Palouse Jazz Project provides a look into jazz
The Palouse Jazz Project, comprised of University of Idaho faculty, held a workshop Saturday to perform and answer questions about the group and offer advice for aspiring music students.
Vern Sielert said the initial version of the band started to form in 2006 when he and Vanessa Sielert started working at UI in 2006. Vern Sielert said the initial membership included himself on trumpet, Vanessa Sielert on saxophone, and Daniel Bukvich on drums, with membership evolving over the years.
Pianist Kate Skinner has been a part of the group for seven years, while bassist Josh Skinner and guitarist Daniel Pinilla have been members for three years.
After performing the solo-heavy song “Hackensack” by Thelonious Monk, Vern Sielert spoke on the band, highlighting how the small group jazz format allows for each of them to shine.
“The nice thing and the fun thing about playing in a group like this is that when it comes to improvising, as you noticed, we all have to stretch a little bit,” Vern Sielert said. “We got to play a little bit longer than you would in your average big band kind of setting.”
Outside of performance, much of the workshop was focused on insights into the underlying work improvisation requires and how certain members had to consciously play off one another to build a strong group dynamic and more impressive sound.
Asked how best to approach music studies for those with professional aspirations, Vern Sielert said the key is to not be narrowly focused in terms of the sound that one studies and practices.
“If you want to work playing music, you have to be versatile,” Vern Sielert said.
Royce McCandless can be reached at [email protected]
Jazz as an intangible cultural heritage
Director of the UI Martin Institute, Bill Smith, presented a workshop on jazz and international relations.
Smith’s presentation focused largely on UNESCO – the United Nations organization aimed at preserving education, science and culture transnationally.
UNESCO works to protect and promote Intangible Cultural Heritage, which is where jazz fits in. Cultural practices, rituals, performing arts, oral traditions and more are part of the common global heritage that could be lost to time if not actively and intentionally preserved.
“I think this is the most hopeful thing I’ve ever heard humanity do. With their money and their sovereignties – what we’re talking about here is countries being required to spend their own time and money and talents to protect intangible things in other countries,” Smith said. “It’s not us deciding to do it for ourselves, it’s us deciding to use our money to do it somewhere else.”
UNESCO seeks to protect ICH considered non-national, isolated and threatened. Jazz is not in this category because of its cross-cultural nature. Workshop attendees described jazz as improvisational and free.
As such, jazz promoted instead of protected. Herbie Hancock serves as a Goodwill Ambassador who helped establish International Jazz Day. Marcus Miller, who performed at Jazz Fest, is an Artist for Peace who helps promote both jazz and the protection of the international slave trail’s history.
UNESCO’s current efforts to preserve ICH include protecting the creation of the Tar instrument from Azerbaijan and the Paach ceremony in Guatemala.
Katie Hettinga can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @katie_hettinga
Doc Skinner and LHBB Trio reflect on Hampton’s legacy
Long time Jazz Fest adjudicator, Lynn ‘Doc’ Skinner, and two members of the Lionel Hampton Big Band, Kuni Mikami and Christian Fabian, spoke to a large crowd in the Pitman International Ballroom to reflect on their time working with Lionel Hampton.
Skinner was a lifelong friend of Hampton and served as the director of the University of Idaho Jazz Fest from 1976 until 2007. This friendship between Skinner and Hampton is often cited as the heart and soul of the festival, and together they created a lasting legacy of music education and the celebration of jazz. Skinner spent time reminiscing on his favorite memories of Hampton and the work they accomplished together through the jazz fest.
A particularly poignant anecdote was Skinner’s recollection of him and Hampton working together to bring two jazz musicians from the former Soviet Union to perform at the festival during the height of the Cold War. This was a herculean effort on the part of Skinner and Hampton whick took them all the way to former president Ronald Reagan’s office and ended with a success when two Soviet jazz artists were allowed into the U.S. to play, helping to repair relations between the countries.
“It helped break the gate down, it really helped to bring out those guys to play here on stage,” Skinner said. “It was so beautiful, so beautiful to see them play and that they could take this experience back home to the Soviet Union with them.”
Skinner continued to explain how close Hampton was to his family, and bassist Christian Fabian added that for him, the jazz fest and Hampton’s band became his family.
“I’m living proof that this festival can change lives, Fabian said. “The band is like the spirit of Doc and Hamp, he lives on in that band. And when the band gets together it’s just magic, thank you for giving me a musical family.”
The trio shared many more stories about Hampton’s enduring kindness and generosity and the ways in which he inspired them every day. Pianist Kuni Mikami explained that playing with Hampton shaped him into the person and musician he is today.
“He showed me how to be a musician, how to be a leader of the band,” Mikami said. “He showed me how to be a real musician even without saying anything because I watched him being a leader and followed his example.”
Grace Giger can be reached at [email protected]
Doc Cheatham: Afro-Indigenous trumpet legend
Doc Cheatham was a jazz legend whose decades-long musical career changed the landscape of the genre.
Esther David was selected as a Berry International Jazz Collections fellow to research and present on a musician of their choice. David chose Cheatham because he was an afro-indigenous jazz musician. Even a jazz devotee would be hard-pressed to think of another famous indigenous jazz musician.
Cheatham lived from 1905-1997, meaning he experienced firsthand several monumental events in history and changes in jazz. Born Adolphus Cheatham, his nickname was “Doc” because he was a musician among a family of doctors and highly educated people.
Cheatham’s first gig in his career was subbing on trumpet for Louis Armstrong. Even after this huge honor, his career only grew as he played lead trumpet in big bands and eventually joined a quartet that played regularly at the famed Sweet Basil in New York City.
David shared that Cheatham carried famous mementos like a necklace from Louis Armstrong and a trumpet mute from King Oliver. He performed at the 1989 Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, so David’s research included interviewing UI professors who interacted with him at the time.
Cheatham relaunched his jazz career in his 60s. David pointed to this as a motivator: even with a very successful career, Cheatham dedicated himself to learning new skills and improving his musicianship, which brought him even more success.
David’s research exhibit on Doc Cheatham is available in the UI library’s digital collections.
Katie Hettinga can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @katie_hettinga
Learning to Swing
Jazz fest attendees had the opportunity to learn how to swing dance this week with several informative workshops. These workshops were held on April 21 and April 22 and were taught by Colby Holmes and Michael Nell, who are both instructors with the Swing Devils located at the Moscow Moose Lodge at 210 N Main Street.
“We’ve been doing these workshops for the jazz festival for six years now,” said Holmes.
Holmes has been swing dancing for just under a decade, and Nell has been doing it for over a decade..
Holmes started doing swing dance in Seattle and came to Moscow when she heard about the jazz festival.
“I’ve always loved jazz music, and I like teaching people how to dance” Holmes said.
Holmes enjoys being able to make a connection between music and the physical movements of dancing.
Swing dancing is an enjoyable activity, and Holmes encourages anyone interested in swing dancing to go to lessons held at Swing Devils on Thursdays at 7:00. People of all ages are welcome, and no experience is necessary to attend.
Going to lessons is also a good way to meet new people and potentially make some friends, especially because people must have a partner to swing dance. Lessons are five dollars per person.
“I couldn’t recommend dong it enough,” said Holmes.
Vanessa Werner can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @VanessaRWerner
Jazz in Germany
Director of the school of global studies, Rachel Halverson, brought a new perspective to the cultural impacts of jazz music by presenting on the way jazz affected German culture, both pre- and post-WWII.
Halverson began the presentation by asking students to brainstorm what their preconceived notions about Germany and jazz were. Attendees soon realized that the stereotypes about German culture and what they knew about jazz directly conflict each other.
The group was then taught a brief history of German government, the long road to democracy and it’s swift transition into a dictatorship in the years prior to WWII. Halverson pointed out that jazz was strongly discouraged, especially during Hitler’s dictatorship, because it directly opposed the Nazi beliefs of conformity and purity.
Despite the oppression against jazz and other artistic expression, Halverson explained that the youth of Germany found a way to use jazz as a rebellion to express their opposition to the Nazi regime. A group of youth called the Swing Kids embraced jazz music and a more American lifestyle and this small revolution among the youth had big impacts.
“People will always break the rules for art,” Halverson said. “People will risk everything for art forms like jazz because they are a way to have freedom and some control.”
Attendees then spent time discussing in groups the ways that jazz has impacted German culture and the difference it has made worldwide. Halverson closed by emphasizing that jazz was a powerful form of resistance that continues to shape and change cultures all across the world.
“Jazz was a resistance, it was the voice of resistance and helped people to stand up against oppressive governments,” Halverson said. “This musical form allows people to break free from cultural constraints and embrace the art as a part of who they are.”
Grace Giger can be reached at [email protected]
Lifelong music lovers in säje find a ‘blessing’ in the pandemic
Before their first show, the four members of säje had never even played a set together. Each just brought some of their own songs and practiced together for about five hours beforehand. It was nerve-racking.
“I felt so uncomfortable but that also may be one of the greatest moments of my life,” band member Sarah Gazarek said.
Years later, the group looked back fondly and told their story before their April 21 performance at this year’s Lionel Hampton Jazz Fest. They explained that the secret to their success, even through the pandemic, was having each other.
All four women started out in music early. For Erin Bentlage, Amanda Taylor and Johnaye Kendrick, the starts of their careers followed more traditional means.
Bentlage fell in love with ballet early on but also dabbled with piano. When she got burned out on that, she started singing.
Taylor’s introduction to music was with piano, bass and choir. In high school, she began writing music, and at 17 she joined her first band “Groove for Thought.”
Kendrick’s parents made her learn piano, despite her best wishes. But along the way, she fell in love with violin. During Friday’s talk, Kendrick laughed as she recalled a tear-soaked letter to her parents that stated, “Please don’t take my violin away, it’s my only true friend.”
Gazarek, on the other hand, started out in music a little differently.
Her family was not musical, but as a little girl she enjoyed bouncing on a trampoline and singing. Her first instrument was the saxophone because she wanted to be like Lisa Simpson.
Through years of academia, jazz degrees and music awards, the four individually carved their names into the jazz world. But their fate together was set in motion when Gazarek performed alongside Taylor’s band “Groove for Thought” at a jazz fest.
“After the show, I went up to her and blacked out and didn’t realize my mouth was saying the words ‘Would you ever want to be in a vocal group with me?’” Gazarek said.
Then Gazarek wrangled her previous acquaintances Kendrick and Bentlage, who expressed interest in joining a band. In 2020, they formed säje — a clever acronym for Sara, Amanda, Johnaye and Erin.
Shortly after, the four soon-to-be-friends that were scattered across the west met up, got to know each other and wrote “Desert Song.” Even three years and many songs later, they still describe it as their baby.
“That was sort of a reflection on the experience of being four women primarily existing in a space where we are the only female-identifying musicians in the room and finally being in a position where we are working only with other female-identifying musicians,” Gazarek said.
In 2020, säje started performing at jazz fests and clubs and began to build a following as a group. That was until March, when a pandemic took the performing world to a grinding halt. Suddenly they had nothing better to do than sit at home.
But they thrived. They kept working together over Zoom. They planned albums. They even made it to the virtual Grammys.
“It’s weird to think there’s like a blessing in the pandemic,” Gazarek said.
And it all was possible because they fused together, challenged each other to make jazz they could call their own, and supported each other.
“Sometimes you can’t necessarily see all the greatness in yourself,” Kendrick said. “Maybe you can’t see what you’re capable of. But if you can see it in the people around you, then that’s what gives you the audacity.”
Cody Roberts can be reached at [email protected]