'Good for partying...'
The Eureka Rotary Club meeting at the Wharfinger Building on Monday was jumping as the Zane Middle School jazz band blew the roof off the place in a tune-up for the Redwood Coast Jazz Festival this week.
It was great to see these youngsters — some hardly bigger than their instruments — producing such powerful music. My favorite was Santana’s driving version of Tito Puente’s “Oye Como Va,” where the band sings along in Spanish, “Oye como va, mi ritmo, bueno pa’ gozar” (“Listen how it goes, my rhythm — good for partying...”).
And party they will, I’m sure, on stage at the festival, which is among Humboldt County’s top fun events.
Watching the kids from Zane took me back to when I was that age. My junior high in Des Moines was in the same building as the high school, so those of us who were musical (I was a percussionist) had the advantage of being a part of the high school’s concert and marching bands.
However, there was no jazz program at the school for those who wanted something hipper than Sousa. So one of the guys, a budding entrepreneur, created a swing band and named it for himself: Russ Allen and the Downbeats.
Till we split up after graduation, the Downbeats were pretty much booked every weekend all over central Iowa, at everything from teen sock hops to Eagles lodges. I was the backup drummer (Parker Davis, the first-stringer, was much better — like the drummer for the Zane band). If Parker couldn’t make a gig, I got called.
The high point for the Downbeats was a tour of Europe an organization called Youth for Understanding. Parker got to go, along with my best friend, Bob McCloskey, who played alto sax.
The band cut an LP (that’s a long-playing 33 1/3 vinyl record, for you young whipper-snappers). I still have it, and play it now and then when I’m in a melancholy mood. (Bob, who died way too young from cancer, has a great solo on it.)
The point of this column, however, is not nostalgia, but the jazz festival and bands like the kids from Zane.
As we were reminded at Rotary, the festival’s mission is to raise money for worthy causes, and since 1996 one of those causes is to promote and support youth musical education. But as everyone knows who has been following the state’s budget crisis, many programs at our schools may be on the chopping block — especially arts programs.
So Zane’s band and other area school jazz ensembles (Eureka high and Winship will appear this weekend) may not be around for next year’s festival. If they are, it may only be because of jazz fans (and kid fans) who kick in to keep the fun alive.
All of this is a roundabout way to encourage you to take in all or part of the Redwood Coast Jazz Festival. It starts Thursday with the Taste of Main Street food fest in Old Town and a Big Band Dance at the Adorni Center. Then on Friday through Sunday, there will be music all over town.
The festival’s Web site lists the groups of every jazz taste who are appearing, along with schedules, venues and where to get tickets — for one day or all three. Also, check out this Thursday’s Northern Lights entertainment section in the Times-Standard.
And remember, if we help make the festival a success, the festival keeps the joy of music in these kids’ lives.