Kirk Knuffke Workshop Series April 1 + 2

A creative workshop with Kirk Knuffke and Brian Jasper Hull: A two day interactive workshop that dives into the creative musical process.

Musical improvisation is often seen as a sort of mysterious process that is difficult to learn.
Creative songwriting is similarly characterized in popular mythology as haphazard and
inaccessible to ordinary mortals. However, both the art of improvisation and the art of
songwriting can be fostered and cultivated through approaches that are both accessible and
tangible. In this workshop, internationally renowned jazz cornetist Kirk Knuffke, and local
musician Brian Jasper Hull, of Jasper Grooves Collective and Meadowlark Jivin, will be teaming
up for a two day workshop focusing on the creative musical process and effectively integrating
improvisation into one’s own songwriting and performance. Hull is a songwriter, poet and
guitarist steeped in soul, blues, jazz, Brazilian and African influences.
Knuffke, formerly a student of the great Denver trumpeter Ron Miles, grew up here in Fort
Collins and has since relocated to New York City where he has built an extensive resume of
recordings and musical projects. Knuffke, who has taught at the renowned Creative Music
Studio in Woodstock, New York, has drawn inspiration from the CMS ethos where artists like
Don Cherry and the Art Ensemble of Chicago set the standard for participative music
workshops.
You might ask, could I benefit from such a workshop? As Karl Berger, the founder of the
Creative Music Studio, put it, “Basic musical training, the kind that does not deal with a
particular musical style or with the playing of an instrument, seems to be beneficial for
practically anyone. A sense of right timing and rhythmic cycles, for example, seems to be a basic
human need. In fact, all the performing arts could benefit from these practices. This is why
body discipline, dance, all visual media, poetry, and songwriting are complementary to
contemporary musical development.”
All levels and instruments, including voice, are welcome to take part in this unique participatory
workshop.
A Jasper Grooves Collective production 2023