[Dixielandjazz] It Used To Be.

[Stephen G Barbone]

 From the Coast Weekend, Astoria Oregon USA
Cheers,
Steve Barbone

www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband


It used to be called the Oregon Dixieland Jamboree, but now it's the  
Seaside Jazz Festival. Why the change? "In the beginning, it was  
entirely Dixieland," says codirector Ruth Johnson, "but over the  
years, tastes have changed. This year, less than 50 percent of the  
music is Dixieland."
This change is reflected in the 2012 program, but if you're looking  
for a bellwether, look no further than saxophonist Justin Ter Har. You  
may not have heard of him – but it's only a matter of time. Ter Har is  
a senior atSeaside High School who plays everything from traditional  
to progressive jazz.
Ter Har has turned the Seaside Jazz Festival into his senior project.  
He and a friend painted and put up two signs advertising the festival,  
but more importantly, he helps out with raising money for  
scholarships. These scholarships allow high school students to attend  
a jazz camp in the summer, and there are raffles on all three days of  
the festival to raise the funds. Ter Har has been arranging for the  
prizes, contributed by local merchants (no doubt beginning with the  
family store, Ter Har's).
But Justin Ter Har is more than a fundraiser. He began playing the  
saxophone in the sixth grade, and he has put together a combo to play  
at the opening of the festival. What will they play? The old standard  
"Fly Me to the Moon," a cover of Coltrane's "My Favorite Things" (his  
first soprano sax number, with a sax given to him byMiles Davis), and  
a cover of the Count Basie version of "Stompin' at the Savoy."  
Traditional, perhaps, but not Dixieland.
Ter Har plays both tenor and alto sax, and his love of jazz comes from  
his grandparents. He recalls taking road trips with them, with a jazz  
soundtrack on the car radio, and his grandmother's reminiscences of  
the weekend she sang with Count Basie's orchestra. "I've loved it ever  
since," he says. "Now I'm immersing myself in the music. I love jazz,  
and now that I'm learning its structure, how it's put together, I  
appreciate it more. It's the roots of a lot of popular music."
Ter Har says, "I listen to all types of jazz, except smooth jazz. The  
imperfect quality of jazz is what makes it personal. If you mess up,  
it can lead into something else, and make the song."
All types of jazz – rooted in tradition – is exactly what you will  
hear at the Seaside Jazz Festival. Headliner violinist and composer  
Tom Rigney and his band Flambeau (composed of personnel from the bands  
of Charles Brown, Queen Ida, Clifton Chenier and others) will raise  
the spirits of any audience, with fiery Cajun and zydeco two-steps,  
low-down blues, funky New Orleans grooves and heartbreakingly  
beautiful ballads and waltzes. High Sierra is one of the most popular  
traditional jazz bands in the country, and Blue Streetplays styles  
from Dixieland to swing, Mardi Gras, "hot '20s," gospel and originals.  
Black Swan plays infectious hot jazz, ragtime and old-time gospel with  
a distinctive flair. Portland band The Bridgetown Sextet performs  
authentic, energetic roots jazz from the 1920s, '30s and '40s, with a  
sound evoking Creole New Orleans, the stomp of prohibition-era  
Chicago, fast-paced Harlem stride piano and the tight swing of  
Depression-era Manhattan.
This is entertainment! This is music that makes you want to dance, or  
at least to watch the dancers. Some post-modern jazz can be self- 
conscious, erudite and aimed at connoisseurs. That's not where jazz  
began. Jazz began with gospel and funeral marches, roadhouses and King  
Bolden's cornet. It was fun! And that's what it still is at the  
Seaside Jazz Festival. Not the old stuff, note-for-note, good as it  
is, but the tradition evolved to the present day.