Jazz Ensembles and Combos
The San Diego State University Jazz Studies Program offers a dynamic and immersive performance experience through its large ensembles and small combos, providing students with opportunities to develop as skilled, versatile, and expressive musicians. From the power and precision of big band playing to the intimate, interactive artistry of small-group jazz, SDSU’s ensembles emphasize musicianship, creativity, collaboration, and real-world performance practice. Guided by a distinguished faculty of world-class artists and educators, students explore a wide range of classic and contemporary repertoire, refine essential improvisational and ensemble skills, and perform regularly in concerts, recitals, and guest-artist collaborations. Together, these experiences form the core of SDSU’s vibrant jazz community, preparing students to thrive as performers, creators, and leaders in today’s musical landscape.
Karl Soukup is the director of the Jazz Ensembles at SDSU. Students participating in the SDSU large jazz ensembles focus on developing their section playing skills like intonation, phrasing, dynamics, feel, and articulation. They perform classic works by jazz composition and arranging greats such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Gil Evans, John Lewis, and works by more modern composer/arrangers such as Bill Holman, Sammy Nestico, Thad Jones, Mat Catingub, Lyle Mayes, Tom Kubis, Rob McConnell, Eric Richards, and Ladd Macintosh. The SDSU jazz library is expanded every semester with new contemporary and classic works so that students are constantly experiencing and performing great music. Large jazz ensembles often perform with guest artists and play, record student works, and have had various collaborations with the musical theater department.
We currently have nine small combos taught by five world-class artists including Gilbert Castellanos, Jane Monheit, Anthony Smith, Luca Alemanno, and Brian Levy. They include groups that focus on instrumental music with vocalists, a vocal combo, and a guitar combo. Performing in combos is the backbone of the curriculum, as we model our combo curriculum on real-world experiences.
For example, several of the combos have the opportunity to perform with guest-artists concerts each semester. All combos perform a recital at the end of the semester during jazz week. We emphasize having students work on both historical and contemporary repertoire, as well as encourage students to bring in their own arrangements and compositions.
“In my combos, you gain experience practicing, rehearsing, and performing jazz compositions from various styles of jazz. All members, including myself, contribute arrangements or compositions to the group’s repertoire. You are expected to come to the combo prepared, having learned your individual parts and developed strategies for comping and improvising. Active listening, transcription, and performance readiness are essential for success. Members are expected to listen to artist recordings when applicable and master the techniques necessary to perform the piece with impact. In addition to an end-of-semester recital during Jazz Week, the combos may perform on one or more of the guest-artist concerts.” - Brian Levy
“In our vocalist-focused combo, we concentrate on one major thing; the relationship between the singer and the band. Instrumentalists are learning to accompany, singers are learning to lead, and everyone begins to work together to truly make the most of every song. Singers are expected to come into class prepared, with songs/charts they would like to perform with the group, and then receive coaching from me about how to make the tunes more unique to them!” - Jane Monheit
“As part of my work at San Diego State University, I teach jazz combos, guiding students through the art of small group performance. In our rehearsals, we focus on improvisation, ensemble interaction, jazz repertoire, and developing a deep understanding of the music’s history and feel. My goal is to help each student find their own voice while staying true to the spirit and tradition of jazz.” - Gilbert Castellanos
“My jazz combo course provides an immersive performance experience while developing essential musical and collaborative skills. Students will rehearse, perform, transcribe, arrange, compose, and critically analyze jazz repertoire and recordings. Emphasis will be placed on improvisation, groove, listening, and group interaction. Each class includes full-band rehearsal with instructor-selected repertoire, except for classes focused on project submissions.” -Luca Alemanno
“The Smith Combo always aims to strike a balance between jazz tradition and modern concepts. Our repertoire typically includes standards and jazz classics, reimagined in a fresh way, modern offerings from current jazz artists and composers, and also student arrangements and original compositions. The main goal of our combo is to cultivate a band sound—an organic connection between the musicians, which allows them to interact creatively and spontaneously in a performance setting. Also, we seek to give each student ample opportunity to develop their improvisational skills, at every rehearsal and performance.”
