Jazz Through The Generations & Freedom4U

So a lot of things happened this past week:

(A) I started school (and I started jazz band, woo!).

(B) I reconnected with some HOBY alumni (HOBY.org) at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

(C) I drove up (with my family) to see Jazz Through the Generations hosted by Freedom4U.

School is fantastic and hectic as always; I’m starting my junior year of high school with four (four!) AP classes and dark circles are already forming under my eyes.  I’m already missing the breezy Palos Verdes coast and its soothing jazz music.

So why’d I drive all the way up to Palos Verdes?

My neighbor Richard Shilling — an avid jazz listener and the source of almost all the music I’ve ever listened to (my hero!) — told me to go check out his friend LeRoy Downs, a host on jazz radio station KKJZ 88.1, because he was hosting some jazz show. So like many of the shows that I go to, I blindly made my way up to the Terranea Resort in Palos Verdes and sat quite awkwardly in the middle row equipped with my pen and my crimson notebook (the man next to me kept giving me odd looks). Here’s who I got to listen to…

FREEDOM4U YOUTH COMBO

These fact that half of these guys were in junior high absolutely amazes me — I definitely wasn’t that talented back in 7th and 8th grade, so I give the kids kudos for getting up on stage and performing in front of everybody. Remember how I said Sonny Rollins’s “Tenor Madness” was one of the first jazz songs I ever learned? I was so excited to hear them play just that — along with blues improvisation that was way above any junior high kid that I’ve ever listened to.

A bit about Freedom4U: I’d never heard of this program before I went this past Sunday, and I’m so glad that I got a chance to hear its outcome during the performance. Surprisingly, jazz isn’t the only thing that Freedom4U does — it also has or associates with programs in writing, art, drama, dance, film, and other music genres (I think their director, Greg Allen, mentioned something about a heavy metal concert to me, hah.) Some of the kids in this program played with the Sammy Miller Generational Band, and these kids that are heading to big-name arts schools like Juilliard, Berklee School of Music, and USC. If you get a chance to hear any of these musicians, though, you won’t be surprised.

SAMMY MILLER GENERATIONAL BAND

Here’s what I think — out of all the instruments in the standard big band, trombone probably gets the least attention (I’m sure any brass player would totally be willing to argue with me); however, the trombonist in the Sammy Miller Congregation/Generational (they were introduced with one name and listed in the program as another?) Band functioned as almost the primary instrument. With all the jazz concerts I’ve been to, I’ve never (by far) seen a trombonist who could solo so amazingly well. The guy’s solos were so good that even he seemed to be collapsing with the weight of his great sound (you have to see it to know what I’m really talking about) — after watching him, my respect for trombone players has definitely gone to a new level. I’m going to be putting his name here as soon as I can find my misplaced program from the show (epic fail), because he’s really someone you need to listen to.

But it’s not like he overshadowed anybody in the band — Sammy Miller and his entire group was probably my favorite performance of the evening. Like LeRoy Downs said, Sammy Miller always has this huge grin on his face while he’s playing (you can see what it looks like here). The band featured a singer who’s going to be attending Berklee in the fall — her voice kind of reminded me of Adele, and I was so glad to hear her scatting. Scatting’s definitely a highlight of jazz vocals, at least for me.

This isn’t the band’s only gig — just google “Sammy Miller Congregation Band” and see how many show listings come up. And these guys are only just heading to college! If you do google it, you’ll see that Sammy Miller was awarded first place at the Music Center Spotlight Awards in Los Angeles (you’ll see his picture at the bottom), which, in a musician’s perspective, is absolutely phenomenal. And his bass player, Joshua Crumbly, was the runner up for the award — and this guy’s also heading to Juilliard this fall. They also performed “Green Blues,” by Dan Reckard, the band’s pianist who is heading to USC, which you can listen to here. If I start writing about Reckard, I’m going to end up writing forever because I love good jazz piano; so check him out yourself at www.myspace.com/danreckard (hey, they’ve got a recording of one of my Monk favorites, Blue Monk, posted.).

I don’t really need to tell you how good they sounded; I only need to tell you that these guys have pretty much just graduated from high school and are already running a professional band. Check out their Myspace music page at www.myspace.com/sammillermusic to hear some of their original compositions.

MELISSA MORGAN

Despite the cold, windy beach weather, Melissa Morgan still pulled off soothing jazz vocals (in the middle of her show, a nice old woman came up to the edge of the stage and offered her a baby-pink jacket; it was so sweet). Before she came up on stage to perform, though, her trio (piano, drums, bass; performer names will be posted soon!) performed Charlie Parker’s “Moment’s Notice,” another one of my favorite tunes. My foot was tapping the entire time; these guys were super swingy.

Favorite tune that she sang: “Is You Is, or Is you Ain’t My Baby.”

Be sure to check out Morgan’s new CD, Until I Met You!

THE PAUL SMITH TRIO

Much like Hiromi’s NPR podcast, Paul Smith integrated lots of classical style in his performance — throughout his jazz standards (like “Autumn Leaves”), he popped in some bits from classical favorites like Maiden’s Prayer (Badarzewska), Humoresque (Dvorak), and Beethoven’s Requiem.

But what’s even more interesting about Smith is that he was Ella Fitzgerald’s conductor/pianist for a good twenty years. If you’ve never heard of Ella Fitzgerald, she’s one of the most influential female jazz vocalists (along with Sarah Vaughan) of the twentieth century. (If you want to get a taste of her vocals, listen to Stormy Weather and They Can’t Take That Away From Me) He’s also played with great musicians like Les Paul (an influential guitarist who recently passed) and Dizzy Gillespie. The fact that this guy even played with Fitzgerald, let alone act as her pianist and her conductor, is something that I was extremely lucky be there for.

My favorite part of the day: meeting LeRoy Downs of radio station KKJZ 88.1! This guy’s got a lot to say about today’s jazz (much more than I can), so be sure to check him out at www.thejazzcat.net. If you click on the picture of the microphone in the left-hand sidebar (“live jazzcat radio interviews”), you can hear him interview some of today’s best jazz musicians like Vijay Iyer, Hank Jones, Sonny Rollins, and James Carter. It was really a pleasure to be able to meet and talk with LeRoy; I’ll definitely be listening to him this weekend on KKJZ.

LeRoy Downs is on KKJZ 88.1 on Saturdays from 12 to 2 pm; make sure you tune in. :)

CURRENTLY LISTENING TO: Rockit/Herbie Hancock/Ken Burns Jazz

(I’ll post the names of all performers as soon as possible.)

Tagged as: Dan Reckard, Ella Fitzgerald, freedom4U, Green Blues, hank jones, HOBY, james carter, jazz, jazz through the generations, Joshua Crumbly, LeRoy Downs, Melissa Morgan, Palos Verdes, Paul Smith, Sammy Miller, Sammy Miller Congregation Band, Sonny Rollins, thejazzcat, trio, Until I Met You, Vijay Iyer