Jazz school moves to New Orleans

New Orleans' Terence Blanchard is the school's artistic director

One of the jazz world's most prominent teaching institutions is to move to New Orleans to help regenerate the city in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz is relocating its performance classes from Los Angeles to the campus of Loyola University in New Orleans.

Chairman and pianist Herbie Hancock announced the move and performed with the next intake of students.

He said the move would "foster the next generation of jazz greats".

"New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz, and jazz is what made this city the place we know and love," he continued.

"We strongly believe that jazz will help the city's re-emergence in the wake of America's worst natural disaster," added the Institute's president, Tom Carter.

Some 1,300 people were killed in floods after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005.

The city's population fell from nearly 500,000 to fewer than 200,000 in the wake of the disaster.

Jazz masters

Thelonious Monk had a formative influence on modern jazz

The Jazz Institute was created in 1986 to honour jazz legend Thelonious Monk, who wrote songs such as Round Midnight and Blue Monk.

He believed the best way to learn jazz was from a master of the music, and the Institute aims to provide that opportunity to a handful of students each year.

The selection process lasts for several months and includes several national and regional auditions.

The new class of seven will live in New Orleans for two to four years, and will also participate in national tours to classrooms in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and other cities with a strong need for public arts education

Joining them onstage for Tuesday's announcement were saxophonist Wayne Shorter, trumpeter Terence Blanchard and Monk's son, Thelonious Monk Jr.

"In the 1940s and 1950s, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and others would gather at our apartment to learn from each other," said Monk Jr.

"That's the mission of the institute - to foster the next generation of musicians and help jazz music thrive for years to come."