Jazz Fest Weekend

Michael Session was born in South Central, Los Angeles and grew up in the Avalon Gardens housing project. He was first exposed to jazz as a child, listening to his older brother's jazz albums, and watching other local kids jam at Avalon Garden’s youth center. Michael began teaching himself to play his brother's clarinet at the age of eighteen, and three months later bought his first horn, which was a tenor saxophone. He continued to teach himself music by playing his saxophone and listening to endless jazz records. In 1973, Michael studied the basic fundamentals of music, theory, and harmony. at L.A. City College. Four years later he joined Horace Tapscott's Quintet Panafrikan People's Arkestra. Under Mr. Tapscott's teaching, Michael's musical training really began. He learned how to read and write music, and orchestration.