[Dixielandjazz] Sacramento Bee Article - Jonathan Russell & Youth Bands at Jubilee

[Steve Barbone]

"Robert S. Ringwald" <robert at ringwald.com> asked:
 
> Hey Steve, How about posting the article by jonathan for those of us who
> can't get registered at the Sac Bee, for some reason.

OK Bob, posted below except for some neat color photos which as described in
the article. Congratulations on a great festival, spotlighting youth
performers and on getting some good press.

Cheers,
Steve


Sacramento Jazz Jubilee: Youthful feats (and feet)

Violinist, 12, part of bid to spotlight young performers

By Bobby Caina Calvan - Bee Staff Writer

Last Updated 1:27 am PDT Sunday, May 27, 2007
Story appeared in METRO section, Page B1

PHOTO LEAD IN BY Sacramento Bee/Lezlie Sterling:
Mark and Val Jansen, center, of Eureka, step out to the South Louisiana
dance music of The Gator Beat Band at the Jazz Jubilee in Old Sacramento on
Saturday. 

Leave it to a 12-year-old violinist to play a bit of mischief on the stages
of Sacramento's Jazz Jubilee -- more specifically, injecting unexpected
strains of Mario Brothers arcade music into a classic Sonny Rollins jazz
piece.

On another stage Saturday, he pluckishly improvised -- using the Lone
Ranger's theme to send surprise and appreciative giggles through a mostly
graying crowd at the Sacramento Convention Center.

"Sometimes, no one gets the joke," said the wunderkind, Jonathan Russell,
who doesn't sample music, he "quotes" it.

He's been performing since he could remember. Maybe he was 5, or maybe he
was 6 -- "I don't really remember. At first, I didn't really understand what
was going on," he said, giving the woman sitting next to him, Eve Weiss, a
glance to help jog his memory.

"I'm his mom, agent -- what the hell -- same thing," Weiss interjected.

"At 2 1/2 , I put a violin under his chin and he had such a huge smile on
his face," said Weiss, a classical guitarist. "He just latched on to the
violin."

Jonathan also plays viola, piano, mandolin, clarinet, African drums and
recorder, a flutelike woodwind instrument.

He also plays video games -- though a one-hour limit is vigorously enforced,
and he's barred from using a gamepad (a joystick's OK) to keep his nimble
fingers from being damaged and to keep them limber for the violin strings.

He has a full slate of performances today, including a 10 a.m. appearance
with the Mighty Aphrodite Jazz Band, a youthful all-female group, before
returning home to the Bronx in New York City.

"I love performing. I don't think there's anything I don't like about it,"
said Jonathan.

He was to play the jubilee last year, but pulled out when he injured an arm.

"I'm so excited we have him this year," said Jill Harper, the executive
director of the Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society, which puts on the
four-day event that continues today and Monday with performances at nearly
three dozen venues in Old Sacramento and the city's downtown.

Among the 105 acts playing at the 34th annual jubilee, 15 are youth bands --
part of a push by event organizers to raise a new generation of jazz
performers.

"I'm very excited to be giving these young people the opportunities to break
into the circuit," Harper said.

"This is our mission: to preserve and promote traditional jazz."

Jonathan -- who considers the beat of hip-hop and rap too monotonous -- says
he's up for the challenge. Traditional jazz, he said, "is sort of dying
out."

And perhaps so is its audience. He's accustomed to playing to older
audiences.

"I'm used to it," he said. "I've played at nursing homes before -- you won't
find any young kids in there."

About the writer: 
The Bee's Bobby Caina Calvan can be reached at (916) 321-1067 or
bcalvan at sacbee.com.

Additional photos listed below:

PHOTO BY Sacramento Bee/Lezlie Sterling
Violinist Jonathan Russell, 12, performs with Vince Bartels' Migrant Jazz
Workers at the Convention Center. "I love performing," says Jonathan, who's
been playing in public since he was 5 or 6.

PHOTO BY Sacramento Bee/Lezlie Sterling
Violinist Jonathan Russell, 12, has the audience eating out of his hand as
he plays with Vince Bartels' Migrant Jazz Workers on Saturday.

PHOTO BY Sacramento Bee/Lezlie Sterling
The 10th Avenue Band and trumpet player Ed Sherry have the venue in Old
Sacramento hopping during their performance on Saturday.

PHOTO BY Sacramento Bee/Lezlie Sterling
Eddie Higgins, pianist and composer, plays with Vince Bartels' Migrant Jazz
Workers during a Convention Center performance on Saturday.