It seems there are 2 camps of people with opinions about Stan Kenton and his music - you love it or hate it. I belong to the former.

I first got to know Stan Kenton’s music via the double lp Stan Kenton Today. I simply loved what I heard. Unlike other kids born in the early 1950s, I grew up with the sounds of the big band era - Benny Goodman, Harry James, Count Basie and Duke Ellington. As a young trumpet player the new-to-me sound of Kenton’s brass section was an absolute thrill, unlike any of the other big bands I had heard up to that time. I also found the compositions and arrangements interesting, and this was before I had ever written a note of music.  The lp, released on the Decca/London Records Phase 4 Stereo series, was lean on information about the players in the band as well as the arrangers. One of the arrangements really jumped out at me - Yesterdays, which featured Richard Torres on tenor. For a while I wondered who wrote that wonderful arrangement. Another arrangement I really enjoyed was Malaguena. Talk about exciting! I eventually found out that someone named Bill Holman wrote both of those arrangements. Bill Holman quickly came to the top of my list of favourite arrangers as I found other recordings featuring his outstanding writing. When I started to write Holman became a major influence on my own work and he continues to be an important influence on my own work today. This double lp soon led me to other Kenton lps, some recorded by his then current band and some reissues, all released on Stan Kenton’s Creative World label. What an interesting variety of sounds Kenton recorded! The early 1940s Luncefordesque rhythmic style, the emphasis on the saxophones in his earliest recordings, the increasing size of the brass section, the upward direction in range of the trumpet players, the sometimes almost classical, sometimes non-swinging, but engaging music of the mid to late 1940s, the Innovations Orchestra of 1950-51, the New Concepts of Artistry in Rhythm band full of top notch soloists, Cuban Fire, the mellophonium band of the early 1960s, the LA Neophonic Orchestra and his last bands of the 1970s. I love it all!

This December 15 marks the 100th year since Kenton’s birth and many big bands around the world are presenting Kenton concerts. As the director of the University of British Columbia Jazz Ensemble I, I felt I too wanted to do a program of Kenton’s music. I also felt it was important to expose my students to the Kenton sound and style through playing some of the music recorded by his bands and this centennial provided the perfect opportunity. For a concert program I thought that I would try to give the audience a cross section of the music he made with his bands - from the early 1940s to the end of an era in 1979. Choosing this program was overwhelming to say the least. I needed some help, or a way to deal with all the charts he recorded. Of course I started with those arrangements and compositions that are readily available through Sierra Music Publications. I then loaded my numerous Kenton cds into itunes, created a playlist and started listening. Some charts jumped out as being iconic Kenton material - Artistry in Rhythm (Stan Kenton), Opus In Pastels (Stan Kenton), Malaguena (arranged by Bill Holman) and Intermission Riff. But I thought we should also work on some of his less performed music - Improvisation (Bill Russo), Portrait of A Count (Bill Russo), Machito (Pete Rugolo) and Three Thoughts (Dee Barton). To round out the program I thought we should play something by the audacious Bob Graettinger so we are working on Modern Opus. Johnny Richards is represented by Artemis and Apollo, Recuerdos and El Congo Valiente. Bill Holman is represented by Bags, Malguena and his deconstruction of What’s New?. We are even working on Pete Rugolo’s Fugue For Rhythm Section.

I also decided I wanted UBC Jazz Ensemble II, directed by Dennis Esson, involved. This allowed a greater range of music to be played without killing off all the brass players. Listening to, and rehearsing, this music has created some keen interest and curiosity in many of the students. They have learned quite a bit about Count Basie and Duke Ellington over the years, but many were unaware, or were only vaguely aware, of Stan Kenton and his musical legacy. They also did not know he was a pioneer in jazz education, the very thing that helped create the opportunity to study and perform big band jazz.

Even though I am very familiar with all these Kenton recordings I have to say it has been an immense pleasure to wallow in Kentonia for the past 3 or 4 weeks.

UBC Jazz I will present a short mixed program, which will include several pieces recorded by Stan Kenton, at noon on Monday, November 14, 2011 at the Robson Square Theatre in downtown Vancouver. UBC Jazz I will then play a 1 hour program of Kenton material at noon on Thursday, December 1 in the Roy Barnett Recital Hall at UBC. Finally, both UBC Jazz Ensembles will present a full evening program of Kentonia at 8:00pm on Monday, December 5th, also in the Roy Barnett Recital Hall. All concerts are free.

Here is a list of the pieces the UBC Jazz Ensembles are working on:

El Congo Valiente - Johnny Richards
Portrait of a Count - Bill Russo
Modern Opus - Bob Graettinger
What’s New? - arranged by Bill Holman
Three Thoughts - Dee Barton
Artemis and Apollo - Johnny Richards
Rise and Fall of a Short Fugue - Bob Curnow
Decoupage - Hank Levy
Intermission Riff - Ray Wetzel
But Beautiful - arranged by Lennie Niehaus
Improvisation - Bill Russo
Artistry in Rhythm - Stan Kenton
Machito - Pete Rugolo
Willow Weep For Me - arranged by Bill Mathieu
Malaguena - arranged by Bill Holman
Young Blood - Gerry Mulligan
Opus In Pastels - Stan Kenton
Fugue For Rhythm Section - Pete Rugolo
Bags - Bill Holman
Elegy for Alto - Pete Rugolo
Kingfish - Bill Holman
The Blues Story - Gene Roland
Recuerdos - Johnny Richards
Whatever Lola Wants - arranged by Lennie Niehaus
Unison Riff - Pete Rugolo
Reed Rapture [aka Reed Rhapsody] - Stan Kenton
Southern Scandal - Stan Kenton

Of course the is no way, short of playing a 4 hour concert, that we could play all these on our next concerts but those that get dropped from this concert series will be scheduled for a performance on one of the concerts in the new year. At UBC we will be celebrating Stan Kenton for the entire school year. For more information on the UBC Jazz Ensembles go to <http://www.music.ubc.ca/student-ensembles/jazz.html>

Duke Ellington 1965

Here were are once again, having the great fortune to be able to perform some of Duke Ellington’s Sacred Music. This will be our 3rd time performing this great music in an effort to support the First United Church and their mission to help the homeless on the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. This concert has started to become a yearly highlight for me and I’m sure it is the same for all the other performers and organizers.

Duke Ellington described this music: “This music is the most important thing I’ve ever done, or am ever likely to do. This is personal, not career. Now I can say out loud to all the world what I have been saying to myself for years on my knees.” While the centre of this music is the spirituality, it never feels overtly so. Nor does the singing take over, with the jazz orchestra taking a strict accompaniment role. Every performer is integral to the music. This was always one of Duke’s striking compositional traits, everyone contributed to the sound of the music in a deep, meaningful way. The great big band in our concerts, which is made up of some of the finest jazz performers in Vancouver, which in addition to a superb accompaniment role, shines on two instrumental features and provides a generous amount of solo statements throughout the evening. This is a total jazz experience.

For our 2011 concert presentation we are adding, or rather changing around, a few songs for this third performance. New this year are Is God A Three Letter Word For Love and Ain’t Nobody Nowhere Nothin’ Without God, both from Duke’s Third Sacred Concert and Meditation from the Second Sacred Concert. Also on the program are Come Sunday, Praise God and Dance, The Lord’s Prayer, It’s Freedom, Don’t Get Down on Your Knees To Pray, David Danced Before the Lord, In The Beginning (which won the 1966 Grammy award for best jazz composition), Tell Me It’s The Truth, The Shepherd, Ninety-Nine Percent and The Biggest and Busiest Intersection, which is an all out jazz tour-de force for the band.

It was singer Dee Daniels who really got the ball rolling on performing this wonderful music. We had done a concert for Festival Vancouver in 2008 titled Duke, Dee and Me. Dee sang some Ellington songs at the concert, one of which was Tell Me It’s The Truth, from one of Ellington’s Sacred Concerts. In her little preamble before we performed the tune she put forth to the audience how great it would be to perform Duke’s Sacred Music in Vancouver. Someone in the audience contacted her and away we all went. A partnership with First United Church, supporting their mission helping the homeless on the Downtown Eastside, was the final result.

What superlatives can I write about Dee Daniels that hasn’t already been said? I guess all I really need to say is that working with Dee is always a great pleasure. Not only is she a great singer, but she is a very warm person who cares deeply about every single aspect of the concert. For more on Dee click here

Last year was the first time I had ever worked with Marcus Mosely. I had seen him perform a few times over the years and I do remember meeting him briefly at a concert that we were involved with up at Whistler a few years ago. Marcus, like Dee, is also very warm and professional. And man, can he sing! For more on Marcus click here

Tap dancer Alex Dugale joined us for the first time last year. Alex is originally from Seattle and is currently finishing his music degree in saxophone performance at the Eastman School of Music. Alex’s tap techinque, impeccable time and imagination are fantastic to behold. He plays jazz with his feet!

The 12 voice Sacred Music Gospel Choir is comprised of some top level professional singers and they are also great nice to work with. The first year we had the wonderful Phoenix Choir but their busy schedule did not allow them to continue for a second year. However, a few members of that choir, along with other interested and skillful singers, wanted to continue to be a part of the performance. The choir which is managed by Mike Angell and Rob Hollins is: Corlynn Hanney, Crystal Hicks, Erin Hollins, Gregory Ferrugia, Matthew Smith, Miles Ramsay, Mike Angell, Patti Fletcher, Phil Jenion, Rob Hollins, Sara Ramsay, Siri Olesen.

This year we are being joined by the gospel group The Sojourners. The Sojouners are Marcus Mosely, Will Sanders and Khari McClelland. For more on the group  click here

Finally, the orchestra, or rather big band, is made up of some of my favourite Vancouver musicians. Their passion for making music and their individual and collective skill sets are truly world class. I always feel I have the best seat in the house when I stand in front of them.

Orchestra Personnel:

Conductor/Director: Fred Stride
Saxophones: Jens Christiansen, Aaron Hardie, Bill Runge, Mike Braverman, Chad Makela
Trumpets: Derry Byrne, Kent Wallace, Tom Shorthouse, Chris Davis
Trombones: Dennis Esson, Rod Murray, Jeremy Berkman
Piano: Ross Taggart
Bass: Andre Lachance
Drums: Bernie Arai

Our host, as for the past 2 years, is CBC’s Rick Cluff. Rick, like everyone else connected with this production, is also great to work with. He is warm and knowledgeable and a genuine fan of both the music and performers. Since this concert does not take place in a formal concert hall, but in a large church, Dee and I felt that the experience needed a little “help.” Amplification, or microphones are used only on the solo singers, choir and instrumental soloists, while the band is heard acoustically. Staging is also brought in to elevate the performers above floor level, giving us a stage. Finally, the concert is filmed and shown on a giant screen behind the performers, greatly adding the concert experience.

I hope you can join us for this great evening of music and dance and The Sacred Music of Duke Ellington.

For more on First United Church and their great work click here

Purchase tickets through www.eventbrite.com click here

Event: Sacred Music of Duke Ellington

Date: Friday, November 18, 2011 at 8:00 PM (doors open at 7:00)

Location: St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church 1012 Nelson Street (Corner of Burrard & Nelson) Vancouver, British Columbia

The Sacred Music of Duke Ellington concert is a fundraising event for the work of First United Church, a place of refuge for people who are homeless on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. For more information, please visit www.firstunited.ca.

This was my first big-time pro band with a real mix in generations - with Dave Robbins being the senior member down to those of us in our early and mid-twenties. I would have been 25. Some of these great players have retired from playing - Herb Besson, Dave Montgomery and Blaine Tringham. Some have moved away - Don Clark and Gary Guthman. Some have passed away - Dave Robbins, Bob MacDonald and Lew Hilton. The rest of us are still at it in some form or another.

The personnel are, starting on the right for each section:
Saxes - Tom Keenlyside (tenor), Jack Stafford (alto), Bob MacDonald (alto), Al Wold (tenor), Lew Hilton (Baritone)
Trombones - Herb Besson, Dave Robbins, Dave Montgomery, Sharman King
Trumpets - Blaine Tringham, Jamie Croil, Gary Guthman, Don Clark
Rhythm Section - Dave Sinclair (guitar)(at the far end of the trombones), Bob Murphy (piano). Unfortunately neither Rene Worst (bass) or Graham Boyle (drums) are visible.

We recently wrapped up UBC Summer Music Institute #19. It seems like yesterday that my old UBC associate Marty Berinbaum (now retired) began the camp. We’ve had many talented kids go through the program over the years and this year was no different. And, as always, my job was directing jazz ensembles.

Week 1 - Intermediate Jazz Band

The first week I worked with younger students in the intermediate jazz band (big band). This year we had students ranging in age from 12 to 17, with 14 probably being the average age.

Interestingly, the numbers were down this year in the saxophone section (go figure that one!). I ended up with 1 alto (a real mystery), 2 tenors and a bari. There were 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 guitar, 1 bass and 2 drummers (no piano). I also had some junior counselors (senior high school students) helping out and filling in some of the holes in the sections (alto 2 and piano).

As I always like to do, we read through a few charts on Sunday afternoon and again on Monday morning before I decided on a final concert program. The first week of the camp goes very quickly so there is not much time to spend on reading, although I feel strongly that this needs to be done.

Tuesday afternoon was the faculty recital with some of the jazz faculty ending the concert. I played piano, which is something I’ve been pursuing with a little more intensity in the past couple of years. Joining me were Adam Jones (bass), Alex Flock (guitar) and Bernie Arai (drums), who became a dad for the second time the very next day. Congratulations to Bernie!

Stan Kenton

To help give this years camp a stronger musical focus, we celebrated Stan Kenton’s 100th birthday (December 15, 1911) by listening to a few recordings and reading through some pieces associated with his bands.

Since the music performed by Kenton’s band was beyond the technical capabilities of such young musicians, we worked from my new junior band arrangements of Artistry in Rhythm and Intermission Riff. Also on the concert program were Work In Progress by Gordon Goodwin, Paul Murtha’s arrangement of What Is Hip?, Winter Poem by Sammy Nestico and Michael Sweeney’s arrangement of Mas Que Nada.

The final concert was a great success with the band really peaking on What Is Hip?. It’s great to hear such young players concentrating on the details and still bringing substantial energy and fun to the performance. The Intermediate Jazz Band was then followed by the Intermediate Concert Band, directed by Bryan Knapp, another original UBC Summer Music Institute faculty member. Bryan is a marvelous conductor and he can really get the younger musicians following his every move. To use a little “jazz speak” - “they were very tight.”

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Week 2 - Senior Jazz Band

Week 2 was with the older students, with a wide range in age, from 14 to 69. And, because the enrollment was up this year for senior jazz, we ended up having 2 bands. My colleague Dennis Esson directed the “other band.”

As a first order of business, Dennis and I had to divide up the students to create 2 big bands of equal ability. To help us recognize the abilities of the students we had them read through two of Sammy Nestico’s great charts - A Little Blues Please and The Blues Doctor. Both charts are relatively easy to play, with just enough reading challenges to help us gauge their skill level and with the flexibility to be opened up for solos. Because we had 8 alto saxophone players, we had them play in pairs and in various combinations. The other instruments switched off, sometimes returning in a different combination. Helping us with this task were my RA (rehearsal assistant) Adam Gough (saxophone) and guitar instructor Alex Flock. After hearing all the students play we chose 2 lead altos, 2 lead trumpets and 2 lead trombones. We then filled in each section making sure to spread out the soloists. We did not want to have any band ranking, no #1 and #2 band.

Dennis’ group ended up with 4 altos, 3 tenors, 1 bari, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, 2 guitars, 1 piano, 2 basses, 1 drummer. My group had 4 altos, 2 tenors, 1 bari, 3 trumpets, 4 trombones, 2 guitars, 1 piano, 2 basses, 2 drummers and 1 mallet player (vibes, marimba with some latin percussion). We were a little lean on trumpets this year, but all 6 six were excellent players topped by 2 very superior lead players. BTW - all the performers dressed in blue shirts in the photos below are councilors who function as camp assistants. Their help contributes greatly to the success of the camp.

Each band then set off to their respective rehearsal spaces to spend the remainder of the first day reading through various charts. Rather than start working right away on the music for the Saturday concert I prefer to read (as does Dennis). By doing this the students become exposed to many more writers than they would in their school bands. This also has the added benefit of helping them work on their reading skills, which can be a serious issue for many high school students. Another benefit is I can really get to know their skill sets, including who likes to solo and how well they might be able to solo. There is no point in choosing repertoire that has solo sections beyond the capabilities of the available soloists.

On Monday and Tuesday mornings Dennis and I worked with our own groups and after lunch we changed places. I felt this was important to all the students and would go a fair ways to help eliminate the inevitable perspective of an A band and B band. We preferred Dennis’ band and Fred’s band, although the office used red and blue.

This year only Monday and Friday afternoons were set aside for 3:00-5:00 recreational activities. The Tuesday rec. period was given over to the faculty concert, which was composed of solo pieces and assorted small ensembles performing an eclectic mix of classical music and jazz. The faculty jazz band was made up of myself at the piano, Adam Jones on bass, Alex Flock on guitar, and stepping in on drums, for an absent Bernie Arai (a new father), was current UBC student Jeremy Lawi. Our front line was Dennis Esson on trombone and Mike Braverman on tenor sax. I had a great time playing with the guys and hearing their great solo work. Mike, as always, set the room on fire with one of his solos.

Wednesday afternoon was set aside for master classes for all instruments. I was in charge of all the rhythm section instruments. Perhaps playing would have been nicer, but we ended up talking about practicing, music education, life and many other things both musical and non-musical. Recreation period on Thursday had sessions for flutes and brass, with the brass session being a mouthpiece manufacturer demonstration and tryout. Most days ended at either 3:00pm or 5:00 pm, but Monday and Friday were long days beginning at 9:00am running until noon, then another 2 hour rehearsal from 1:00-3:00. We would then meet again at 7:00pm and finish at 9:30. Still, I always felt good at the end of each day. The kids were great to work with, both serious and willing.

With my group we read through various charts on the first 3 days of the camp including: Machito (Pete Rugolo), Artistry In Metal (Artistry In Rhythm) (Stan Kenton arr. Fred Stride), Groovemeister (Les Hooper), Artistry in Rhythm (Stan Kenton), Big Dipper (Thad Jones), Time Waits For No One (Sammy Nestico), Street of Dreams (Victor Young arr. Stan Kenton), Chunga’s Revenge (Frank Zappa, arr. Fred Stride), Black Nightgown (Johnny Mandel), Shadrack (McGimsey arr. Bill Holman), Dancing Nightly (Bill Holman), Rompin’ At The Reno (Benny Carter), Riba (Duke Ellington arr. Ron Collier), Bags (Bill Holman), Intermission Riff (Ray Wetzel/Stan Kenton), Blues Express (Shorty Rogers), Michelangelo (Astor Piazzolla arr. Fred Sturm), and Pacific Swing which was composed by our lead trombone player, Jared Richardson.

This group of students turned out to be quite decent in the reading department, which allowed us to plow through all this music. It seemed that most of the kids, in both weeks I might add, loved the reading experience and many of them told me they don’t read very much in their school band and they could feel their reading getting stronger. I think we could have easily read new charts every day. But there is a point when it is better to concentrate on a few pieces and work on conceptual and performance skills.

The final concert at the Chan Centre on Saturday afternoon began with Dennis Esson’s group performing Les Hooper’s The Residual Fire Dance, Ascending by Fred Sturm, my version of Willie Maiden’s A Little Minor Booze, Bill Holman’s Kingfish, Bob Curnow’s beautiful arrangement of Pat Metheny’s Always and Forever, poignantly played by trumpet player Thad Mai and my arrangement of Earth, Wind and Fire’s Runnin’. Dennis’ rehearsal assistant was Cam Golinsky, who also taught trombone lessons and took care of all the jazz ensemble library needs. Thanks Cam! Cam is dressed in the yellow camp shirt seated in the trombone section. My rehearsal assistant Adam Gough filled in on tenor to cover for one of the students who had to leave that same morning.

Thad Mai soloing on Always and Forever

Dennis Esson's Jazz Band - aka Blue Band

My band followed and we began our set with Ernie Wilkins’ arrangement for the Count Basie band of Moten Swing. I think there are very few greater moments in big band music than that first ff horn figure going into the bridge in the first chorus. Wow!

Ol’ Man River is Bill Holman’s rousing arrangement of Jerome Kern’s classic tune. This chart features several soloists, particularly tenor sax and drums. The drummer on this chart, Miles Wong, was in great form throughout. Holman’s independent writing can be a little disconcerting for younger players that are used to full sectional work or block-type voicings. His approach demands that everyone play with strength and conviction and not to just follow the lead player, not unlike playing Ellington or Mingus.

Steve Owen’s new arrangement of Radiohead’s Kid A was up next. This chart is part of a new series published by Sierra Music Publications of the music of Radiohead.  The students were really into playing this one. Overall the parts aren’t too hard, but the chart does require a skillful drummer and a strong trumpet soloist. Our trumpet soloist was Alex Gambrel, a recent recipient of a Fraser MacPherson Scholarship.

Loco-Motion is my 2009 UBC Summer Institute composition (published by Sierra Music Publications). This is a straight ahead blues chart that can easily be opened up for solos. We did find that it was better to open up the the trumpet solo section, where the rhythm section can be looser and really groove. This chart was directed by my rehearsal assistant, Adam Gough, a current UBC music major and aspiring music educator. I have always tried to create opportunities for students to get their feet wet directing the big band in both rehearsal and performance settings.

Adam Gough directing the Red Jazz Band

My newest UBC Summer Music Institute jazz band piece is It’s Just You And Me. This chart is a slow ensemble outing based on a reharmonization of an old standard. I alternated 4 bar phrases of a rhythm section-less chorale with a Li’l Darlin’ style ensemble melody. Between each 8 bar section I inserted a 4 bar phrase, or interlude, which I had intended the piano to solo over. For our performance I had the vibes take those short solos. The second chorus consists of a 16 bar piano solo with no interludes. The final B and A sections are more alternating chorales and swing feels, but occurring in different places than in the first chorus. I was fairly pleased with this one and it didn’t require too much work from the students. The main focus in rehearsal was tuning, blend and releases. When those things happen the group really becomes a much more mature sounding ensemble.

Johnny Richards’ El Congo Valiente from Cuban Fire concluded our portion of the concert. This arrangement was written by Richards in the early 1960s for high school bands, but it’s still a challenge and closely resembles the original. We had all the necessary percussion on this one and they really added to the performance.

El Congo Valiente

For a “really big band” finale we combined both jazz bands and played Pete Rugolo’s Artistry in Percussion featuring all 3 drummers at 3 different kits. We also had all 4 basses and all 4 guitars playing with both the piano players sharing the bench. This was quite the visual and aural experience, especially the trumpet soli played by 7 trumpets and the 3 drummers.

Massed Senior Jazz Band - Artistry in Percussion

The week was a very successful and both jazz bands were in excellent form throughout the concert. We were followed by a concert band directed by John Van Deursen, made up of visiting students from Hong Kong and Taiwan as well as some local students. They were followed by the Senior Concert Band directed by my colleague Dr. Robert Taylor (UBC Director of Bands) and Yeh Shu Han a very fine trumpet player and conductor from Taiwan. Like the jazz bands, these groups really played well. It is always a treat to hear all the groups on the final concert.

I’m looking forward to #20.

Sunday was my travel day to Montreal - during a heavy snowfall. Jocelyn Couture drove me, along with tenor player Chet Doxas and trombonist Taylor Donaldson. All I can say is it proved to be a bit of a white knuckle trip. Jocelyn is very good driver, but coming from the west coast where we don’t get a lot of snow, the speed of the trip took me aback. I ended the day by having dinner at my good friend Ron Di Lauro’s place. What a great cook! Jocelyn Couture and Aron Doyle joined us. It was great see to see Aron again. Aron had been a student of mine at UBC when I first started working out there over 2o years ago. Another connection with Aron is that I had worked a fair bit with his jazz pianist father Bob when I was just starting out as a working trumpet player. Bob Doyle is one those all to common unsung great musicians that exist everywhere, but go unrecorded, and often unappreciated. Bob was always very nice to me, as well as encouraging. I guess it helped that I knew more than a few old tunes.

March 7, 2011 - Day 6

My first day in Montreal was fairly light. I had the morning free to spend a little time reading the new Thelonious Monk bio by Robin Kelley. What a great read! I love the way Kelley weaves the historical-social background into Monk’s story. One of the best jazz musician biographies I have ever read. After lunch I met up with Ron Di Lauro and we made our way to McGill University for some sessions with a couple of the big bands.

Since McGill big bands 1 and 2 rehearse at the same time it was decided that I would spend about 45 minutes with each group. I started out with the schools top big band, directed by Gordon Foote. Gordon had asked me to bring 1 or 2 things with me for the band to read through. One of the pieces I brought along was The Spanish Tinge. This is an aggressive and uptempo number that shifts between 3/4 and 4/4, which at one point has the drummer playing in 4/4 while everyone else is in 3/4. What can I say about the quality of this “student” band? The band read it down like they had been working on it for weeks, or even months. I was quite impressed by their overall musicianship. This is a very professional band in both skill and attitude. There are some great players coming up. I finished off this 45 minute session talking a little about my music and answering a few questions.

I then moved across the hall to spend a little time with Ron Di Lauro’s band, McGill’s number 2 big band. This band was working on 3 student compositions/arrangements. But instead of dealing directly with the band and performance issues, I ended up giving a little critique and advice to each of the writers.

After the big band sessions I met up with the folks that are developing a new virtual music-minus-one - The Open Orchestra. My connection to this research project is through my work as an instructor at UBC, which is involved in the development of the project, and that two of my big band pieces are being used in the project - Something For Ernie and Among The Pyramids (both published by Sierra Music Publications). This is a great idea, which is still in the development stage, a 21st century version of the old “play along” recording. In this case the student sits at computer console and through the use of an additional 3 video screens is actually placed into the band. For example if the student plays first trombone they would see the director and the rest of the band from that vantage point. They would also hear the sound from the rest of the band coming at them from the same perspective - the first trumpet would be coming from behind, the drums to the right and the saxophones in front, just as in a real band. For more info go to click here and click here

The Open Orchestra - The student perspective

I then went out for dinner with Ron Di Lauro, Chris Lane, my old trumpet playing friend, who drove up from Ottawa, and writer/trumpet player Joe Sullivan and his wife. I had a great time meeting Joe and discussing jazz arranging and composition. By the way Joe has a terrific new big band CD out - Joe Sullivan Big Band: Northern Ontario Suite (Perry Lake Records).

Joe Sullivan Big Band

March 8, 2011 - Day 7

On Tuesday morning Ron picked me up and we made our way to the University of Montreal for a jazz composition/arranging session and a big band rehearsal. Two things concerned me about this visit - the University of Montreal is French speaking school and while I did take 5 years of French in high school like most Canadian students, I do not speak any French. I wasn’t particularly good in my high school French class and I haven’t used the language since. The other thing was they left the approach/topics up to me for the writing session. Well, I should not have been concerned, the students were wonderful and accommodated me by speaking in English. As far as a topic went I thought I might play some excerpts from a couple of my recordings. I started with a few things from my big band CD The Fred Stride Jazz Orchestra: Forward Motion. I talked about the pieces, the inspirations for the pieces and how I set about putting those ideas into a musical form. Then, while the track was playing I would point out a few things. I felt by starting the session this way I would show my creative jazz side. I followed this up by playing a few things from my CBC recording Showboat which is a jazzy orchestral disc. My main purpose in playing things from this disc was to emphasize the importance of a broad technique. I played them everything from straight up orchestral pops, an imitation of Mozart, to a blending of Robert Farnon, Ravel and Bartok in an arrangement of All The Things You Are (Showboat - CBC Records). That particular arrangement, which I originally wrote in 1985 for a CBC project with Symphony Nova Scotia, always gets a strong, positive reaction.

With the University of Montreal Big Band we worked on Opposition Party and part of the commission I wrote for the 2008 SOCAN/IAJE Phil Nimmons Established Composer Award - By All Accounts: Out There… This piece was premiered at the final IAJE Conference in Toronto in January 2008 and Paul Read’s Orchestra had the “misfortune” to be chosen to play this beast. Maybe I should start writing in 4/4 again? This piece, which is not for the faint of heart, is an uptempo work that avoids II-V relationships and never settles on a particular meter for too long, even changing metre in the middle of phrases. The UofM sounded very good, and its great to see and hear bands that take your difficult music seriously and strive to play it well.

The afternoon jazz composition and arranging session at McGill was very well attended and extremely satisfying. I took the same approach here as I did at the University of Montreal earlier in the day - playing excerpts from the same cds and making comments as the music played. The session ended with a question period. Interestingly, in all 3 writing master classes (Humber, UofM, McGill) I was never asked how to voice such-and-such chord. All the questions were general in nature with a few dealing with esthetics.

March 9, 2011 - Day 8

For my final day in Montreal I met up with clarinetist/tenor saxophonist James Danderfer, who is from Vancouver and working on his master’s degree at McGill. We wandered down a very cold Saint Catharines Street slowly making our way to Old Montreal. I know, I’m a west coast wuss. I’ll take the rain over the cold. We stopped in at a nice bistro for some breakfast then made our way to a museum. I love museums and art galleries and the Pointe-à-Callière Museum of Archaeology and History did not disappoint. The museum is built on the foundations of some old structures, including the Custom’s House which my great-grandparents would have visited when they came to Canada from England in 1906. We then had lunch at another great cafe then walked back to my hotel, then it was off to the airport and home.

While this trip did cause things to pile up at home I am really glad to have visited all the various schools, to have heard some great playing, made some great music with Greg Runions and his big band in Kingston and to visit with some old, and now some new, friends. I have to do this again.

Finally, a huge thank you to Greg Runions for making this trip happen in the first place and to Denny Christianson and Gord Sheard at Humber College, Ron Di Lauro at the University of Montreal and McGill and Joe Sullivan and Gord Foote at McGill University.

Greg Runions picked me up at my hotel in the morning to begin what was to be visits to several schools in the area. First up was an adult concert band at La Salle Secondary School. This concert band, directed by Chris Alfano, is part of a music program for adults. We read through a little concert band piece of mine, Festival Celebration. This piece was commissioned about ten years ago by Magee Secondary School in Vancouver for their annual elementary feeder band concert. I talked a little bit about the piece and the types of things I had in mind for a performance. The band also played through another piece they were working on. It is a lot of fun working with older students and the band sounded good. What a great program.

Reading through Festival Celebration

In the afternoon I visited with the Loyalist Collegiate and Vocational Institute Jazz Band. After telling them who I am, and what it is I do, I had the band play through Mike Kamuf’s nice arrangement of Watermelon Man, something they had been working on. I then worked on various performance issues in the arrangement. There are some very talented kids in that program.

I ended my first full day in Kingston working with the big band at Queen’s University, directed by my host Greg Runions. The band had been working on my piece Something For Ernie (Sierra Music Publications).  As with the earlier visits in the day, I told them a little about myself, then I worked on various things in the piece and my thoughts about how to play various sections and why I wrote them in the manner I did. This is a very fine band, full of wonderful musicians.

Working with the Queens University Big Band

March 4, 2011 - Day 3

Friday began very early with a visit to Napanee Secondary School, which is about 20 minutes from Kingston. This was a small jazz ensemble with drums, bass, 3 trumpets, 1 trombone and 2 saxophones. In addition to the performers there was a large number of students observing. The students had been working on Mercy, Mercy, Mercy so I asked them to play it for me. Once again, after a short introduction on who I am and what I do, I worked with the students on the music. In this case rather than dealing with the written music, this session was more about improvising, in the broadest terms possible. To get to the point quickly, and without killing them with some music theory, we looped the first 2 measures. I first introduced the concept you could play a rhythmic solo using a single note, Bb in this case. I then started to add notes from the Bb blues scale and playing short 4 bar solos I slowly added a few more notes. I ended the session by having the students communicate with one another through their soloing - politely and even arguing. It was a lot of fun. I must add that the excellent bass player and drummer were very patient with this horn oriented session.

At noon Greg took me to my final high school session at Frontenac Secondary School back in Kingston. As we pull into the parking lot he tells me “by the way, this is not a band you are seeing at this school, but a string class.” Yikes! That was a little unexpected and definitely caused me a little concern. Now, I’ve always felt comfortable around string players and especially writing for them. But dealing with students is another thing altogether. I met the teacher and he filled me in on the students and what the class was about. I was then introduced to the students and again I said a few words about who I am and what I do. I then had the group play a few things from their method book.

It’s funny how you can start out a session like this wondering what you might do, and then when you hear the group you realize there are many things you can work on. I chose 2 things - sound and rhythm. As I listened to them play I could see, by looking around the room at this very large group, that some students were not doing much to create a sound. I could l also see that hand positions were an issue for some. These things I do remember from having taken class strings when I was a student at UBC. I talked about how your hand position may feel awkward now, as a beginner, but down the road having correct hand positions will help you play well and with greater ease. I also reminded them that a good sound is paramount to any musician and in any genre of music. I then talked about the importance of time and pulse and how important those things are when playing together in an ensemble and how much they contribute to a good ensemble sound. Since many of the students could only play on the open strings I had the students play the note D in whatever octave they felt comfortable. We then worked on playing together, emphasizing the importance of listening to one another. I then added the note A and I would cue shifts from one pitch to the other. Once they seemed to get comfortable grooving on D and A I then had the students improvise on the notes they knew (usually the open strings) in pairs or in groups of 3 or 4. Some were reluctant while others showed off. This session was a lot of fun for me, and something a little bit different.

Working with strings

I think the oddest thing about my visit to Frontenac Secondary School was meeting Fred Stride. Yes! There is another Fred Stride. The only Fred Strides I had ever known were my late grandfather and my father. This particular Fred Stride teaches english and science, but neither of us felt there was any link between us. Still it was fun to meet another Fred Stride. Fred doesn’t seem to too popular as a name these days, but I once played in a band with 3 Freds. Two of us were in the trumpet section!

Later in the afternoon I did a radio interview with Dave Coon at CFRC Radio. Dave played a couple of tracks from my big band cd: The Fred Stride Jazz Orchestra: Forward Motion (Cellar Live) and asked me about my music and the jazz scene in Vancouver. The hour just flew past.

The evening was my first rehearsal with the Greg Runion’s Big Band. The only musician I had worked with before was trumpet player Brian O’Kane. Brian had lived in Vancouver for a couple of years in his earlier incarnation as an RCMP officer. Of course I had gotten to know Greg over the previous couple of days and I met lead alto player Chris Alfano, the day before. The other players were a mix of local Kingston players with a few imports from Toronto and Montreal.

Greg Runions big band for this concert was:
Saxophones: Chris Alfano, Andrew Pitkin, Jon Stewart, Chet Doxas, Merlin Williams
Trumpets: Jocelyn Couture, Brian O’Kane, Blair Yarrington, Janet MacRae, Mike Verner
Trombones: Taylor Donaldson, Andy Sparling, John Palmer, Tim Booth
Guitar: Dave Barton
Piano: David Braid
Bass: Artie Roth
Drums: Mike Cassells
Vibes: Greg Runions

This is a good band populated with some very fine soloists. We played through Opposition Party, Gently Swaying, A Few Shades Darker, Oddly Enough, Spinny, Elegy, Input/Process (the first movement from Machina: Concerto for Jazz Orchestra) and my arrangement of Michael Brecker’s tune Peep (winner of the 2007 International Jazz Arranging Competition). None of these charts are easy to play. We also read down 3 of Greg’s pieces - The New Cure, Early Sunset and Catharine Anne. What a nice writer Greg is. This is one of the great things about traveling to another part of the country - meeting, learning about, and hearing, other like-minded musicians in the same country. This was something that CBC’s “Jazz Radio Canada” used to provide in the 1970s - a sense of a Canadian jazz community.

Greg Runions Big Band - The Friday night rehearsal

The rehearsal, while exhausting for all, went very well. What I really appreciated was the serious attitude of all the players and their willingness to totally dig in and play some very hard music. We finished off the evening at a local brew pub for a little socializing.

March 5, 2011 - Day 4

I had Saturday morning free. Whew! It was great to not have to rush off somewhere, I had been going steadily since I arrived in Ontario. After lunch we headed off to our 2:00 dress rehearsal. But before heading over to the Kingston Library, where the concert was being held, I went over the program and the order of pieces. It struck me that we were going to be playing a pretty intense program. So I thought it might be nice to add something like a “jazz sorbet” to break things up. Something to tap your toes to. I had brought along a couple of extra pieces with me, and seeing the trombones were a little underrepresented in the program, I decided to add my Basie-Nestico styled feature for the trombone section - Sammy’s ‘Bones.

Greg Runions Big Band - afternoon rehearsal

Running a dress rehearsal, especially of difficult music, on the day of a performance is always a balancing act. As the director/conductor you are constantly asking yourself questions. Should we rehearse this chart all the way through, or just “tops and tails” (intros and endings)? Should I just run some of the shakier spots? How much should I fuss over exactness? When is it time to move on to another piece? Lingering too long on any particular chart can needlessly prolong the rehearsal. This in turn can cause some physical and mental exhaustion, as well as some anxiety, for the players. Time management is critical. In order to keep the rehearsal flowing efficiently I have to trust that the players will take care of things on their end. The band in front of me was excellent, so I felt confident that everything would be just fine. Another big issue with me for any performance, but especially jazz, is that the performance should have a certain feeling of spontaneity. With this in mind, over rehearsing on the day of a performance can be somewhat of a bad thing. I feel that hammering away at the music on the day of the concert can cause everyone to a be little overly cautious, and lose that indefinable “life spark” of the music in the process. I feel it is sometimes better to allow a looseness in the ensemble playing in favour of more energy and creativity. Of course this approach is not without its risks.

At the end of the rehearsal Greg and I conferred about the final program and because things were running a little longer than we had anticipated Greg very graciously decided to drop his piece Early Sunset.

Our concert began at 8:00pm in the Kingston Public Library. The hall was very nice and quite comfortable for the big band and our capacity audience.

The final program ended up being:

The New Cure - Greg Runions
Opposition Party - Fred Stride
Gently Swaying - Fred Stride
Sammy’s ‘Bones - Fred Stride
Elegy - Fred Stride
Oddly Enough - Fred Stride

Intermission

Catharine Anne - Greg Runions
Peep - Michael Brecker - arr. Fred Stride
Input/Process - Mvt I from Machina: A Concerto for Jazz Orchestra - Fred Stride
A Few Shades Darker - Fred Stride
Spinny - Fred Stride

There were many great moments throughout the concert - some fabulous ensemble work, some exciting and creative rhythm section playing and some stunning solo work. A couple of the memorable solos for me were David Braid’s solos throughout the evening, Chet Doxas on Gently Swaying and Brian O’Kane, particularly on Elegy. Brian seemed to be featured on almost every chart, albeit unintentionally. At one point I joked about this with the audience and welcomed them to “The Brian O’Kane Show.” Without missing a beat Brian leaped out of his chair and did a little dance. A very spontaneously funny moment.

Greg Runions Big Band - the Concert

Still, even after cutting one of Greg’s charts, the concert was still running a little long. It can be difficult to control the lengths of sets in a jazz performance due to extended, or open, solos. Then there is my talking about the music. Well, I tried to keep my comments on the shorter side, but…          After the first 3 tunes in the second set Greg felt we should drop another piece, to avoid going over time and incurring additional staffing expense for the hall. Besides, it was beginning to feel to me like we had “said enough.” Greg left the choice up to me. The problem was do I finish softly with A Few Shades Darker, or something a little more rousing like Spinny. Well, I decided on the softer side and Spinny was cut. Another big consideration for making this choice is that A Few Shades Darker always gets a great reaction from audiences.

A had a great time in Kingston and Greg was an absolutely fantastic host. The band was wonderful to work with and all of the outreach sessions in the various schools were a lot of fun. I hope I get an opportunity to visit with my new friends in Kingston again.

Greg - thanks for inviting me.

Anyway, early last summer I received an email from a Greg Runions inquiring to see if I would be interested in coming to Kingston, Ontario to perform my music with his big band. Of course I said yes. Greg successfully found some funding, particularly through the SOCAN Foundation Composer Outreach Program and the Canada Council Project Grants for Small Ensembles, and I headed east on March 1, 2011.

Since I was heading east I thought I would contact a few colleagues in Ontario and Quebec and let them know I would be in the area. Maybe I could add some teaching or performing to my dates with Greg. I ended up receiving invites to give some jazz arranging and composition master classes at Humber College in Toronto, the University of Montreal and McGill University. Trying to coordinate these various sessions with my visit to Kingston took a little time, but I eventually had it all worked out.

After taking the redeye out of Vancouver on Tuesday, March 1, I landed in Toronto very early Wednesday morning (6:00am). Overall it was a nice flight - reading, watching tv, listening to my ipod (I never have much luck trying to sleep on planes). The only downside? You know the guy across the aisle is snoring loudly when you can hear it through your headphones. Yikes!

March 2, 2011 - Day 1 - Toronto

My first stop on this trip was at Humber College. Denny Christianson, the head of the program, picked me up at the airport and we headed over to the college. Before our session was to begin Denny took me on a tour of their new recording and midi facilities. All I can say is WOW!! I wish I had those resources when I was a student.

The head of the jazz arranging department, Gord Sheard, had me give a lecture/demonstration of my master class Resonant Voicings for the Big Band. To illustrate the lecture effectively Humber was kind enough to provide me with their very fine big band, who comfortably read through all the examples. I discussed the various types of voicings the students were hearing and why certain guidelines should be considered in order to create full sounding, or resonant, voicings, particularly for the brass and the tutti. The students watching could also follow along with a rather extensive handout. The lecture/demo was followed by a short question/answer session.

At the end of the session I met up with John MacLeod and we briefly talked about writing and the importance of basic technique to help any aspiring writer realize their own musical sounds. I have met a few younger jazz writers over the past few years who seem to think that traditional big band writing techniques are no longer relevant and that they could even be a hinderance to their own creativity. Well, technique never hurt Bartok or Bob Brookmeyer. Even Maria Schneider has a solid grounding in the traditional techniques, which is one reason her music sounds so good. Learning the basics does not mean that you will be locked into the tradition, anymore than learning to play the trumpet from a classical teacher will harm any jazz aspirations. It’s what you do with that technique coupled with your own curiosity and imagination. John also laid his new big band disc on me John MacLeod and His Rex Hotel Orchestra: Our First Set. What a great band! I have long known about John’s playing skills, but his writing was new to me. He is one great writer.

John MacLeod and His Rex Hotel Orchestra

I followed up the Humber session with a really nice visit with my old friend Paul Read, an excellent composer and arranger (as well as saxophone and piano). By the way, you should pick up Paul’s great new recording - Paul Read Orchestra: Arc-En-Ciel (Addo Jazz Recordings). Great writing and playing throughout.

PRO - Paul Read Orchestra

After my visit with Paul I took the train up to Kingston, which was not an unpleasant trip, arriving around 8:30pm. By now I was exhausted - I hadn’t slept since the night before I left Vancouver. Greg Runions picked me up at the station and after a quick bite to eat I headed to my hotel room for a good nights sleep.

I have an upcoming concert here in Vancouver performing the sacred music of Duke Ellington. This is one of the biggest jazz concerts I have ever done, involving a 17 piece big band, 2 solo singers, a choir and a tap dancer. In order to enhance the concert experience for the audience staging is being added, along with a large television screen capturing the various performers. Last year was the first time we performed this music and there were close to a 1,000 people attending the concert at Saint Andrew’s Wesley Church on Burrard Street.

Of course a concert of this size needs considerable help to make it all happen. To celebrate an anniversary, raise awareness and, most importantly, to raise funds, The First United Church joined with us in this presentation.

This years concert is on Friday, November 19^th, 8 PM at St.  Andrew’s-Wesley United Church, Vancouver. Tickets available by calling Natalie Lanoville at 604-681-8365 – ext: 104 or purchase online. For more information click here

This years featured performers:

Fred Stride Jazz Orchestra
Fred Stride, Conductor
Jens Christiansen, Lead Alto Saxophone/Clarinet
Aaron Hardie, Alto Saxophone/Clarinet
Bill Runge, Tenor Saxophone
Mike Braverman, Tenor Saxophone/Clarinet
Chad Makela, Baritone Saxophone
Derry Byrne, Lead Trumpet
Kent Wallace, Trumpet
Chris Davis, Trumpet
Tom Shorthouse, Trumpet
Dennis Esson, Lead Trombone
Rod Murray, Trombone
Jeremy Berkman, Trombone
Ross Taggart, Piano
Andre Lachance, Bass
Bernie Arai, Drums

Singers - Dee Daniels and Marcus Mosely
The Sacred Music Gospel Choir
Alex Dugdale - Tap dancer

I sincerely hope you will be able to join us for an evening of great music and to help the First United Church with their great cause.

Below is a little blurb from some of the promotional material.

The first time I heard Duke Ellington on record in the late 1960s I realized this was something different. Seeing him perform on his last 2 visits to Vancouver in the early 1970s was equally enthralling. His piano playing, his grace moving about the stage, his introductions to his music, hearing the wonderful performers in his band play his music was an unforgettable experience. Throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s I played in many rehearsal and professional bands and it was always a wonderfully rewarding experience when one of Dukes original scores or a new arrangement of one his standards was called. His music seemed to be timeless to me. It also seemed to draw out the best in the players around me, encouraging, if not demanding, us all to play out and to express ourselves in a manner that was a deeper than many musical experiences.

Having performed several of his big works - The Tattooed Bride, Harlem: A Tone Parallel, Such Sweet Thunder, The Far East Suite, Black Brown and Beige as well as countless performances of his smaller works, it is a natural progression for me to his last big important works - The Sacred Concerts. In Duke’s Sacred Music his deep spiritualness fused with his musical imagination is simply irresistible to those of us that have long admired his music.     Fred Stride

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First United Church. First United Church has been proudly serving the Downtown Eastside neighbourhood for 125 years.

When the big bands of Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw and Harry James were at their height of popularity in the late 1930s and early 1940s they primarily played popular tunes designed for their dancing and light entertainment value. With the rise of other popular forms of music, especially vocalists, and the waning public interest in big bands as entertainment vehicles, some of the surviving bands of the mid-to-late 1940s began to experiment with music that was designed to be listen to. This change in musical direction also accompanied a gradual shift in performing venues, from ballrooms to concert halls. The biggest names to go in this direction were Duke Ellington, Boyd Raeburn, Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman and of course Stan Kenton.

Removing many of the necessary musical requirements to please the dancing public composers and arrangers, by the late 1940s, became free to try writing jazz music that incorporated elements such as irregular rhythms, the absence of a bass line or a steady pulse from the drums, original melodies that were not singable, dissonant harmony, different types of ensemble voicings, longer sections for improvisation. While some of the music written during that time is forgettable, or rather more graciously heard as “noble experiments,” there are many memorable pieces including George Handy’s The Bloos and Dalvatore Sally, George Russell’s Cubana Be Cubana Bop, Eddie Sauter’s Hangover Square, as well his exquisite arrangement of Summertime, Ralph Burn’s Summer Sequence, Gil Evans’ arrangements of La Paloma and Spanish Dance, Duke Ellington’s The Tattooed Bride and The Clothed Woman, Bob Graettinger’s City Of Glass and the many compositions and arrangements of Pete Rugolo and Stan Kenton, including the Prologue Suite and Artistry In Percussion. I hear the musical explorations of that time as being very liberating and that these musical experiments, failed or not, deserve to be seriously considered for what they helped to give to the future of jazz arranging and composition. Consider the mere idea of a Fugue For Rhythm Section (Pete Rugolo) let alone its intrinsic value.

While European musical developments after WWII had a long musical history to build upon, or reject, jazz composers had no extensive history of big band music as a form of ‘art music’ and were creating something quite new. Duke Ellington’s large scale work Black, Brown and Beige from 1943 was criticized for its failings in relation to European composition. But, there was no structural model, or tradition, for Duke’s new ideas. The same can be said about the work of Pete Rugolo, Eddie Sauter and Bob Graettinger.

Despite the mixed results of Graettinger’s work for Stan Kenton, I feel that both his compositions and his arrangements of standards are the ultimate in musical liberation for their time, akin to the work of Charles Ives, another musical anomaly. Yes, Graettingter’s music is audacious and sometimes totally overwhelming in sound. However, judged in its place in time it should be, if not loved, appreciated for what it helped bring to jazz composition and arranging.

By the late 1950s this tendency to incorporate concepts of classical composition into jazz music was finally given a label by Gunther Schuller - Third Stream Music. While this term does tend to evoke the late 1950s, the idea is still with us in the present work of Bill Holman, Bob Brookmeyer, Jim McNeely, Maria Schneider and many other contemporary composers and arrangers. These writers have moved away from the formulaic chorus forms of jazz to a more European model of compositional ideal - that of musical development. On top of this they bring the rhythms of jazz, space for improvisation and opportunities for self expression by the performers. With more time (roughly 60 years) modern jazz composers have developed a greater sense of control and balance in their work. Those musical experiments of the mid-to-late 1940s are what we have built many of our present day big band compositional and arranging aesthetic values upon. I am very grateful to our preceding masters for having shown us a way.

Given that this is a summer camp I tried to have all the kids playing as much as possible. This did mean, as horrible as it sounds, that I had all 3 bass players reading through the charts at once, but with only one of them running through an amp. Both guitar players, each running through his own amp, played at the same time, with the more experienced student playing sustained chords and single note lines while the other played in the Freddy Green style. Multiple drummers always presents a problem. While I’m not big on adding extra percussion, such as shakers and tambourines, on swing tunes, there were a few charts where I had one of the drummers playing congas. For the last 3 days I added a second drum set and 2 more bass amps. To show the students how it can work with multiple drummers I played them some Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland recordings, which featured both drummers, Kenny Clarke and Kenny Clare, playing at the same time. The big thing to avoid when doing this is duplicating the cymbal work. The best combination is for one drummer to play with brushes with no hi hat pedal work and the other as normal.

For the first day and a half I simply handed out charts, reading them down and making comments as we went. Sight reading seems to be a big problem for many high school students and I tried to help them with this essential skill. I feel there are several components to successful reading skills, which I constantly pointed out:

• Feel the pulse, like it becomes a part of you, or allow the pulse to make you feel like moving, nodding or dancing.

• Always know where beat one is.

• Play with confidence. This means to not hide behind soft, inefficient playing. It is always better to play out and loudly step in a hole, or miss read a pitch or rhythm, than to hide and try to follow someone else. Strong confident playing is easier to correct than weak playing.

• The more reading you do the better you get. I’m sure that if I were to hand out the same charts at the end of the week the students would fair much better.

Besides helping the students learn to play large ensemble jazz I also want them to experience music that they probably do not play in their school program. In addition to the charts we performed we also read through: Lullaby of the Leaves - arranged by Francy Boland, Chunga’s Revenge - arranged by Fred Stride, Sax-Accord - Fred Stride (we had a very nice sax section), Old Man River - arranged by Bill Holman, Michelle - arranged by Chico O’Farrill, Stereoso - Bill Holman, Ring of Fire - Fred Sturm, Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue - Duke Ellington, Waka Jawaka - arranged by Fred Stride, Perdido - arranged by Duke Ellington and Opus In Pastels - Stan Kenton.

For the last 3 days of the camp I had the band playing the Clark Terry/Jimmy Hamilton Perdido Line as an ensemble warmup. This was a great way to get the horn players playing with the proper jazz/swing articulation, as well as helping them learn to play together. I would sometimes have the rhythm section stop and have the horns continue on. It is interesting how a horn section quickly begins to focus as a single unit when you take away their rhythm section crutch.

As the week went on I had the bass players and drummers pick out the charts they might like to play, and we went down to a single bass player and drummer for most charts. For the Saturday afternoon concert I knew I had to do at least 2 charts for each bass player and one with all 3. I also had to do a similar thing with the drummers. Since the guitar players were working very well I left them alone to play together on every tune.

On the last day of the “camp” we were given from 40 to 45 minutes to perform the music we had been working on. Beginning the concert program was a concert band, directed by John Van Deursen, made up of very young students from Taiwan. We followed with our set and the Senior Concert Band directed by my colleague at UBC, Robert Taylor, ended the program. All three groups were excellent.

Here is a rundown of the charts we performed on the final day.

Don’t Get Sassy - Thad Jones; adapted/arranged by Mike Carubia

This is a wonderful simplified version, for young jazz players, of the Thad Jones classic. Like the original, this chart in Bb instead of the original Db, includes some challenging ensemble work. The tutti melody includes broad gestures as well as a little figure that requires the horns to play lightly, almost catlike. The solo section is fairly loose in structure and allowed a fair degree of latitude to include several soloists. While a Bb blues scale can be used throughout the solo section, a couple of our soloists worked on playing through the changes. Keep in mind that the summer institute is not an honour band so for many of the students it is their first foray into more advanced literature and solo work. Some soloists had never played an improvised solo before. For me, given the very short time frame, I prefer to encourage the students to play out, or speak up, be pleased with their playing and to not feel that a good jazz solo is measured by the number of notes per bar or displays of virtuosity.

Dragonwyck - Gene Roland; transcribed/adapted by Fred Stride

I’ve always enjoyed Stan Kenton’s Adventures in Blues recording. The entire disc was written by multi-instrumentalist/composer/arranger Gene Roland, who is also featured on both soprano saxophone and mellophonium. Several of the charts had always seemed like they would adapt easily to younger players. Dragonwyck is one of my favourites so I started with that one. The A sections of the tune are quite simple and are great for the beginner soloist. The bridge however, requires use of the diminished-whole tone scale [aka the altered scale]. I did spend some time explaining this particular scale, to more than a few glassy-eyed students.

Malaguena - Ernesto Lecuona; arranged by Bill Holman; adapted by Fred Stride

I wrote this version of this Stan Kenton/Bill Holman classic, which is down a fourth from the original, in 2003 or 2004. I’ve used it with many ensembles since. The kids love playing this high energy chart. We had strong leads in the trumpets and the trombones, as well as a fine rhythm section, so it seemed like a no- brainer. I also had both drummers playing on this one. Drummer #1 played the part as normal while #2 played with felt mallets during the inro and added cascara-type playing throughout the latin section. The 2nd drummer did not play during the swing section. I also had all 3 bass players playing, except for the swing section where we went down to a single player. Multiple players on a walking bass line is not a good idea.

The Shortest Dissonance Between Two Points - Les Hooper

This one doesn’t seem to be particularly popular, but is, nevertheless, a typically excellent Les Hooper chart. I’ve never played or heard a bad, or even mediocre, Hooper chart. Les is a consistently first rate writer. This chart features bass throughout and so was a natural as a “bass section feature.” All three bass players played on this one, both melody and improvised solos. The horn parts are not hard to play, but do require work with blend, tuning and especially releases.

One Big Happy Family - Les Hooper

I did not intend to feature a Les Hooper set. But as I went looking through my library for a fairly easy-to-play blues, I ended up with this one in my hands. I always like to include something that I can get multiple soloists playing on, especially something that is harmonically straightforward, like a blues. I also wanted something that I could put together quickly and that would be relatively easy for the band, something they could relax on, as many of the other charts were tough on the face and brain. This chart fit the bill perfectly. This also seemed like the perfect choice to have my rehearsal assistant, Adam Gough, get his feet wet directing. He did well and the kids obviously liked him, he has a bright future ahead of him as a music educator. One of the enjoyable experiences during the week was watching one of the kids in band do an impersonation of me helping Adam with his directing.

After Six - Fred Stride

For roughly the past 10 years, of the 18 years the UBC Summer Music Institute has been in existence, I have been writing originals and arrangements for the camp. The main reason is write things that high school students will not have not played before and for me to deal with the challenge of writing with the limitations of your average high school student in mind. This year I thought I would write something in 7/4, not fast, using straight 8ths (latin?) and somewhat modal. I also wanted to have the horns start the piece playing a groove on a single pitch (G), which would become a pedal point against which I could set a melody, then eventually add the rhythm section. The resulting sound for this section of the chart is one of a somewhat busy and rhythmic texture. It then struck me that a contrasting section would be most welcome and should feature a single horn section, possibly voiced, over a simple groove. I then played with these ideas throughout the chart.

Harmonically this piece is quite different from your average high school jazz chart. The first chord that is heard is a C/Ab. These types of chords have quite a dark colour, which appeals to me. With this dark hue happening along with the rhythmic texture I felt the B section should at least start with a lighter, or sunnier, harmony, something from a major key source. I ended up with Fmaj7/G. Of course I’m never one to stay too long in a single harmonic territory, so I made my way back to the darker sounds of the A section, giving the chart an AAB form of 12,12 and 22. To help tie it all together the end of the B section uses the final 6 bars of A.

The solo section, which is not based on A and B, uses a combination of chords from both A and B. I also decided that since these chords are unusual for high school students I should spend a little longer on each one. I also felt I should not use the C/Ab types of chords, that I should restrict myself to using those chords that involve familiar scales and modes, Bb natural minor for the Bbmin7(b6) chord, D dorian for Fmaj7/G, B natural minor for Bmin7(b6) and F lydian for Cmaj7/F.

After Six - Solo changes

To be honest I didn’t think we would get too far the first time through, but the kids really surprised me, especially the drummer. They got the overall concept of the alternating bars of 4/4 and 3/4 quite quickly which allowed us to work on phrasing and the overall feeling of the piece.

Finally, I’ve never felt that great coming up with titles so After Six seemed convenient as a working title. So, on the last day of the camp I asked the students if they could think of anything better and one of them suggested Before 8, which I thought was quite funny. But, after some discussion they all seemed to agree that After 6 was a good title, as you could read other things into it.

Black Friday - Walter Becker, Donald Fagen; arranged by Fred Sturm

I simply love Fred Sturm’s writing, whether it is for pros or young students. A number of years ago I acquired a disc of Fred’s arrangements of Steely Dan tunes for the HR Big Band in Germany. Black Friday was a perfect vehicle for our 2 guitar players. There is a significant amount of written lines for them to deal with and the solo section is over an E pedal, giving them quite a bit of room for solo work. The first few times we went through the chart both guitarists were playing their favourite rock/blues licks for their solos, but I put a challenge before them of forbidding any such licks and for them to play a little more freely, to go for harmonic colour. They were encouraged to think of E only as a home base and as a place of resolution, not as a chord. They were set free to journey anywhere in their solos and solo exchanges. They were both wonderful and rose to the challenge, of course I let them use their distortion and delay pedals. Another challenge in this excellent chart is the first trumpet part which presents several high F#s and one high G# above high C. It’s amazing, that when a piece of music is this well written, that playing those notes down the octave did not harm the energy level of the chart at all.

For the 18th time I had a great time working with the kids at the summer institute. It was obvious they really wanted to play challenging music in a great band. Pushing them hard and not allowing them to settle for anything less than their absolute best never seems to be a turn off for them. They definitely came through on the final concert. The energy on stage was exhilarating. I’m already looking forward to next year.

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After Six - Score - page 1