CVHEC SUMMIT 2025 RECEPTION: Fresno State Latin Jazz Combo
The Fresno State Latin Jazz Ensemble that will perform at the CVHEC Summit May 8 consists of (from left) students Remy Cottrell, Gavin Flores, Cory Fairbanks, Evan Coler, Emma Lybolt, Julian Oregon, Gauge McIntyre and Elijah Mata. (Not pictured: Adan Zavala, Bryce Lowenthal, Josiah Alexander and James Pierce).
Fresno State Latin Jazz Ensemble to perform
at CVHEC Summit Reception May 8
The Fresno State Latin Jazz Ensemble will perform at the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium Summit 2025 Reception Thursday, May 8, for registered summit participants.
The combo was formed in 2023 as part of the School of Music Jazz Program in Fresno State’s College of Arts and Humanities. Director John Martin said the program’s academic goal is to present students with a myriad of rhythms from the Western Hemisphere, focusing on the music of the African diaspora.
“Afro Cuban percussion and improvisation is a core learning of all students,” said Martin, a Fresno State alumnus (M.A. – Music). “This ensemble also functions to give students real world experience in a gigging environment.”
Fresno State is a member-institution of CVHEC with President Saúl Jiménez Sandoval seated on the consortium‘s board of directors and as a member of the board’s executive committee. The CVHEC Board of Directors is made up of the chancellors, presidents and campus directors of 28 institutions of higher ed in the 10-county Central Valley region.
In October 2024, the university’s “Department of Music” changed its name to the “School of Music” after updating its instrumental performance, jazz studies, composition, music education and vocal performance programs from Bachelor of Arts to Bachelor of Music degrees in 2022. The new curriculum required for the B.M. degrees is more rigorous and meets the standards of the National Association of Schools of Music professional music degrees, the university said in its announcement.
For more information about the ensemble, Martin may be reached at info@cerronegro.net or 559.284.5128.
