Taking a beat back –  A throwback to Jazz Fest through the perspectives of the students who love the celebration

Hailey Lewis, a University of Idaho senior, first attended the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival as a participant in the Moscow All-City Band in elementary school. Lewis, who is now a site manager of the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, said, she participated in jazz band throughout junior high and part of high school.

“As elementary school kids, I remember thinking that was like the coolest thing was seeing people who made music … and getting to hear what they thought of our work,” Lewis said.

Lewis has been site managing for a few years now and always remembers to make time to volunteer throughout the week.

As site manager, Lewis said she ensures that Jazz Fest operations run smoothly and that the schools make it onto their respective performance stages without any problems.

Although she now helps manage Jazz Fest and is no longer a performer, Lewis said she can still remember the nervous energy and excitement that went into performing as a child.

She said experiencing Jazz Fest when she was younger also made her begin to look forward to the college experience.

“A big part of it is getting a bite (out) of university life and kind of picturing yourself here,” Lewis said,   “Which is a huge part of it and then being here as a college student and getting to reminisce on how cool it was to, like, eat in the food court.”

Lewis said she loved experiencing Jazz Fest when she was younger and now has a new appreciation for the festival as an adult.

“I think my favorite part is actually seeing students really enjoy their performances and see something that they worked for come to fruition,” Lewis said.

Kelly Reed, a UI freshman, volunteered with Jazz Fest this year.

“They”ll place me wherever they need me I”ll probably be escorting bands or showing people around,” Reed said.

Reed performed at Jazz Fest last year with his high school jazz band, Timberland High School of Boise.

“It was a lot of fun, it was kind of nerve-racking,” Reed said. “There was a ton of schools here. They”re all really good, but it was really exciting. I”m glad that we had the opportunity to play here.”

Looking back, Reed said performing at the festival as a high school student was almost an overwhelming experience, but now, he enjoys being an instrumental part of the event.

Alex Brizee can be reached at [email protected]

Leave a Reply

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.