On the June 21 WBGO Journal, trumpeter, producer, promoter and educator Mark Morganelli talks to host Doug Doyle about the 40th anniversary of his nonprofit Jazz Forum Arts and his musical career.
Morganelli co-founded Jazz Forum Arts (Tarrytown, NY) with his wife and business partner Ellen Prior.
Morganelli is also celebrating his 70th birthday. The trumpet was not his first instrumental choice.
"I started in fourth grade in 1964 and I picked the violin because my best David Wasserman took the violin. Now David comes with his wife to the Jazz Forum in Tarrytown all these years later. I got the violin home and couldn't make a sound. I was very dispirited and my dad said 'Don't worry, take it back, trade it for a trumpet, Harry James, Louis Armstrong', that was from my dad and here I am 61 years later playing the trumpet."
Morganelli was accepted into the Bucknell Jazz and Rock Ensemble in September of 1973. Within a couple of years, he was playing lead trumpet, conducting the 23-piece ensemble..he brought them to the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland when he was just 21.
He has released six albums, including For Miles, a tribute to the legendary trumpeter's songs from the 1950's. Mark's love of Brazilian music is also reflected in his 2019 release Brasil!
Mark's love of Brazilian music is also reflected in his 2019 release Brasil!. The trumpeter's passion to promote jazz all over the world is something he takes great pride in.
"It's an international language. Often times you can't converse with musicians because they speak a different language, but you can start playing a tune and just listen. I just came from a tour of Italy for a month in March. I played a weekend at a club in Rome called Gregory's and I also conducted a master class in jazz and Brazilian music there. I had a dozen students, young folks from Rome. I went through a history of jazz and Brazlian music and had them all clapping to the various rhythms. That was wonderful."
Jazz Forum Arts is committed to education and aims to inspire current and future generations of Jazz lovers.
From internationally-renowned musicians to emerging artists, Jazz Forum Arts aims to showcase the diversity within the genre. The nonprofit fosters an environment where the truest expression of the music can be celebrated in all its forms. The audiences experience Progressive and Bebop, Latin & Brazilian, World Music, Rhythm and Blues, New Orleans, Traditional, Swing and Contemporary Jazz. Jazz Forum Arts is for longtime Jazz enthusiasts and budding Jazz aficionados alike.
Morganelli admits he wouldn't have accomplished anything without the help and support of his wife Ellen.
"She has been instrumental. We co-founded Jazz Forum Arts. She's had many other careers. When we decided to sell our house in Dobbs Ferry and buy this building and transform it into the Jazz Forum with 90 seats downstairs, she really took helm and is now the Chief Operating Officer of the nonprofit and the General Manager of the club. She also curates the rotating gallery of contemporary art here. We've really grown the organization tremendously since we decided to make this move ten years ago."
Jazz Forum, now in its 8th year in Tarrytown, is Westchester County's premiere jazz club.
Mark Morganelli has had a 46 plus-year history working with WBGO.
"I started the Jazz Forum club in Greenwich Village two months after WBGO started. I started the Jazz Forum in June of 1979 which ran at 50 Cooper Square for a couple of years and then at 648 Broadway at Bleeker where we collaborated with WBGO to do Big Apple Jazz live satellite broadcasts to NPR back in the day. Gary Walker did the debut for my first record which was recorded at the Jazz Forum in 1982. Dorthaan Kirk and I connected when I was trying to promote my artists and trying to get people to come to the first Jazz Forum in my loft in Cooper Square."
You can SEE Doug Doyle's entire interview with Mark Morganelli below.
