Any Happy (Jazz Guitar) Campers?

[WarmTubeTone]

Has anyone ever attended (recently) a jazz guitar camp and if so, would you recommend it?
I'm aware of the festival/camp in Colorado (Rocky Mountain Archtop Festival) and the camp Rich Severson puts on in California.
Any others?

[MarkL]

I have attended several of Roni Ben-Hur's camps in Burlington, VT and have always had positive experiences. OP, feel free to PM me if you'd like to discuss.

[ewall]

Keep your eyes open for Swing West Jazz Camp next summer in Sorrento, BC. No postings yet but it used to be called BC Swing Camp. Great experience.

[WarmTubeTone]

ahh, ok. i will certainly do some digging on info.
i'm barely an intermediate player, just wondering if it would be beneficial, not to say i wouldn't mind leaving my guitar in the case while i watched world class players.
thank you.

[WarmTubeTone]

thanks, i will certainly check on it. i wonder if some camps are geared for lesser players vs. a pro camp...?

[Bflat233]

Centrum Port Townsend is a very good camp, with a small combo focus (much as Aerbersold's Summer Jazz Workshops did in the past). The Big Jersey camps are guitar-centric and take a total immersion approach. Both are very good.

[ewall]

Centrum Port Townsend is clearly for advanced jazz players. They pre-audition participants if I remember correctly. And I'm probably a low intermediate player myself but I wouldn't go to a camp to just watch highly experienced players. I can do that on YouTube. There is such value in playing and even struggling to play with others. Camps that have great teachers and not just big name musicians are what I've looked for. I have learned the two are not synonymous.

[deacon Mark]

I have zero interest in camps for sure. I can play so I just need to play and keep at it. Playing with some bigtime player might be nerve wracking and really it is all about the social aspect. I don't need that at my age. I happen to goggle the cost of a camp and here is one I found. Outrageously expensive I could buy a great guitar for the cost and that would keep me interested in playing for a week and I would have the guitar when done. Soave Jazz Guitar Camp - 2026 — Big Jersey Guitar Camps

Great players are not necessarily great teachers although that is not always true many great players do teach well. I can think of a few great players on the jazz guitar giant list that when I hear them give some lesson how they play it pretty much worthless for most students. Some of these I believe have great natural talent and learned a lot but cannot convey it in a meaningful example. If you want I give you some names.

[benhatchins]

sounds like fun. Love the positivity in this thread — it’s refreshing. Jazz camp experiences can be life-changing, especially when you meet players who inspire you. While browsing earlier, I saw someone asking about the Borgata phone number, which felt wildly unrelated but somehow totally normal for a forum tangent. Anyway, glad to hear people are having fun making music. Keep the good vibes going.

[pawlowski6132]

I have been going to Django in June the last few years it’s great fun and super reasonably priced

[rpjazzguitar]

I've been to some general jazz (not guitar) camps. I enjoyed them all.

But, looking back at what I learned, only one thing that quickly changed my playing dramatically. And that was in a couple of side-chats, one with a teacher, one with another camper. It had to do with moving a stack of fourths through the major and melodic minor scales.

Was that worth the time and money? I'd say so, but you can't count on something like that.

The situations in which I could jam with the teachers were eye-opening. But not every camp afforded that.

Lessons about comping in unfamiliar genres were also helpful.

[Bflat233]

I've been to some general jazz (not guitar) camps. I enjoyed them all. The situations in which I could jam with the teachers were eye-opening. But not every camp afforded that. Lessons about comping in unfamiliar genres were also helpful.

Frank's Camps do exactly this. To be comping or improvising with Frank Vignola or Jimmy Bruno or Ken Smith or Pasquale Grasso sitting 10 feet from you - listening and watching you play - and giving you direct feedback - it can be game changing. The sessions with bassist Gary Mazzaroppi are equally impactful.

On that note, I have the LP that Gary recorded with Tal Farlow and Tommy Flanagan (called Chromatic Palette). One of the tunes they recorded was St. Thomas and that tune was on the Camp set list. In my first session with Gary he asked, what do you want to play? I called St. Thomas and it was so cool to be playing that tune with him. Afterwards, we talked about the recording session with Tal, and through all that, I felt a connection to one of my favorite guitarists.

[WarmTubeTone]

Since 3 of the 8-10 chord melodies i can play came from frank, it would be fun (terrifying?) to play one for frank and get educated.

[Bach5G]

Centrum Port Townsend is clearly for advanced jazz players. They pre-audition participants if I remember correctly. And I'm probably a low intermediate player myself but I wouldn't go to a camp to just watch highly experienced players. I can do that on YouTube. There is such value in playing and even struggling to play with others. Camps that have great teachers and not just big name musicians are what I've looked for. I have learned the two are not synonymous.

The Centrum audition process is to place participants with similarly skilled players in ensembles. I don’t think it’s a screen-out process. I’ve been several times over the years. Mixed reviews from me, but many people had good experiences.

The Vancouver VSO School of Music runs a couple of week-long jazz workshops in the summer. I’ve attended this a couple of times and found it worthwhile.