Experienced musicians who have appeared before many Burlington audiences, the 19 student members of the UVM Jazz Ensemble, nonetheless, may be more nervous than usual about this Fridays show at Ira Allen Chapel. The group will perform with jazz legend and trumpet-flugelhorn virtuoso Clark Terry, a gig in the category of lifetime thrill.
One of contemporary musics greatest innovators, Terry is best known as a headliner at the worlds premier jazz events. Miles Davis and Quincy Jones hailed Terry, who was born in 1920, as the formidable influence on their early careers, and Louis Armstrong called him "my favorite trumpeter."
Terry also is known as "Americas #1 Jazz Educator" for his dedication to passing the torch of musical improvisation to the next generation.
"Hes the greatest!" is how one 12-year-old drummer put it after Clark showed him how to "kick" a big band into the final chorus of "Take the A Train."
The UVM Jazz Ensemble will benefit from Terrys tutelage when they rehearse with him on April 11.
"Clark is really one of my idols," says Alexander Stewart, assistant professor of music, who has played professionally with Terry. "He can play two horns at once. He can hold the trumpet backward and still play brilliantly. He is the consummate musician."
Terry played with Duke Ellingtons and Count Basies bands, toured the world with his own band and became the first African-American musician on the NBC payroll when he joined the Tonight Show band in 1959. His many honors include induction into Kansas Citys Jazz Hall of Fame and the St. Louis Walk of Fame.
"He is one of the last of his generation of jazz artists still performing," says Stewart, who's no stranger to the jazz scene, either. A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, he was a successful saxophone and woodwind player in New York for 20 years and director of jazz studies at Long Island Universitys C.W. Post campus before joining UVM in 1999.
Bringing Stewart to campus was a key component in a plan to build a strong jazz program, according to David Neiweem, professor and chair of music. The department has added and enhanced its jazz courses and drawn adjunct faculty including guitarist Joe Capps, bassist Clyde Stats, pianist Tom Cleary and percussionist Jeff Salisbury "from the best Vermont has to offer," Neiweem says. In addition to Stewart, whose full-time focus is jazz, a second jazz musician/scholar will join the faculty next year.
"The quality of our faculty is as good as the faculty at larger, better-known schools," Stewart says. The programs strengths, he says, are world-class instruction in classes and private lessons, along with copious opportunities to play music.
As a result, UVM is gaining a reputation as the place to study jazz and is attracting high quality students throughout New England and beyond. Scholarships offered through the David Yandell Memorial Scholarship Fund and New England Music Scholarship also make UVM attractive to budding musicians, Neiweem says.
Brennan Mangan of Richmond, Vt., a first-year music major and recipient of a New England Music Scholarship, says UVM offers "a great jazz program, and it's getting bigger and better." The aspiring drummer says, "I've heard that students used to transfer in their sophomore or junior year to schools like the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where they could study with well-known musicians who had been in the business. We don't need to do that now."
Mangan, who plays percussion in several student performing groups, says the Jazz Ensemble "is really excited" to play with Clark Terry. "He has a reputation as a great performer and educator, and Alex has gotten all of us hyped up about it."
"Students have a passion to create and improvise, which is what jazz is all about," says Stewart. "It took us a couple of years, but the UVM Jazz Ensemble is at the level where they are good enough to play with someone of Clark Terrys caliber."
And the Beat Goes On Sponsored by the UVM Department of Music and Provosts Central Diversity Fund, Clark Terry and the UVM Jazz Ensemble will perform Friday, April 12, in Ira Allen Chapel at 7:30 p.m. The event is free to UVM affiliates and $5 for the general public. Tickets are available at the Campus Ticket Store or 656-3085.
For those who miss Fridays concert, there are plenty of chances to catch UVM jazz students, sans Terry. The UVM Jazz Ensemble plays regular gigs at Burlington nightspots, on campus and at the annual Discover Jazz Festival.A student jazz quintet, WeeBeBop, performs every Wednesday night at Burlingtons Liquid Energy, where they attract enthusiastic audiences.
[ Comment, Edit or Article Submission ]
