JASS MUSICIANS DO IT FOR LOVE : JAZZ OF EVERY PERSUASION ON TAP FOR VALLEY FESTIVAL.Byline: Fred Shuster Daily News Music Writer They must, because there's so little money in the genre. Of course, big-name players such as Wynton Marsalis Wynton Learson Marsalis (b. October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter and composer. He is among the most prominent jazz musicians of the modern era and is also a well-known instrumentalist in classical music. He is also the Musical Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. and brother Branford, guitarist Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny (born August 12, 1954 in Lee's Summit, Missouri) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. One of the most successful and critically acclaimed jazz musicians to come to prominence in the 1970s and '80s, he is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is or saxophonist Joshua Redman Joshua Redman (born February 1, 1969) is a prominent American Neo-bop jazz saxophonist who records for Nonesuch Records. Redman, who is both African American and Jewish American, was born in Berkeley, California, to the late jazz saxophonist Dewey Redman and his wife, Renee make nice livings with major label deals and good concert bookings, while others depend on the lucrative European summer festival circuit to keep the wolf from the door to keep away poverty; to prevent starvation. See Wolf, 3, above. See also: Wolf . Still, for the most part, that old joke about another word for a jazz musician - homeless - has a faint ring of truth. However, jazz's profile has been on the rise lately. Record sales are up, jazz radio formats are growing audiences, and television commercials are using more horns (when they're not relying on blues guitar). Beginning today is a series of events leading up to the first-ever San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. 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" next month, 44 hours of nonstop jazz featuring more than 60 acts of various stylistic persuasions at Lake Balboa in Encino. ``We wanted to raise the profile of jazz throughout the Valley, which is where a lot of the musicians live,'' festival producer Martin M. Cooper said. ``Many of these guys have played in the studios for years, and I've always thought they don't get enough recognition from hometown crowds.'' The monthlong jazz series, produced in association with the Woodland Hills Chamber of Commerce and 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. Department of Recreation and Parks, begins this afternoon with a concert featuring clarinetist-flutist Abe Most for residents of the Jewish Home for the Aging in Reseda. One of the goals of the festival is to expose various branches of jazz, which has developed over the past nine decades from simple musical structures to the complexities of 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 and post-bop to abstraction to the pop-influenced styles of the '80s and '90s. ``When I was 10 years old, my father took me down to a music store on Fairfax Avenue Fairfax Avenue is a street on north central Los Angeles, California. It runs from La Cienega Boulevard (which separates the Westside from the central part of the city) with Culver City at its southern end to Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood on its northern end. to buy my first record player,'' Cooper recalled. ``He said to pick out two albums and I chose `Brubeck Plays Brubeck' and Benny Goodman's 1939 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). concert. They're pretty far apart musically, which is how I think.'' Cooper hopes the festival helps broaden other people's musical tastes. ``I wanted to create an opportunity for people who may not know who the Ink Spots are to hear them,'' he said. ``It's about broadening musical tastes, to realize that jazz isn't just fusion, traditional, swing or mainstream. It's all of those things.'' One local musician who hasn't had a problem gaining exposure is Rick Braun Rick Braun is a smooth jazz trumpet player. He got started playing in several bands, including Avenue Blue, which was led by guitarist Jeff Golub. Braun has a trumpet solo in the band's remake of "Pick up the Pieces," which had been a hit by the Average White Band during the 1980s. , who takes his cues from post-bop trumpet stars Miles Davis Noun 1. Miles Davis - United States jazz musician; noted for his trumpet style (1926-1991) Miles Dewey Davis Jr., Davis and Chet Baker Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and singer. Specializing in relaxed, even melancholy music, Baker rose to prominence as a leading name in cool jazz in the 1950s. , but adds contemporary pop polish. Braun is one of the top artists on the fast-growing smooth-jazz radio format, which includes local outlet KTWV-FM (94.7) - the Wave. ``If I did straight-ahead '50s-style be-bop, hardly anybody would show up,'' Braun, 41, admitted from his Woodland Hills home. ``I'm doing exactly the type of music I want to do. I play straight-ahead as well as within the pop genre. My music is a combination of everything I've ever played in my life.'' Most, a musician as well as musical producer of the Valley festival, agrees that many mainstream jazz players focus on the music out of love. ``I've been playing jazz for 60 years, but the younger musicians today realize they must use funk or rock rhythms and synths and special effects special effects, in motion pictures, cinematographic techniques that create illusions in the audience's minds as well as the illusions created using these techniques. if they want to become known and get radio play,'' he said. Most, who nailed the clarinet solo on Les Brown's famous early '40s hit, ``Mexican Hat Noun 1. Mexican hat - coneflower with flower heads resembling a Mexican hat with a tall red-brown disk and drooping yellow or yellow and red-brown rays; grows in the great plains along base of Rocky Mountains Ratibida columnaris Dance,'' before contributing to more than 600 movie soundtrack scoring sessions, will be among 60 performers during the festival's culminating ``Jazz on the Lake'' concerts May 17-18, featuring keyboardist Jeff Lorber, Les Brown and his Band of Renown, Braun, the Ink Spots, saxophonist Bryan Savage, percussionist Poncho Sanchez and trumpeter Bobby Rodriguez, among others, on three outdoor stages at the lake. Other festival events include a free high school jazz band competition at noon Saturday and April 13 at Warner Center Pavilion in Woodland Hills; a free concert at 2 p.m. April 26 at Actors Alley at the El Portal in North Hollywood; and a series of historic jazz films screened May 5-8 at the AMC (Advanced Mezzanine Card) See AdvancedTCA. 16 Promenade Theatres in Woodland Hills ($7.50 admission). Jazz record sales increased last year, according to figures supplied by the Recording Industry Association of America. Three genres in addition to rap posted gains - jazz, gospel and classical. Jazz accounted for 3.3 percent - up from 3.0 percent the previous year - of the $12.5 billion total in 1996 music sales. Braun, who toured as part of jazz-pop chanteuse chan·teuse n. A woman singer, especially a nightclub singer. [French, feminine of chanteur, singer, from chanter, to sing; see chant.] Sade's band several years ago, is optimistic that the domestic audience for jazz is growing. ``Jazz has gone beyond a cult following in some respects because it's come out of the closet Verb 1. come out of the closet - to state openly and publicly one's homosexuality; "This actor outed last year" out, come out disclose, let on, divulge, expose, give away, let out, reveal, unwrap, discover, bring out, break - make known to the public again,'' he said. ``There are so many commercials right now using muted trumpet, for example. It's cool to be into jazz. Kids are listening to it more now because they've been introduced to it through acid-jazz and some forms of hip-hop. Everything in music runs in cycles.'' Initially, music producer Most wanted to book only mainstream jazz for the Valley festival, which he hopes will become an annual event like the Playboy Jazz Festival The Playboy Jazz Festival is an annual event sponsored by Playboy Enterprises to celebrate jazz as well as feature both established and up and coming musicians of the genre. It was founded by Hugh Hefner and was first held in Chicago, Illinois at the Chicago Stadium in 1959. . ``I figured if people come for one type of music, they'll hear something they never thought they might enjoy,'' he said. ``Those that like Jeff Lorber might hear something straight-ahead and enjoy it.'' Speaking of Lorber, the keyboardist-composer points out that some avant-garde and post-bop players actually make good livings outside of this country. ``There's really a tremendous audience for straight-ahead jazz in Europe and Japan,'' Lorber, 44, said from his home in Pacific Palisades Palisades, cliffs along the west bank of the Hudson River, NE N.J. and SE N.Y., extending from N of Jersey City, N.J., to the vicinity of Piermont, N.Y., with a general altitude of from 350 ft to 550 ft (107–168 m). . ``A lot of musicians who play these places make serious bread. And it's funny because in Europe, they're not that interested in the contemporary jazz-fusion stuff. They support mainstream in a big way.'' Woodland Hills-based saxophonist Savage has played both smooth jazz and the more straight-ahead variety but has found a degree of success with the contemporary jazz-funk sound of his last album, ``Catfood,'' which was produced by Braun. ``I've always played different styles,'' Savage said. ``In the past, I've been in rock bands, soul bands and jazz groups that played mainstream. I don't ever want to exclude any of those genres. But I admit that if you want to play straight-ahead entirely, which I've never desired to do, it can be difficult to make a living.'' Swingin' Valley month The San Fernando Valley Jazz Festival includes a month of free and low-cost special events offering music, education and entertainment in multiple locations designed to serve all segments of the community. Today: Jazz concert at 2 p.m. at the Jewish Home for the Aging in Reseda. Residents only. April 12-13: High School Jazz Band at Warner Center Pavilion in Woodland Hills, beginning at noon Saturday and Sunday. Admission is free. April 26: ``Jazz at the Alley - and on the Street,'' Actors Alley at the El Portal, 5269 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, beginning at 2 p.m. Phone (818) 508-4200. Free. April 27: ``How to Listen to Jazz'' clinic at 1 p.m. in the CSUN CSUN California State University Northridge Recital Hall. Admission is $10; $5 for seniors and students. May 3: ``Jazzed on Books,'' featuring jazz journalist Don Heckman and jazz photographer William Claxton, plus live music. Various Barnes & Noble locations: 10-11:30 a.m. Burbank, 1-2:30 p.m. Encino, 4-5:30 p.m. Santa Monica. Free. May 3: ``Latin Festival'' at 8 p.m. in the CSUN Performing Arts Center A performing arts center, often abbreviated PAC, is a multi-use performance space that can be adapted for use by various types of the performing arts, including dance, music and theatre. in the Student Union featuring the CSUN Jazz Band. General admission is $6.50, and student/senior admission is $3.50. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster. (Discount tickets only available on campus.) May 3: ``A Jazzy jazz·y adj. jazz·i·er, jazz·i·est 1. Resembling jazz in form or nature; rhythmical. 2. Slang Showy; flashy: a jazzy car. Evening Dinner Dance'' at Braemar Country Club in Tarzana. Proceeds to benefit the Help Youth Foundation and the H.E.L.P. Group. Admission is $60. Call the H.E.L.P. Group at (818) 779-5212 for reservations. May 4: ``Jazz at the Boys & Girls Club,'' 2 p.m. at the Boys & Girls Club, 11251 Glenoaks Blvd., Pacoima. Free. May 4: ``An Evening of Romance.'' Jazz concert at 8 p.m. at the CSUN Performing Arts Center in the Student Union. General admission is $6.50 and student/senior admission is $3.50. May 5-8: ``Jazz on Film'' series at the AMC 16 Promenade Theaters in Woodland Hills. Admission is $7.50 each evening. Call (818) 883-0706 for tickets and information. May 10: Jazz Improv Clinic at 1 p.m. in the CSUN Recital Hall. Admission is $10; $5 for seniors and students. May 17-18: ``Jazz on the Lake'' features a wide range of musical acts, including Jeff Lorber, Les Brown and his Band of Renown, Rick Braun, the Ink Spots, Bryan Savage, Poncho Sanchez and Bobby Rodriguez, performing on three stages starting at noon Saturday and Sunday at Lake Balboa in Encino. Admission is $17.50 per day or $30 for both days, with children ages 5 through 12 admitted for $8. Advance sale and group discount tickets are available until May 1. Tickets available through Ticketmaster. Call (818) 703-7859 for advance tickets and information. New Valley festival shines its light on America's only home-grown art form (2) Woodland Hills-based saxophonist Bryan Savage, one of some 60 performers at the San Fernando Valley Jazz Festival, finds success by mixing different musical styles. (3) Festival performer Rick Braun thinks jazz's popularity is on the upswing. Also of Woodland Hills, he produced Savage's ``Catfood'' album. (4) Clarinetist-flutist Abe Most, who's organizing the Valley festival, kicks it off with a concert for seniors. Phil McCarten/Daily News Box: Swingin' Valley month (See text) CAPTION(S): 4 Photos, Box |
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