(This story is sponsored by the Vancouver International Jazz Festival)

This year marks the launch of the New Improvisors Studio, a partnership between Coastal Jazz and Western Front designed to educate young musicians between the ages of 17 to 24 from any musical background interested in building their improvisational skills.

Led this year by the acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily, the New Improvisors Studio is an opportunity for 12 young artists to explore a style of music that’s difficult to document and study, but more importantly, practice. Shazhad will be supported by guest mentors Sakina Abdou, Matthew Ariaratnam, Meredith Bates, Claire Devlin, Aviva Endean, Mili Hong, Sunny Kim, and Peggy Lee. 

The program will culminate in an open performance on June 28 where the young musicians can flex their new improvisational muscles.

If improvisation is to jazz like water is to a fish, then Shahzad Ismaily is the water. Born with a rare genetic disorder, Ismaily felt like an outsider during most of his formative years but found solace in the world of music and dove in headfirst. A secret weapon collaborative partner for a number of musicians from Feist to Marc Ribot, Ismaily is a master of instruments but more so, an empathetic master of what a composition needs to feel complete. 

Shahzad Ismaily is a Brooklyn-based musician, composer, engineer, and founder of Figure 8 Recording. The New York Times called him “one of music’s most in-demand collaborators, flitting like a mischievous butterfly through genres as diverse as honeyed folk, rambunctious free jazz, and spectral meditations sung in Urdu”. Over the last 30 years he’s played electric bass, drums, percussion, guitar, synths and all manner of instruments procured in life’s travels. 

One of this year’s Artists in Residence, Shahzad will have numerous appearances at the Jazz Festival including workshops and performances. 

Find more information, and the full Vancouver International Jazz Festival schedule, on coastaljazz.ca.