Girls in Jazz Workshop

About this event

Presented by the Women Band Directors International (WBDI) – Alberta Chapter, Girls in Jazz was created to help bridge the gap in a field where only 6% of jazz instrumentalists are women. This inspiring, all-day workshop welcomes women and diverse musicians of all ages to explore improvisation, combo playing, and big band performance in a supportive, all-female environment.

The Girls in Jazz program also includes the Girls in Jazz 2027 Honour Jazz Band, made up of the top young women jazz players from Calgary-area high schools.

The 2027 Girls in Jazz workshop will be on Saturday, January 30th at Central Memorial High School in Calgary. Working in conjunction with Buckingjam Palace, we are very excited to announce our very special guests: Terri Lyne Carrington (drums), Kris Davis (piano), and Jodi Proznick (bass). Audrey Ochoa (trombone) will also be involved and will once again direct the Girls in Jazz High School Honour Band.

Featured Artists

Four-time Grammy winner Terri Lyne Carrington is the founder and artistic director of the Berklee Centre for Jazz and Gender Justice. In 2022, Carrington curated “New Standards, vol 1,” a collection of 101 lead sheets by female composers to serve, in her words, “as the kind of corrective work that needs to be done to make sure women’s voices as creators and intellectual thinkers in jazz are amplified as well to make sure they — we — are not left to be rendered invisible in the future.”

Teaching with Terri Lyne at Berklee and playing on the 2023 Grammy Award-winning album that featured 1l tunes from the New Standardsbook is pianist Kris Davis, an international superstar whose jazz career started early as a student in Calgary’s school band programs. Davis is known for her fiercely powerful compositions and outstanding creativity.

Bassist, composer, producer, and educator Jodi Proznick is a four-time JUNO nominee, Director of Jazz studies at the VSO School of Music, and founder and bandleader of the JUNO-nominated all-female jazz ensemble, “The Ostara Project”. Jodi is the recipient of the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia Platinum Jubilee Art and Music Award.

Audrey Ochoa is an acclaimed Canadian trombonist, composer, and educator known for her versatility, creativity, and joyful approach to music. She has performed with leading Canadian and international artists and released four acclaimed albums, including a 2025 JUNO Award-nominated recording. As an educator, Audrey brings her passion, positive energy, kindness, and generosity while sharing her knowledge, fostering curiosity, and helping the next generation of musicians develop their own voice.

Just part of a weekend of Jazz & Social Change. Stay tuned for more events.

For more information contact Kathie at kathievanlare@gmail.com or Sarah at smdrew99@gmail.com.