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10-Week Youth Arts Intensive
A fun after-school arts program for youth ages 10-16 of all skill levels, encompassing vocal and instrumental music, held at Oakland's Geoffrey's Inner Circle.
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Wednesdays 9/13/23-11/15/23
Vocals 4:00-5:30pm
Live Band 6:00-7:30pm
Student Recital Saturday November 18, 2023, 4pm
Geoffrey's Inner Circle
410 14th St Oakland, CA 94612
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This program is offered at no cost. A $100 nonrefundable application fee is required to ensure limited slots are available to serious participants
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Click HERE to complete the registration form.
Submit the completed form via email to fayecarolbiz@gmail.com or via USPS to P.O. Box 3021 Berkeley, CA 94703
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Sign up for one or both!
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This 10-Week Youth Arts Intensive is offered at no cost for youth participants ages 10-16 of all skill levels. Our goal is to instill and cultivate a love of the arts in each student, with a well-rounded, powerful curriculum in vocal and instrumental music. We aim to foster a community based on mutual respect and encouragement so all students can discover and explore their creativity and expression. Our powerful faculty features Faye Carol and Kito Kamili, two dynamic, renowned educators, artists, and performers who will guide students of all levels through a life-changing learning experience.
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*Live Band is limited to 8 artists, so it is by audition only. Auditions will be held between 8/14 and 8/17, so sign up before then!. Please note that auditions are not an assessment of talent or musicianship. It is an assessment of artists who are a good fit for the group. Some level of skill is required, but it is not necessary to be advanced.
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Classes
Students may sign up for one or both classes
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Vocals - Faye Carol
Discover the joy of singing and explore your voice through harmony, repertoire, and improv.
Live Band - Kito Kamili
Explore your creativity & originality with musicians, singer(s), and rapper(s), focusing on having fun and developing group unity.
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Faculty/Staff
Faye Carol - Vocals, Co-Producer
The Dynamic Miss Faye Carol is known as an icon in the Bay Area and beyond, highly regarded for her powerful voice, astonishing versatility, and gift of connecting with her audience. Equally at home in jazz, blues, R&B, gospel, funk, latin, and hip-hop, she has developed her own authentic sound and unique delivery, delighting audiences young and old across the globe. After beginning her career with gospel music, Faye Carol made her name singing with Oakland blues and funk legend Johnny Talbot & De Thangs before forming her own trio and gaining fame in San Francisco's jazz, blues, and cabaret clubs of the 1970s and 80s. Over a 60-year career in music, this living legend has developed her own unique acoustic sound and style in Black Music - drawing from funk, blues, gospel, and straight ahead swingin' - and cultivated an audience that remains as diverse as her uplifting music. She has maintained a high level of musicianship in her groups, mentoring some of the Bay Area's brightest young talent including pianist Benny Green, bassist/composer Marcus Shelby, and her daughter, pianist/composer Kito Kamili. Her vocal proteges include international superstars Kehlani and Ledisi.
​Miss Faye has shared the stage with Marvin Gaye, Ray Charles, Pharaoh Sanders, Joan Baez, Billy Higgins, Albert King, Bobby Hutcherson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Buster Williams, Azar Lawrence, Steve Turre, Dennis Chambers, Bernard Purdie, Lenny White, Roy McCurdy, Sun Ra, Robert Randolph, Mistah F.A.B., Henry Butler, Gary Bartz, Cedar Walton, Ledisi, Philly Joe Jones, Dorothy Donegan, Pete
Escovedo, David Murray, Chester Thompson, Charles Brown, and Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson, among others. Miss Faye is also a dedicated educator and founder of School of the Getdown. She has been honored with the proclamation of a city-wide “Faye Carol Day” in the City of Berkeley and inducted into the Oakland Walk of Fame, the Meridian Mississippi Walk of Fame, and the Pittsburg Entertainment and Arts Hall of Fame, and has received countless awards including the 2014 Bay Area Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Hero Award, Jefferson Award for Public Service, four Cabaret Gold Awards, Top Star Awards Entertainer of the Year, and a prestigious 2021 Hewlett 50 Arts Commission.
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Miss Faye has taught for over three decades at programs and schools including Jazz Camp West, Jam Camp West, East Bay Institute for Urban Arts, Berkeley Black Repertory Theater, Blues in the Schools, Oakland School for the Arts, and her own Music in the Community and School of The Getdown programs. Additionally, she has been a guest clinician at countless schools and educational programs including Young Musicians Choral Orchestra, Elevate Oakland, Jazzschool, College of Alameda, and Eastside Arts Alliance.
Kito Kamili - Live Band
Pianist, vocalist, composer, songwriter, producer, and music teacher with over 30 years of professional experience. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, performances include local, national, and international venues.
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I am a teaching artist who enjoys teaching music to all age groups, specializing in improvisation and original music. I've successfully instructed students in private lessons, various schools, & group workshops in many different settings. I've developed a style of teaching that recognizes each student's individual way of learning while supporting the expression of their unique voice.
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I'm from the school of jazz being handed down from generation to generation in the tradition of the innovators. My informal musical education began in the womb, as my mother Faye Carol was a professional vocalist. Her career continued after my birth, providing a special musical environment for me to grow up in. My formal musical education began at the age of 3, with my father James Gamble teaching me piano & music theory.
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At age 16, I became the pianist & Musical Director for The Dynamic Miss Faye Carol, gaining invaluable experience that also included the business of music. I continued my studies at UC Berkeley in the Young Musician’s Program, Laney College, and the California Institute of the Arts.
Joe Warner - Accompanist, Co-Producer
Pianist Joe Warner is one of the Bay Area's brightest young talents, quickly gaining recognition for his compelling style and exceptional performances. He has performed as Pianist and Musical Director for The Dynamic Miss Faye Carol for over ten years, leads the Joe Warner Trio, and has also performed or recorded with Jeff 'Tain' Watts, Buster Williams, Gary Bartz, Azar Lawrence, Mistah F.A.B., Mary Stallings, Steve Turre, Robert Randolph, Kenny Washington, Marcus Shelby Orchestra, Johnny Talbot, Stephanie Crawford, Elena Pinderhughes, Roy McCurdy, Marvin 'Smitty' Smith, Lenny White, Casey Benjamin, Dennis Chambers, Bernard Purdie, The California Honeydrops, Willie Jones III, Jules Broussard, Freddie Hughes, Derick Hughes, Martin Luther, John Santos, Oakland Symphony, Rickey Woodard, John Handy, Valerie Troutt, and Denise Perrier, among others.
This program is supported by California Arts Council