Tip-Off
Festival tuning up for all that jazz
Advertiser Staff
The Hawai'i International Jazz Festival, always something of a moveable feast, is reinventing itself and moving house yet again when it returns this year for a July 19-22 run.
| Hawai'i International Jazz Festival | |
| • | July 19-22 |
| • | Hawaiian Jazz Night, Gabe Baltazar and the Festival Allstars, Stan Kenton Salute and Parade of Big Bands |
| • | Blaisdell Concert Hall |
| • | Four-day pass, $120; individual tickets available |
| • | 941-9974 |
| • | Aewjazz1@aol.com or www.hawaiijazz.com |
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The festival began as a largely Waikiki-based event, most recently spent a couple of years at the Hawai'i Theatre and now is spreading out again.
While Weinstein frankly admits that organizing a jazz festival in a state not identified with the music form has sometimes felt like rolling a very heavy ball uphill, he has never lost his enthusiasm for, or belief in, the project. "We've watched it grow like a baby," he said, referring to himself and festival board members, who include musicians, educators and business people.
The former Honolulu Symphony Orchestra clarinetist, who has had an eclectic career performing with his own jazz combos, acting as a booking agent for artists aboard cruise ships and teaching jazz at a variety of levels, is committed to more than just bringing jazz artists to the Islands. A central feature of the Hawai'i International Jazz Festival has been workshops that bring high school and college music students together with the visiting musicians for the sort of informal instruction and jam sessions that are at the core of the jazz idiom and the awarding of scholarship funds from Mainland music colleges to young Island artists.
This year, Weinstein went further in his quest to connect with the world of music education, attending an International Association of Jazz Educators conference in New York that drew 15,000 attendees, and hooking up with an influential European director who routinely books young bands for festivals there. The result is a doubling of the number of youth bands who will perform at the festival — 10 bands, including one from Germany and several from the Mainland.
The festival clinics offer a chance for local jazz clinics to work with experienced musicians, meet and have some fun with others their age and perform on a concert stage before a paying audience, said board member Duane Yee, whose son, Tony, now a graduate student in Asian studies, was once one of those musicians (and he's still performing on the side). Further, for Island students, bringing the bands here hones the competitive edge. "You hear somebody and you say, 'That's me. I want to do that and beat it,' " said Weinstein.
A highlight of this year's festival is a "Tribute to Stan Kenton" concert July 21, featuring Kenton alumnae, including Hawai'i's Gabe Baltazar, along with The Four Freshman, Bud Shank and Marvin Stamm. The innovative Kenton, too, was an advocate of jazz education, often teaching clinics when he was alive, and leaving his charts to a college library when he died, Weinstein said.
Additionally, Baltazar will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award in a special concert featuring many of his friends. And Hawaiian Jazz Night will recognize the interwoven tapestry of families who have performed Island-style swing jazz here.
