[Dixielandjazz] Jazz at the White House

[Stephen G Barbone]

Three cheers for bringing musical events and kids to the White House.

Cheers, Cheers, Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonesttreetjazzband

June 16, 2009 - NY TIMES - By Ben Ratliff

At the White House, a Blend of Jazz Greats and Hopefuls

WASHINGTON — It was not the full-force, let-a-thousand-saxophones- 
bloom, this-is-our-music festival that some might have wished from a  
White House where the language of jazz seems to have a place, at least  
in the president’s iPod. But it was a good start.

On Monday afternoon, Michelle Obama invited about 150 high school jazz  
students to the White House for a program called Jazz Studio. There  
was a student clinic including five members of the Marsalis family and  
the clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera, and then a short concert introduced  
by the first lady.

Before some readers begin feeling too righteous, it’s important to  
know that the event wasn’t a pure, stand-alone expression of love for  
jazz; it was the first in a series of three very different musical  
events in the White House this year.

So if the short afternoon event was largely symbolic for those on the  
sidelines, quickly and easily establishing the notion that the new  
administration is interested in musical genres other than country, it  
was a useful, practical event for the students.

The young musicians were divided into three groups of 50, and the  
workshop themes were “American History and Jazz,” “Syntax of Jazz,”  
“The Blues Experience and Jazz” and “Duke Ellington and Swing.” Other  
workshop leaders included the saxophonist Todd Williams, the trumpeter  
Sean Jones and the pianist Eli Yamin.

The event was organized in conjunction with the Duke Ellington School  
of the Arts and the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival in Washington, Jazz  
at Lincoln Center in New York City, the Thelonious Monk Institute of  
Jazz and several other institutions.

The Marsalises — especially Wynton and his father, Ellis — are born  
teachers, and, at least during the part of their hourlong clinic that  
journalists were allowed to watch, they packed important, basic  
lessons about jazz history and practice into short spaces. The  
students drank it in, and the teachers beamed.

After the elder Mr. Marsalis talked for a while about individual  
expression in jazz and the birth of swing rhythm, the students traded  
12-bar improvisations with the master musicians on a blues tune. And  
then Wynton Marsalis doled out bits of advice, without aiming them at  
particular players. The advice: never slink off looking mad at  
yourself after your solo, don’t abuse the rhythm section and play  
shorter.

“The blues forces us to feel vocal elements in our playing,” Mr.  
Marsalis said, “and it keeps us from going” — here he played a fast,  
ripping, show-off improvisation that wasn’t vocal at all. “Now, I’m  
going to play, and Branford is going to imitate.”

The students quickly jumped in. None were virtuosos; some, including a  
trumpeter from New York, Ivan Rosenberg, were quite good. Perhaps  
sensing a competitive spirit, Mr. Marsalis pushed Mr. Rosenberg into  
smeared, highly expressive whines; finally he played a whinnying  
phrase that trailed into fast, articulated notes. “I can’t do that,  
man,” Mr. Rosenberg said, laughing and backing off.

Sharing a stage with Wynton Marsalis, who teaches constantly on the  
road, is not out of the realm of possibility for a gifted young jazz  
musician. But doing it at the White House can make you starry-eyed.

“That was crazy,” said Phillip Slyde, an able 17-year-old alto  
saxophonist who played question-and-answer with Mr. D’Rivera. He came  
up from New Orleans the day before, he said. He was recuperating from  
nerves, in the expectant hush before Mrs. Obama’s arrival.

Kyle Wedberg, the president of his school, the New Orleans Center for  
Creative Arts, appeared behind him. “This says that normal, everyday  
Americans have a place in this White House, versus people that have  
some leverage to get in here,” Mr. Wedberg said, breathlessly. “We  
changed 14 lives today. That’s amazing: it’s a great use of this  
public facility.”

In her four-minute speech, Mrs. Obama brushed across two well-known  
thoughts about jazz — that it “may be America’s greatest gift to the  
world” and that “there is no better example of democracy than a jazz  
ensemble” — but she basically made way for the closing concert, which  
put Mr. D’Rivera and Mr. Marsalis in front of a young band, including  
the pianist Tony Madruga and the saxophonist Elijah Easton.

Mr. D’Rivera played embroidered versions of famous jazz melodies on  
the clarinet, encouraging the student audience to guess their titles  
and composers. When he played a famous Dizzy Gillespiephrase, the  
audience — including Mrs. Obama, seated in the front row with her  
daughters — answered promptly with the correct response: “Salt  
peanuts, salt peanuts.” “Ahhh!” Mr. D’Rivera shouted, looking  
extremely pleased. “Michelle knows it!”

The next event in the White House music series, with details to be  
announced later in the summer, will focus on country music.