full scholarships thanks to the generous multi-year support of JAS Academy annual donors Sasha and Ed Bass.

The JAS Academy, a collaborative program between Jazz Aspen Snowmass and the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. The comprehensive curriculum runs two sessions per year giving students the opportunity to receive coaching from famous jazz musicians and faculty, spend a lot of time rehearsing and even recording music, and take classes that teach them important skills for a career in music.

Students come from all over the U.S. and represent 17 different elite music schools, like The Juilliard School in New York, Berklee College of Music in Boston, and the Frost School of Music in Florida, and more. The academy runs two separate sessions, each with different students and a different musical focus. The first one, the Big Band program, focusing on Big Band Jazz music, is wrapping up.

The second session, an Afro-Caribbean Big Band, will run July 28 to Aug. 11, embracing another 23 students in Aspen, and it will be led by Trinidad-born trumpeter and Guggenheim Fellowship recipient Etienne Charles. Students will explore “non-swing genres,” including Latin, African, and Caribbean musical styles, performing in both small ensembles and big bands. 

Topics range from recording techniques and arranging to production, touring, artist management, contracts, website development, and digital rights, preparing students for a successful 21st-century music career.

The Rio Grande VIP tent is located on the corner of Mill and Rio Grande Place in Aspen. To buy your passes visit the JazzAspen Snowmass website http://www.jazzaspensnowmass.org.