[Dixielandjazz] TJEN - Was Sacramento Youth Trad Jazz Band Festival

[Steve barbone]

on 2/12/06 3:01 PM, dixielandjazz-request at ml.islandnet.com at
dixielandjazz-request at ml.islandnet.com wrote:

> Vaxtrpts at aol.com wrote (polite snip)

> For me, the highlight was Dave Robinson's group for the Potomac River Jazz
> Club.  They had come all the way from the East Coast for the  festival.  For
> those of you who don't know, Dave is the "fire" behind the  Traditional Jazz
> Educator's Network.  Well, he proved today to many of us,  that he surely
> "puts his money where his mouth is!"  While many of these  kids are college
> students and a little more experienced than most high school  musicians, they
> UNDERSTAND what traditional jazz is, and how to play different  styles - AND
> they played wonderful improvised solos. . . snip to

> I think that this will be the beginning of a festival that goes for many
> years, and will help keep what many of you call "OKOM" in the minds of the
> students who perform here.  Will it be the start of other similar festivals
> around the country?  I don't know.  Will it be a way to "save" the  more
> traditional forms of jazz for future generations?  Probably not. But at least
> it is a way of turning new kids on to this music, and maybe  getting some high
> school and college band directors to look at teaching the FULL  history of
> jazz music.

Good to hear about this success, Mike. Thank you for being there for the
kids. TJEN web site has a list of youth bands around the USA. See:

http://www.prjc.org/tjen/directory.htm

Participation of Trad Jazz Societies in those areas where these bands are,
might be able to help out in future. e.g. Dave's group travel expenses were
partially funded by the Potomac River Jazz Society through member donations
which helped enable them to make the cross country trip.

One dedicated teacher (Dave Robinson) + One dedicated Jazz Society (PRJC) +
one Youth Band Jazz Festival Promoter (STJS) + dedicated teacher/judges
(Mike Vax) is a perfect example of the whole being more than the sum of its
parts when it comes to the perpetuation of this music among the new
audience. High School and college gigs for these youth bands should be a
given, especially during black history month. (February)

Hopefully, list members who find this "new audience" subject boring and of
no value, will, upon reflection, get involved with it.

Cheers,
Steve