Palmer Jazz Festival a swinging success

PALMER -- Ice coated the Palmer High School parking lot on Saturday, and the winds outside were nippy, but the halls inside echoed with hot notes all day long.

The second annual Palmer Jazz Festival attracted youthful musicians and their band directors from all over central Mat-Su for the packed schedule of events that began at 9 a.m. and ended more than twelve hours later with a concert by the Air Force Band of the Pacific's Greatlanders Jazz Band.

Palmer High School music director Stan Harris invited a constellation of professional musicians and teachers to hold clinics and performances for the 150 to 180 students who attended the festival. Besides the Air Force band members, experts invited for the day included Dale Tumey, former band director in the Valley, a professional blues band, and Valley music teacher Jonathon Brown. In addition, the band directors of most of the student bands that participated also helped with the event.

Students chose from a wide menu of one-hour clinics and sessions held throughout the school. Members of the Air Force's Greatlanders Jazz Band and other clinicians held special-interest sessions and clinics in which each student band and choir performed and then received feedback from the clinician on their performances.

The kids even had a bit of unexpected excitement when a power outage plunged the school into darkness near lunchtime.

According to Harris, the lunch hour timing of the outage was a huge stroke of luck, especially since the school's backup generators failed to work, as well.

"If it had happened later in the day, we would have had a real mess," he laughed.

The power came back, however, in time for the 1 p.m. performance of the professional blues band Full Tilt in the Palmer High Theater.

The day was capped by a gala evening concert performed in the Palmer High Gym to stands packed with friends, parents, and other enthusiastic jazz lovers.

Student musicians returned from dinner dressed in elegant black and white against which the polished brass of instruments glittered like gold. One choir or band at a time performed selections ranging from scat singing to classic jazz favorites. Young soloists stood and belted out songs or jazz riffs that brought rounds of wholehearted applause.

The Palmer High Jazz Choir, Community Jazz Band, and the jazz bands of Palmer Junior Middle, Colony Middle, and Wasilla Middle Schools, and Wasilla and Palmer High Schools, led for the most part by their own band directors, all performed for the appreciative audience.

The Air Force Greatlanders Jazz Band ended the evening, performing songs and old favorites for a full hour.

According to Harris, the day was a success, and the kids could not have agreed more. A flock of Palmer Junior Middle School musicians, intercepted as they tapped out rhythms on the stair rails leading down to the gym, were eager to share their experiences.

"Awesome" was the one-word evaluation of bass player Nick Haar. His companions agreed that the clinics and special sessions were fun, though they found the power outage pretty exciting, as well.

According to trumpet player Randi Bernier, "It was pitch black, but we just kept talking."

Daniel Carrick, Bryce Jacobson, Veronica Henricksen, Colleen Bue, and Channing Stengrim all crowded around, talking at once about their favorite instruments, the clinics, and the thrill of finding themselves in the murky gloom of the power outage.

"We scared each other," said one girl. "We told each other we were turning into aliens."

They may joke about turning into aliens, but these Mat-Su kids are serious young musicians. A substantial number of the students who participated on Saturday play more than one instrument, and, in addition to the daily practice, many of them meet with their bands outside of class time.

John Hartman is a member of both the Community Jazz Band and the Wasilla High, playing bass, lead, and rhythm guitar.

What was his favorite part of Saturday's festival?

"Performing for other people," he answered readily.

Rosemarie Horton plays tenor sax for the Wasilla High Jazz Band and piano for the Community Jazz Band. She also likes "getting up and performing for people" and plans a career as a music teacher.

And Ryan Brown, electric bass player for the Wasilla High band, appreciated the clinics.

"I really enjoyed playing and having it analyzed," he said.

Harris said on Monday that he is pleased with the second jazz festival and looks forward to doing it again.

"The interest is definitely there, and the Air Force band is encouraging us to keep it going," he said.

"If it turns out that it grows a little bit, that's OK," Harris added. "The purpose is to offer the kids a positive experience."