• Red Hot Strings Workshop

    Red Hot Strings Workshop

    Port Townsend, Wash. — Red Hot Strings Workshop, a celebration of Hot Jazz, 1930's Swing, Western & Hawaiian Swing that includes workshops, master classes, jamming and more will be held here May 15-19 at Fort Worden State Park. Registration is now open!

    Red Hot Strings Workshop is part of Centrum, long recognized as one of the premier arts organizations of the Pacific Northeast. Its mission is to foster creative arts experiences that change lives.

    Class instruction will be offered on guitar, mandolin, violin, tenor banjo and guitar, steel guitar, and acoustic bass, with individual classes geared for intermediate to advanced students.

    From Ragtime to Blues, to Classical and Creole, many musical traditions had a hand in the development of the harmonically and rhythmically compelling improvising vocabulary of Jazz, and stringed instrument players were in the mix from its inception.

    The workshop stresses the importance and joy of ensemble playing. Each afternoon, the staff will coach ensembles that have been organized around learning and performing specific repertoire from favorite recordings. This first year includes Violin and Guitar (Venuti/Lang], New Orleans Hot Jazz (The Six and Seven Eighths String Band), Western Swing (Milton Brown), Hawaiian swing (Sol Ho’op’i).

    Expect some song circles as well — spontaneous and otherwise. The development of an improvising language in the 1920's and 30's was intimately connected to the growth of what is frequently called The American Popular Songbook, and one naturally informs the other.

    Artist Faculty

    • Matt Munisteri, Artistic Curator and guitar
    • Albanie Falletta - guitar
    • George Washingmachine - violin
    • Mikiya Matsuda - steel guitar
    • Dennis Lichtman - mandolin
    • Matt Weiner - bass
    • Tyler Jackson - tenor banjo

    Additional Information