ALL THAT JAZZ WITH A TEACHER'S PUSH, KIDS HIT HIGH NOTES.Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer GLENDALE - The lively notes of jazz floated from Urartu Coffee in Glendale on Thursday evening, but it wasn't just the music that made passers-by stop and stare. The sight of about a dozen students in their teens playing bebop bebop or bop Jazz characterized by harmonic complexity, convoluted melodic lines, and frequent shifting of rhythmic accent. In the mid-1940s, a group of musicians, including Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Charlie Parker, rejected the conventions of from the 1950s and '60s like professionals on the bass, drums, guitar, tenor sax and other instruments caused a few people to shake their heads in amazement. Hoover High's Acoustic Jazz Quartet and Toll Middle School students in the school's Summer Jazz Workshop, students who range in age from 12 to 18, played straight-ahead jazz Straight-ahead jazz is a term used to refer to a widely accepted style of jazz music playing that can be thought of as roughly encompassing the period between bebop and the 1960s styles of Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. - the new term for bebop and the jazz era that came after World War II and the big bands. The kids take playing their instruments seriously and have plans to pursue careers in music. Under the guidance of Hoover High School's music director Craig Kupka, they also have the opportunity to play gigs on a regular basis and explore their talents. ``It's like an experimental workshop - they're allowed to try anything,'' said Ipolani Lott, whose 12-year-old son, Tyler, plays the guitar and is taking part in Kupka's summer workshop. ``We're surprised at the caliber of musicianship that comes out of the school.'' Some of the younger performers Thursday night played jazz for the first time just one week ago - causing some jittery nerves. For many, it was the first time they performed solos - each player gets a chance to improvise im·pro·vise v. im·pro·vised, im·pro·vis·ing, im·pro·vis·es v.tr. 1. To invent, compose, or perform with little or no preparation. 2. - in front of an audience. ``It's really important for your stage appearance and it makes you not so shy,'' said 13-year-old Carrie Mills, who plays the clarinet clarinet, musical wind instrument of cylindrical bore employing a single reed. The clarinet family comprises all single-reed instruments, including the saxophone. The predecessor of the modern clarinet was the simpler chalumeau, which J. C. . ``I really like this set-up because we can each play a solo. You're on the spot and it teaches you a lot about learning how the rhythm goes.'' Kupka, a former teacher at the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County School of the Arts School of the Arts is the name of several schools (usually high schools) that are devoted to the fine arts, including:
``Kids love to play here, and to know they can play at a coffeehouse - this is Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall Concert hall in New York, N.Y., U.S. It was endowed by the industrialist Andrew Carnegie at the insistence of the conductor Walter Damrosch (1862–1950). for them,'' he said. A professional engineer, he has his own studio where he gives students the opportunity to record music during the school year. He mixes it during the summer and releases CDs in the fall when school begins. Hoover High has put out four CDs and Kupka is currently mixing the fifth. The CDs are sold at school and at Urartu Coffee on Maryland Avenue, and Kupka takes the students to all their gigs. The players in the current quartet won nine awards this year in different categories from Down Beat magazine - widely considered the Rolling Stone rolling stone Noun a restless or wandering person magazine of jazz. Summer plans for the quartet include a two-week European tour in July where the high schoolers will play at festivals in the Netherlands and Switzerland and at jazz clubs This is a list of notable venues where jazz music is played. It includes clubs, dancehalls and historic venues as well. It can or may never satisfy any objective standard for completeness. Revisions and additions of , existing articles are welcome. in Germany. ``With these kids, if they stay with it for four years, they will be top players,'' Kupka said. Chris Jordan, whose son, Timmy, plays the guitar and will be a sophomore at Hoover, moved the family from Tarzana about a year ago, and one of the main draws was the school's music program. ``I don't think there's any more thorough program that I know of. It's exciting for us as parents, as well as for the kids,'' Jordan said. The older student musicians said because of their experiences playing at different venues and having already released CDs, they're straddling strad·dle v. strad·dled, strad·dling, strad·dles v.tr. 1. a. To stand or sit with a leg on each side of; bestride: straddle a horse. b. the professional and amateur worlds. ``The program here is so much more advanced than other high schools, so I'm a low-end professional right now. I do several gigs a week and I'm 18,'' said Nick Klingenberg. Klingenberg's skills on the upright bass and electric bass have landed him in the jazz program at the University of Southern California The U.S. News & World Report ranked USC 27th among all universities in the United States in its 2008 ranking of "America's Best Colleges", also designating it as one of the "most selective universities" for admitting 8,634 of the almost 34,000 who applied for freshman admission , which he will begin attending in the fall. Hoover junior Alex Noice said the CDs allow the players to critique and improve upon their work. ``It's a pretty good thing for high school - it's not very common,'' said Noice, 16, who has played the guitar for four years. Urartu has become the band's official indoor venue. Its owner said he welcomes the group because it's a chance to promote future artists and help them become better musicians. ``I think kids need to be encouraged and slowly get familiar with playing in public,'' said Urartu owner Arthur Melkonyan. He's in discussions with other local schools to give them the opportunity to play at his cafe. The high school's student body adviser, Nareg Keshishian, a self- proclaimed jazz connoisseur, said the kids could hold their own with some professional groups. ``They're great talents. They bring their own voice to the music and jazz is all about improvisation,'' Keshishian said. ``It's tough. It's hard to make their own niche and some of these kids are able to do it. For anyone who understands, it's amazing a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. .'' The Hoover High Jazz Band will perform today at the Glendale Jazz Festival Noun 1. jazz festival - a festival that features performances by jazz artists festival, fete - an organized series of acts and performances (usually in one place); "a drama festival" at Glendale Community College Glendale Community College can refer to one of two colleges in the United States.
The Hoover jazz band's CDs are available at Urartu Coffee, 119 N. Maryland Ave. in Glendale, or at Hoover High's music department at (818) 242-6801, Ext. 1620. For additional dates and times of jazz performances at Urartu, visit www.urartucoffee.com. Naush Boghossian,(818) 546-3306 naush.boghossian(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) Members of Hoover High's jazz band perform at Urartu Coffee, getting in a few licks before their July tour of Europe. (2) Urartu Coffee has become a performance venue for members of the Hoover High jazz band. Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News |
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