Summer is when students at the JAZZ HOUSE truly come into their own through cultural and musical immersion. Summer provides uninterrupted time for students to be surrounded by world-class musicians and peers from different backgrounds — learning jazz the way it is meant to be learned — through deep immersion in its language and culture.
Summer sets the stage for transformation. Without the competing demands of school and daily routines, students full creativity comes into view. Students return more confident, connected, and open, changed not only as musicians but as young people.
FACT: Students from underserved communities can lose up to 2–3 months of academic progress over the summer without access to structured enrichment opportunities, making high-quality summer arts programs critically important.
Source: The National Summer Learning Assoc
IMPACT: In one summer at JAZZ HOUSE KiDS, students can become unrecognizable from who they were when they arrived, not only as musicians, but as people. Through sustained immersion in music, mentorship, and community, they return more confident, more connected, more disciplined, and more open, carrying themselves differently long after the season ends.
PROGRAM SPOTLIGHTS
NEW THIS YEAR!
- JAZZ HOUSE Montclair: Specialty Camps
JAZZ HOUSE will offer three NEW focused intensives for young musicians: Rhythm Section Workout for rhythm players, CHiCA Power for female jazz musicians, and Big Solid Sax Camp for saxophonists—each building skills, confidence, and ensemble experience with professional artists. - JAZZ HOUSE NYC: Jazz Academy + Page One
Page One Summer Sessions and the Summer Academy, a connected pathway from introductory to advanced jazz study. Together, they build skills in improvisation, music fundamentals, theory, and ensemble performance for instrument or voice with professional teaching artists. - JAZZ HOUSE Summer Workshope
Our award-winning two-week intensive at Montclair State University welcomes 150 students from across the states and various countries. Students get instruction from professional musicians, perform at Dizzy’s Club NYC, and have a culminating performance at the MONTCLAIR JAZZ FESTIVAL before 30,000 fans.
SUMMER SETS THE STAGE
Lessons from the class of 2026
ACCESS
Through CHiCA Power, I gained more confidence in my music. I really try to encourage girls to join because of how much this program has done for me. If I had a moment where I thought I don’t belong here or I’m not good enough I remember CHiCA Power and how all those amazing women made me feel I have a place in this music.”
Career Development
Jazz taught me that you can’t cram your way through this music - it takes showing up every day, listening, practicing, and growing alongside people who push you to be better. Being around so many passionate musicians at JAZZ HOUSE KiDS made me more disciplined and helped me fall in love with the process.
Learning
Listening closely to music has taught me to listen more closely to people which will help me going into the medical field and listening to my patients and all details of their stories that they are describing.
Community Building
For a long time, I was searching for a real community ... then I came to JAZZ HOUSE and met people who were exactly what I had been looking for. Now I have a community. Being here feels like being part of something much bigger, like a full ecosystem of musicians who support each other. That’s something I had been looking for for a long time, and I found it here.
