Now in its 10th year, Jazz on Hill continues to bring together the entire PCM Jazz Studies community as its main event of the year. Led by our Jazz Department Chair, Amy Rowe, the 2025 celebration brought students, faculty, and guests together for an evening of great music, learning, and inspiration. 

“The event keeps evolving each year, both with programming and guest artists,” says Amy. “We aim to feature local jazz artists and simultaneously rotate the instrumentation so we have a different instrument featured each year. In the past, it was an all-day event, but in the last two years, we’ve condensed it to more of an evening event.”

This year, we were joined by award-winning jazz pianist Tamir Hendelman. In addition to performing, he led a masterclass for our students, offering invaluable insight.

Sam Cooper, a member of the youth jazz combo, reflected on the experience, saying: 

“One of the highlights of Jazz on Hill this year was learning from Tamir Hendelman. A few hours before the main performance, Mr. Hendelman worked with us on the repertoire that we had rehearsed in the months prior, and his feedback was immensely valuable to us members of the combo. One of the areas Mr. Hendelman focused on was perfecting the balance of sound. The instruments in our combo vary widely in volume; the vibraphone, for example, is much quieter than the saxophones, meaning the interaction within the combo is just as, if not more important than, what each of us plays individually. Mr. Hendelman encouraged us to listen to those around us just as much as we do to ourselves.”

Following the masterclass, we had a concert featuring our youth and adult combos, culminating in an amazing set by Tamir Hendelman and PCM faculty members.

With growing student interest in studying jazz, Amy Rowe looks ahead, striving to have more jazz events and make live jazz more accessible to students and others. She says:

“In the coming year, I would love to have more than one jazz event per year, and I believe that students learning jazz need to see or experience it to understand what the music encompasses. It’s challenging for youth to see live jazz because of the nature of it being played in the late evening, often at venues that are 21+. The fact that PCM offers free concerts that are all-ages and open to the public is a great way to share live jazz with the next generation.”

“One of the main highlights was hearing the musical growth of the student and adult jazz combos. There was so much more command and communication within the groups, and they really grew stronger over the past year from the previous Jazz on Hill. Of course, a highlight was having Tamir Hendelman as the guest artist. He was my former jazz piano instructor for a number of years, so a lot of how I teach jazz comes from things that I learned in my lessons with him. It was great to see things come full circle, and in this case, it was working alongside Tamir and celebrating Jazz on Hill through the music.”
– Amy Rowe, Jazz Department Chair

“The combo got to play Deontology, a song that I composed. To me, our performance that night of the tune was the best yet, thanks to the enthusiasm of the audience; we had played in the venue before, but the presence of the crowd allowed us to further channel our passion into our instruments.”
– Sam Cooper, Youth Jazz Combo Member

“At this year’s Jazz on Hill, The Advanced Adult Jazz Combo played two tunes titled “In Walked Bud” & “Recorda Me.” Jazz pianist Tamir Hendelman was the guest artist who played a phenomenal concert of Jazz Standards and original compositions.”
– Sherry Luchette, Advanced Adult Jazz Combo Director

“Jazz on Hill offers a unique opportunity to listen and learn from world-renowned jazz leaders in an intimate and personal setting. It also provides the opportunity to hear emerging players who are the pros of tomorrow. Jazz on Hill is an annual event that I never miss.”
– Robert Berlin, Adult Jazz Combo Member

“If there’s one thing that I will never forget about Jazz on Hill this year, it is no doubt the instructor jazz combo, where Mr. Hendelman and Danny Janklow got up onstage and played a professional-level set. It was such a rich learning experience to watch Danny and Mr. Hendelman apply the same principles they had taught us, be it rhythm, space-taking, or line-shaping, to their own solos. The sheer mastery of their instruments blew me away then and still blows me away now. Given that so much of jazz music is about emulating more experienced musicians than oneself, Jazz on Hill this year greatly inspired me, and the rest of the combo, I’m sure, to continue studying jazz and to hopefully one day be in the same position that Mr. Hendelman and Danny are today.”
– Sam Cooper, Youth Jazz Combo Member

Are you or anyone you know interested in learning more about PCM’s Jazz Department, taking lessons with our esteemed faculty members, or joining a youth or adult combo? Please don’t hesitate to reach out, and we hope to see you on campus soon!