The New Jersey Jazz Academy

Jazz is not just music, it’s a way of life, it’s a way of being, a way of thinking.

Nina Simone

Fall 2023 registration is open!

In Elefante’s prestigious New Jersey Jazz Academy, students are fully immersed in a jazz-centered experience with these focal points:

  • Read jazz rhythmic figures
  • Learn how to improvise
  • Learn jazz history
  • Learn from and play alongside a variety of professional musicians, educators, and students of Kean University
  • Gain more competitive skills and techniques to bring to their school, regional, state and national band auditions and performances.

We invite middle and high school students with at least 2 years of playing experience on any of the following instruments: alto, tenor, or baritone saxophone; trumpet, trombone, piano, guitar, bass, drum set/percussion, flute/piccolo, vibraphone and xylophone; and vocals.

The New Jersey Jazz Academy is directed by Grammy-nominated educator Vinnie Turturiello. Students will play alongside professional musicians Billy Wilkins, Ron Chat (Bari Sax), Albert Johnson (tenor sax with the Joe Baracata Big Band) and Sean Newell of the Manhattan Conservatory of Music.

DATES: Thursdays 9/28-11/30 | No rehearsal 11/23
TIME: 7pm-8:30pm
REQUIREMENTS: Middle and high school students with at least 2 years experience
PRICE: $375
LOCATION: Elefante Music – 1790 Springfield Ave, New Providence NJ
PERFORMANCES: December 6 at 6:30pm, Mosaico Restaurant | December 7 at 7:00pm, Kean University

Register Now
Meet the Instructors

Vinnie Turturiello is a Grammy-nominated music educator. His Scotch Plains-Fanwood jazz band, The Moonglowers, has taken top honors in the NJ Association for Jazz Education’s Division II competition in 2014, 2015, and 2016. He is an adjunct professor at Kean University and Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.

Al Elefante, founder of Elefante Music, studied at Kings College and the Manhattan School of Music. He studied clarinet with Charles Passhaus, Charles Russo, and Leon Russianoff.

He is a fixture of the local jazz community and performs regularly with his band Elefante & Green.

He opened Elefante Music in 1996 where he continues to teach private lessons in New Providence. 

Dave Heilman studied at New Jersey City University. He is co-founder of nationally touring synth-pop group Jupiter One, which signed a two-album deal with Warner Music Group. The group recently appeared on the finale of FX’s Pose. He has over 10 years of experience teaching privately. Dave mentored on Norway’s The Voice and served as a clinician for jazz ensembles at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School. His Broadway performances include Swing!, Spring Awakening, American Idiot, Burn the Floor, and STOMP. He also collaborated and recorded with Grammy-nominated artists Regina Spektor, Lars Vaular, Bernhoft, and Sondre Lerche and has performed on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Late Night with David Letterman.

Joe Mosello is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music where he studied and performed with Chuck Mangione. Joe toured and recorded as lead trumpet with the Jazz Ambassadors of the U.S. Army Field Band in Washington, D.C.

Joe was selected to perform, record, and tour with the Maynard Ferguson Orchestra. He is a veteran of dozens of Broadway shows, and is an 11-year member of the Tony Awards Orchestra. He played lead trumpet with big bands in New York City, including 25 years with the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra. Joe performed with Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, B.B. King, Julie Andrews, Sammy Davis Jr., Johnny Mathis, Jerry Lewis, The Temptations, The Four Tops, and Blood Sweat and Tears, among others, and has two gold records, for Maynard Ferguson’s recording of “Gonna Fly Now” from Rocky, and for “Solid” by Ashford and Simpson. Joe was lead trumpet and music coordinator for Aretha Franklin when she performed in the New York City area.

Joe is a professor in the jazz department at Rutgers University. He also teaches trumpet students, and is a consultant with many high school jazz ensembles and serves as a Jupiter trumpet performing artist.

Summer 2020 Virtual Project:
Jump, Jive, & Wail

Fall 2020 Virtual Project:
Flip, Flop, & Fly

More Jazz Academy Videos

Kean University Performance

Promo Video

A unique experience for jazz students, the New Jersey Jazz Academy at Elefante Music is a prestigious program for students who aim to be top players in their school jazz ensembles. The Academy is open to students who play alto, tenor, or baritone saxophone; trumpet, trombone, piano, guitar, bass, drumset/percussion, flute, vibraphone and xylophone. Vocalists are also welcome.

The New Jersey Jazz Academy is led by Program Director Vinnie Turturiello, a Grammy-nominated music educator. His Scotch Plains-Fanwood jazz band, The Moonglowers, has taken top honors in the NJ Assocation for Jazz Education’s Division II competition in 2014, 2015, and 2016. He is an adjunct professor at Kean University and Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.