camila mennitte trio

Saturday, September 23

TIME: 4:00-5:00PM

VENUE: DuSable black history Museum and education center, 740 East 56TH Pl.

CAMILA MENNITtE

Camila Mennitte was born and raised in Córdoba, Argentina and now lives in Chicago. She has performed with Geoffrey Keezer, Sharel Cassity, Sara Caswell, Walter Smith III, John Raymond, Greg Ward, Bob Bowman, Gillian Margot, Alexa Tarantino, Matt Harris, Lauren Savien, and Ryan Kisor, among others. In Chicago, she regularly plays in bands led by Thaddeus Tukes, Marlene Rosenberg, Arman Sangalang, Zachary Finnegan, Lara Driscoll, Christy Bennett, Julia Danielle, and Jack Sundstrom.

Mennitte has been the recipient of a Jazz Institute of Chicago Jazz Links Fellowship and a Mary Jo Papich Women in Jazz Scholarship from the Jazz Education Network, and has been named a finalist by the Luminarts Jazz Fellowship Competition and the Herbie Hancock Institute. As an undergraduate, she was part of the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire Jazz Band, which was honored with two Downbeat Awards for Best Undergraduate College Big Band, and she curated a presentation on Candombe drumming featuring Daniel “Tatita” Marquez at PASIC in 2016. 

Heavily involved in teaching, she has taught master classes as a guest artist, volunteered and taught extensively at summer camps, adjudicated at jazz festivals, and taught private lessons. She has her own private drum studio, and until 2021, taught in the Advanced Arts Program, which offers free AP-credit courses to Chicago Public School students. Her own mentors and teachers include Matt Ulery, Katie Ernst, Greg Ward, Steve Houghton, John Raymond, Bob Baca, Dr. Brian Claxton, Dr. Jeff Crowell, German Siman, Sergio Verdinelli, Eloy Michelini, Dr. Michael Shults, Steve Zenz, and Ron Keezer.

The musicians:

Richard Johnson - keyboards

Clark Sommers - bass

Camila Mennitte - drums