IAJE 2006 NYC

The 33rd Annual IAJE kicked off Wednesday, January 11 in New York City. This gathering of some 8000 jazz educators, performers, fans, and students descended on the Midtown Sheraton and Hilton hotels with anticipation of an interesting and entertaining 4 days of clinics, discussions, performances and celebrations of jazz..

The Ravi Coltrane Quartet launched the festival off to a hot start. A quick hop later over to the Sheraton ballroom offered Monty Alexander followed by the always-worth staying-up-late-for Maria Schneider Orchestra.

The late night made it hard to gear up on Thursday but “Billy’s Bounce”, a discussion with the great Billy Taylor led by A.B. Spellman was compelling.

With a conference schedule marked and highlighted with so many interesting topics and discussions – “Hunting for Jazz Treasures: Discovering the Monk-Coltrane Tapes”; “The Photographic Legacy of Jazz”; Nneenna Freelon’s excellent “Blueprint of a Lady: The Once & Future Life of the Jazz Singer”; JJA’s “Journalists in a Digital World”; “Clark Terry: The Man & His Music” hosted by Nat Hentoff – the choices were not always easy.

“Jazz Lives in Print”, hosted by Seattle’s Paul de Barros brought together authors of recent jazz biographies including Peter Levinson’s Tommy Dorsey, Doug Ramsay’s Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond, and Gary Giddins’ book of jazz criticism, Weather Bird, Jazz at the Dawn of its Second Century. These and other authors participated in a discussion of how they became interested in their subjects and how they went about gathering their information.

Next came a “Downbeat First-Person Interview” with Sonny Rollins hosted by Ira Gitler. An under-the weather but sharply dressed Sonny nevertheless stepped through the defining moments of his life in jazz with Ira prodding memories of historical vignettes. To watch Sonny speak is an interesting comparison to watching him play. His elegant hands sporting very long fingers are constantly in motion expressing his ideas. It sometimes seemed as though they were in search of his saxophone to complete his thoughts. Sonny projected the essence of cool.

The NEA Jazz Masters Awards Concert is always a part of IAJE. New inductees Tony Bennett, Bob Brookmeyer, Ray Baretto, John Levy, Freddie Hubbard, Chick Corea, and Buddy DeFranco were honored at a concert on Friday night. Performances included The Jon Faddis Orchestra and The Count Basie Orchestra featuring Nneena Freelon. In 2006 the NEA presence was special for another reason. A gathering of 24 past and present NEA Jazz Masters took place with a photo session followed by a luncheon. View Jazzoids’ historic photo here.

Among the many school ensembles performing was an accomplished Manhattan School of Music Jazz Orchestra. This excellent performance was followed by the New York University Concert Jazz Ensemble featuring Richard Bona and Kenny Werner.

The Pacific Northwest was well-represented as it usually is. This year The Bellevue Community College Monday Night Band performed (with a couple of Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra members sitting in). Also, multi-award winning Roosevelt Jazz Band got everyone awake and moving on Saturday morning. Seattle’s jazz supporters Clarence Acox, Paul De Barros, John Gilbreath, Doug Ramsay, and others were there to swing with the band. Jay Lepley, former RJB drummer and New School University graduate, now a working musician in NYC, was on hand to cheer his alma mater. View pictures of RJB band director, Scott Brown, with Jay and also Clarence Acox, band director of the frequent IAJE performer Garfield Jazz Band with Jay.

Big bands are a popular part of the IAJE performances and this year did not disappoint. The already mentioned high point of the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra and then The Jon Faddis Big Band, The Count Basie Orchestra Band were followed by the University of North Texas One O’clock Lab Band, The Mingus Big Band, The Orquesta Interescolar Jazz en Lima (from Peru), The Jim Cullum Big Band, and The Trondheim Jazz Orchestra  featuring Chick Corea. Also on hand was. the Bob Mintzer Big Band.

Jazz from Scandinavia was well-represented by musicians and bands from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. These participants were eagerly taking in everything and lent a European flavor to the events.

One note about crowds. Perhaps it is a tribute to the increasing interest in jazz and jazz education, but there were frequent times when venues were unable to afford seating or standing room for performances during the conference. Many were turned away. In what is cherished as such a casual and open culture, that of jazz, it is disappointing to run into these roadblocks to participation.

On the other hand, one of the great things about holding IAJE in New York City is, of course, the additional access to so many clubs where still more musicians are practicing their craft to appreciative audiences. A late-night excursion to Dizzy’s Coca Cola Club afforded a chance to hear the Montreux Jazz winners in this spectacular setting with the New York Skyline as a backdrop to the performers.

The good news is the 2007 34^th Annual IAJE Conference will again take place in NYC. Get plenty of rest before you arrive because you will have many better things to do than sleep once the event begins! See you there!