printable versionStanford Jazz Festival continues through Aug. 4, features more than 100 artists
BY CYNTHIA HAVEN
Jimmy Heath is scheduled to perform with the Heath Brothers July 21 as part of the jazz festival.
The annual Stanford Jazz Festival, which continues through Aug. 4, features the classic, the innovative, the avant-garde and the offbeat. Moreover, it offers jazz lovers an intimate setting and an informal atmosphere.
Although mass appeal is not its aim, today the festival draws 15,000 music enthusiasts and is ranked by many critics and fans as one of the top jazz events on the West Coast.
This year's festival is presenting 33 concerts and showcasing more than 100 artists over six weeks. A rare West Coast appearance by saxophonist Lee Konitz will close the festival Aug. 4.
Noontime concerts on the patio of Tresidder Union (the side nearest White Plaza) are scheduled for July 18, 20, 25, 27, and daily July 30 through Aug. 3. They are free and open to the public.
"We try to include all of the styles and genres that the great umbrella of jazz encompasses," said Jim Nadel, founder and executive director of the Stanford Jazz Workshop, which produces the festival every year. "Jazz is very broad, with very many different kinds of jazz, and we try to represent them as best we can. We are also very grounded in traditions of straight-ahead jazz, which grew out of the common practice period known as bebop."
Consequently, the festival offers a diverse menu of jazz within its framework. The mainstream jazz palate will be pleased with venerated masters of their craft, including singer King, saxophonists Jimmy Heath and Frank Wess, pianist Kenny Barron, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Jimmy Cobb. Modern innovators, such as Peter Apfelbaum, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Taylor Eigsti, Julian Lage and Kneebody, push the genre into new territory.
Seven festival events feature free pre-concert talks by leaders within the jazz community, including broadcasters Sonny Buxton, Alisa Clancy and Clifford Brown Jr. of KCSM and producer Orrin Keepnews, founder of the Riverside, Milestone and Landmark jazz labels.
Founded in 1972, the Stanford Jazz Workshop has welcomed jazz artists and enthusiasts to campus each summer. As its reputation and programs grew, attracting preeminent musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Getz, it began presenting public concerts to encourage community appreciation and awareness of jazz. These early concerts evolved into the Stanford Jazz Festival.
The mission of the nonprofit Stanford Jazz Workshop is music education, so it includes programs where well-established performers mix with newbies. The festival also offers concerts by its Jazz Camp and Jazz Residency participants, as well as a Jazz Mentors concert showcasing its teacher-training program.
A distinctive aspect of jazz is that its legacy is communicated between the generations—one reason it's important that the "elder statesmen" of the genre, such as saxophonists Lee Konitz, Frank Wess, Lou Donaldson, Jimmy Heath and his brother, drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath, come to teach and mingle at the conference.
"It's part of the richness of the community. We will have Jimmy Heath, a great musician recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts as a 'jazz master,' working with children 12 through 17 years old for a week, sharing his knowledge and experience," Nadel said.
"Most of the artists performing have come here to teach. But it only makes sense to have them performing as part of their teaching. Never would you find such an extraordinary concentration of jazz artists in such a short time if the motive were purely to generate profits and revenues. They're here to help the next generation, and are quite often refreshed themselves by being part of the community."
For the general public, however, the performances are the best education. "One of the most important ways to learn the music is by listening to master jazz musicians play, so the concerts are an important part of the jazz students' experience," Nadel said. "The community gets to benefit by this extraordinary gathering of talent every summer when the campus music department becomes a little like New York City—the center of jazz on the planet.
"We have found out that the best way to learn about and appreciate jazz is in a community, and we put together and nurture a community of jazz artists, students and listeners every summer at Stanford," he added. "The interaction is very vital and exciting. It turns out there is not one correct method or approach to learning jazz."
A complete schedule of festival events is online at http://www.stanfordjazz.org/. For more information, visit the website or call 736-0324. Tickets range from $10 to $40 for general admission (depending on the concert). A half-price discount is available for those with a valid student ID and for children under 18. To buy tickets, visit the Stanford Ticket Office in Tresidder Union or call 725-2787. Tickets also can be purchased online at http://www.ticketweb.com/.