This school year marks the 23rd year the JazzSLAM has been offered to Broward County public school students!  In addition to 21 presentations in schools, Gold Coast Jazz Society offered 4 SEAS (Student Enrichment through the Arts) presentations at the Broward Center’s Amaturo Theater.  Thanks to the incredible work of Gold Coast Jazz Society Executive Director Pam Dearden, JazzSLAM received funding for these presentations from The Broward Center in partnership with Broward County Public Schools.

For the school year 2026-27 Broward JazzSLAM will continue FREE quartet presentations as part of Gold Coast Jazz Society, with priority given to Title One schools! On Dec 2 and 3, 2024 JazzSLAM offered 2 morning presentations/day for the SEAS program at The Amaturo Theater of the Broward Center for Broward County students, with 1,160 students in attendance. SEAS (Student Enrichment Through the Arts) is part of a collaboration with The Broward Center and Broward County Public Schools.

The JazzSLAM team is delighted to welcome our newest member Ms. Portia Dunkley in upright bass! Please take a look at her impressive background in education in the “Our Team” section. Portia brings so many wonderful assets to our team as a lifelong Broward County educator and musician!  We couldn’t be more excited to welcome her to the JazzSLAM team! We are blessed to continue to have an amazing team with Nicole Payne as lead educator and on keyboard, Orlando Machado on drums, and Bill Coleman on guitar and vocals.

JazzSLAM is grateful to Senegal Apostolo for his six years as the Bass Player on our team. He is a wonderful musician and great communicator with students. He has the ability to break down dry topics into fun, easily digestible pieces.

To book your live, In-School Broward County presentation, please contact her at Nicole@JazzSLAM.com, or at https://jazzslam.com/book-a-jazzslam-in-school-presentation/ ASAP! To book to attend the SEAS presentations, plz contact SEAS directly.

As a result of Covid, JazzSLAM created a pre-recorded presentation, which is now available nationally and internationally!  This makes it possible for students everywhere to participate in a JazzSLAM presentation and for teachers to have access to the fabulous resources that are part of the JazzSLAM in-school package!

The resources include 19 lesson plans and activities, with the applicable 3rd , 4th  & 5th  grade common core standards.  The 3rd , 4th & 5th grade applicable FL B.E.S.T. Standards are also available for Florida teachers.  Everything including the simple pre-and-post presentation quizzes can be accessed at surveymonkey.com/r/JazzSLAM.

JazzSLAM is very proud that these resources are also available on the JEN (Jazz Education Network website (jazzednet.org/resources/jazzslam-2) & the American Federation of Teachers sharemylesson.com website (type JazzSLAM how in the search bar).

JazzSLAM is very proud that these resources are also available on the JEN (Jazz Education Network website  (jazzednet.org/resources/jazzslam-2) & the American Federation of Teachers sharemylesson.com website (type JazzSLAM how in the search bar).

Mari is extremely grateful to the other quartet members – Orlando Machado, drums; Bill Coleman, vocals and guitar; Senegal Apostolo, bass; and Joshua Browne, Kaios Productions’ President and Videographer, Power Station Studios, Pompano Beach, FL. Audio Engineers: Paul Kronk, Brennan Fulton and Rob Roy without whom this presentation wouldn’t have been possible.

Mari was a clinician at the Jan 2020 JEN National Conference in New Orleans, offering a JazzSLAM clinic about teaching academics through jazz.

JazzSLAM is excited to be a 2018–19 winner of the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC) Pinnacle Award!

The Pinnacle Award recognizes CILC content providers from around the world who have received outstanding ratings on program evaluations completed by educators and activity directors. This year’s winners represent museums, science centers, art galleries, zoos, aquariums, musicians, and authors. All have delivered remarkable quality educational content and demonstrated exceptional skill at program delivery.

Mari offered a JazzSLAM poster presentation at the November 2018 National Association for Music Education (NAfME) conference in Dallas.

Mari was a 2017 “NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities) NOLA Summer Scholar”, Landmarks of American History and Culture Program, studying New Orleans: Music, Culture & Civil Rights.

Mari was a clinician at the National 2015 JEN Conference in San Diego.

JazzSLAM eLearning was launched in 2015-16! The program is divided into 3 consecutive live eLearning sessions. In December 2015, Mari presented them in South Florida, through BECON TV, Broward County Board of Ed TV station. In the Spring, our NATIONAL eLearning platform launched via CILC.org (Center for the interactive Learning and Collaboration)! TEN sessions were held for students in grades ranging from 3rd-9th, in FIVE different states – Ohio, Texas, Louisana, New York and Pennsylvania. These 3 sessions will be offered again in the 2017-2018 school year via http://clic.org/ JazzSLAM.

New Jazz Education Network (JEN) JazzSLAM Interview and Videos. In September 2016, Mari was interviewed by Sharon Burch, Director of Education for JEN. The interview spans 3 videos. They will be available for viewing directly on the JEN website (http://jazzednet.org), or can be viewed as follows:

• JazzSLAM-JEN Interview Part 1
• JazzSLAM-JEN Interview Part 2
• JazzSLAM-JEN Interview Part 3

For the JEN (Jazz Education Network) 2017 National Conference on January 4-7 in New Orleans, Mari offered an outreach clinic to New Orleans teachers. Participants gained a deeper understanding of the huge contribution New Orleans and Louisiana have made to jazz history! In addition, they learned how jazz relates to language arts, math, history, geography, migration, critical thinking, test taking strategies and most importantly, how jazz creates respect for diversity.

FAAE Clinic and Broward County Teaching Artist Award. In 2013-15, Mari conducted clinics for FAAE (Florida Alliance for Arts Education) in Orlando, Ocala, West Palm Beach and Davie, FL at Nova Southwestern University. Mari was a finalist for the Broward County Teaching Artist 2016 award.

Herb Alpert Foundation Grants. In 2014, Mari inaugurated JazzSLAM’s 3 Session eLearning project in collaboration with the Broward County Board of Ed TV station, BECON TV. She was a clinician at the 2015 JEN (Jazz Education Network) National Conference in San Diego, and has received 2015, 2016 and 2017 Herb Alpert Foundation grants from JEN.

20 LIVE JazzSLAM “In School” PRESENTATIONS (2017-2018)!!   20 live Quartet JazzSLAM “In School” presentations will again be offered in Broward County through the Gold Coast Jazz Society (GCJ.org), and will be included in the SEAS Directory (Student Enrichment through the Arts), a unique partnership with The Broward Center for the Performing Arts & Broward County Public Schools. We will be offering 10 of our “In School” presentations through SEAS.

Any school interested in enrolling in the eLearning 3 segment series should contact Mari and request information through the JazzSLAM contact page or the JazzSLAM Facebook page.

We welcome our newest member of the JazzSLAM team, bass player, Senegal Apostolo, a recent graduate of FIU School of Music.

In August 2014, Mari was a guest on “Evenin Jazz, The Real Tracy Fields show on national public radio, WLRN, 91.3. This is a one hour segment about JazzSLAM’s in-school program, featuring Dillard Center for the Arts HS Jazz band students.

It is archived at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aO9LQaEvAo

JazzSLAM’s in-school presentations are a part of Gold Coast Jazz Society. For the past 4 years, JazzSLAM has been selected as a participant in the SEAS program, Student Enrichment in the Arts: The Broward County School Board and the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.

n 2013, Mari gave workshops about JazzSLAM at three (3) statewide Arts Integration Conferences offered by The Florida Arts Education Best Practices in Arts Integration Symposium held at The Orlando Museum of Art in January 2013, Northern Florida Symposium held at The Appleton Museum of Art in Ocala, FL, and The Southeast Florida Symposium held in March at the Karvis Center for the Arts in West Palm Beach FL.

Broward Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie Jams with JazzSLAM

Friday, March 8, 2013
Christopher Dorsey, Director of the Dillard Center for the Arts Jazz Ensemble, and Mari Mennel-Bell accepting the Honoree of the Year 2013 Inaugural “Patron of the Arts” Award at The Dillard Center for the Arts Gala.

JazzSLAM is very proud to begin it’s 2nd decade of presentations and its 5th year as part of the Gold Coast Society.

Mari Mennel-Bell for JazzSLAM one of 3 honorees For Good 2012 award from The Community Foundation of Broward In 2011.

JazzSLAM’s bass player, inducted into the South Florida Jazz Hall of Fame, with Tracy Fields of WLRN presenting him the award.