I know it’s early… way early… but I still can’t help but get excited about our upcoming Eau Claire Jazz Festival. In its 42nd year, the festival has gotten a huge boost by drawing on the local arts community and tapping into resources throughout the Chippewa Valley. The festival is beginning to take on a new life thanks to organizer Patty Horecki and her army of volunteers and interns. They have broadened the scope of the festival by bringing in visual artists, more clubs and local performance venues (my jazz band played at Oakwood Mall as part of the event last year), and poets to give it a more community based feel. Eau Claire is a jazz town after all and there is a lot of talent to put on display.

And then there is the festival week. It’s a week later than usual this year – April 2-5 – to kick off the start of National Jazz Appreciation Month. There are some great guests coming to Eau Claire. One of the hottest tenor players out there, Chris Potter, will be in town along with Jiggs Whigham on Trombone. And of course there will be UWEC Jazz I along with all of the outstanding talent from colleges and high schools throughout Wisconsin and the upper Midwest. It’s a must-attend event!

Check out this awesome video of Chris Potter! I got to jam with him at the University of Minnesota when I was in high school. He came to town on tour with the Mingus Big Band. (This is not video of that jam session… I know you’re disappointed)

Recently I was leafing through my current issue of Downbeat Magazine and I found out that one of my all-time favorite albums, Kind of Blue, is turning 50. To celebrate its release Columbia Records has rereleased the album in a special case loaded with alternate takes, false starts, a DVD and many supplemental liner notes. It’s sure to be a jazz enthusiasts dream – I am going to purchase it as soon as I finish writing this – chock full of historical detail and new material that may have never been seen before.

What makes this so historical? What is it about this album that draws people in and why does it have such broad appeal? I think the answer lies in the simplicity of the five tracks that make up the original release and the personalities of the musicians who came to the table for this historic recording. Jazz of the late 1950s was still a world very much influenced by bebop. Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie blazed on to the scene in the 1940s and turned jazz on its head as the swing era gave way to the harmonic complexities and technical abilities of bebop music. This sound continued to be refined and developed in different ways by artists like Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz, J.J. Johnson and others. What Miles Davis did in his 1959 release was give listeners a chance to breathe. The music was less about technical virtuosity and more about space, simplicity and melody. For instance two of the tracks are straight up blues and one track, So What, has only two chords.

Kind of Blue was the first record that I could play along with as a teenager. I transcribed the bass melody on So What and listened intently to Miles, Coltrane and Cannonball and played along with as much of their solos as I could. I formed my first jazz combo in high school and we played several songs from the Kind of Blue album as part of our repertoire. We were able to mimic the style of the legendary Miles Davis Sextet and feel a part of the lineage of jazz. We premiered our versions of Freddie Freeloader and So What at Hava Java in Apple Valley, Minnesota on a warm summer evening in 1995. Similarly I have introduced many of my own students to jazz and transcribing by playing having them work on solos from Kind of Blue. What high school trumpet player that really digs jazz hasn’t sat down and figured out Miles’s solo on So What, especially the legendary opening line “Ba-Ba-Doo-Bop?” I’ve taught many students the beginnings of improvisation by simply having them play over the changes to So What or Freddie Freeloader. Basic knowledge of mixolydian and dorian scales is all it takes to sound like a superstar.

Kind of Blue is an all-time classic and after 50 years it still speaks as clearly as it did when it came out.

Look here for clips of Miles Davis playing with Coltrane.

Check this site out for more information about Miles.

Here is something noteworthy: The Artists' Quarter in St. Paul just celebrated 13 years in its current location in downtown St. Paul. The AQ is a unique club that often takes a backseat to the more flashy décor and nationally known acts that grace the stage at the Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis. Owned by drummer Kenny Horst (a well known drummer on the local scene in St. Paul) the AQ hosts local and regional acts almost exclusively while also playing host to an occasional national act. Here’s a great article about the 13th anniversary celebration on jazzpolice.com.

I really appreciate what the AQ does for the Twin Cities and the rest of the region. It allows local musicians an opportunity to experiment with different musical settings and offers professionals, who often play in commercials or pit orchestras, the chance to open up and play the music that they love. One of my early mentors on the saxophone, Brian Grivna, plays at least once a month at the AQ. His sets are electrifying and showcase his virtuosic talent on saxophone, clarinet and flute. He plays with fire and passion. Normally he plays the woodwind parts in pits across the Twin Cities but when he plays at the AQ the gloves come off. It’s inspiring.

When I was growing up in Rosemount, Minnesota, the AQ used to host a jam session every Saturday afternoon. My friends and I would drive up to St. Paul to sit in. Players good and bad from all over the place would come to the club to play. There were days when it was packed and I waited forever to get on stage for a song or two but there were other days when I could get up and blow chorus after chorus and really get a work out. I remember playing Body and Soul with some cats that were way outta my league. I mean, these guys were from another planet. I got ripped to shreds and still had to get up and finish off the tune. What a lesson – baptism by fire. I still feel the burns to this day.

I guess the most amazing thing about the AQ is that even after 13 years at its current location it still manages to make it. It’s not the flashiest club in the world. It doesn’t host national acts all that much. It doesn’t pay the greatest to the musicians. What it does provide is a consistent, solid outlet for local jazz. It gives musicians and audiences a chance to come together and experience music and to create something unique each night. Perhaps we could take a lesson from the Artists Quarter in Eau Claire. Maybe we’re ready to create this opportunity. In a town of bars and rock bands I feel like this could be a model for jazz in Eau Claire.

Check out these great videos from the AQ.

Sometimes I get frustrated with Eau Claire. I want it all. I want jazz every night of the week. I want a club, kind of like the Dakota in Minneapolis, right in downtown Eau Claire. I want high profile acts several times a month. When I look around town all I see is a sprinkling of jazz here and there.

The jazz scene in Eau Claire ebbs and flows and is highly dependent on individuals to create it. Several years ago the Stones Throw hosted a Monday night line-up that featured the Dixieland sounds of Conrad Johns and the hip, sophisticated style of Andrew Neesley. Local artists like John Raymond and Ben Dobay were making albums and releasing them at the Nucleus. We had a local jazz heyday.

What happens when people like this leave the jazz scene in Eau Claire? Are these people truly “local artists?” I think the answer is this: Eau Claire is a minor league town when it comes to jazz. We train people to be monster players and musicians, we nurture and support their talent and then they go to the big leagues like Minneapolis, Chicago and New York. Is this bad? Yes and no. Yes because we suffer a musical brain drain when all of our talent grows up and leaves, but no because we get to see young artists truly develop.

It’s always been interesting for me to see how a few entrepreneurial individuals are able to make things happen around here. Andy Neesley schmoozed his way into Monday night jazz at the Stones Throw and created an amazing place to hang for its patrons. When he left attendance floundered and the Throw dropped the entire lineup due to lack of interest. Scott Curier convinced the owners of the Shanghi Bistro to have jazz on the weekends and a venue for musicians was born.

Probably the most important thing for us as Eau Claire residents and patrons of the arts is to support the music where it’s happening. We’re never going to have a scene like Minneapolis in this town but we can aspire to that. All it takes is the vision of artists and club owners and the patronage of jazz enthusiasts.

TUESDAY: So much jazz crammed into one evening that to consume it all you must wear loose fitting pants and a belt with extra holes!

This Tuesday at the Eau Claire Regional Arts Center (that’s the State Theater if you didn’t already know) hosts Jazz @ 5.  It’s a jazz happy hour from 5-6:30 PM featuring local artists.  It’s a great place to stop and hear some great music on your way home from work and also have a snack or two.  This event, back by popular demand, started last March during the first annual Jazz in the Valley month as a lead up to the UW-Eau Claire Jazz Festival. 

Also on Tuesday from 7-10 PM the Acoustic Café will host an event called “The International Jazz Fling.”  This is an event featuring students from all over the place bringing together their musical talents for one night of solid entertainment. 

Thursday: Jazz Rocks

Check out the Walk/Klenz Sextet at the House of Rock on Thursday at 9 PM.  This group is a fixture on the Eau Claire jazz scene.  Led by trumpeter Jeff Walk and vocalist Adrian Klenz this is a powerhouse playing music from all over the musical spectrum.  The House of Rock has been hosting these guys ever since the Stone’s Throw ditched its Monday night jazz line-up about a year ago. 

Check it out hip cats!