The O-town Scene - Oneonta, NY
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/28770
Continued from Page 10 When I first came here, Dr. Barstow asked me to think about what kind of ensemble I wanted to work with. There was already a jazz big band, and someone was already running some kind of jam band, so I thought about it and realized that starting a funk band would allow me to cover a very wide range of music. I could include things like traditional New Orleans funk music, old R&B, Motown, Stevie Wonder, funkadelic, and right up to jazz-fusion and contemporary styles. So I thought that it would be a perfect fit for me, and it soon became obvious that there was a real level of excitement among the students about these funk bands. I was able to build on that genuine interest. It was different than trying to get students to focus on something like bebop, in which they would have access a very different state of mind to become a part of that musical language. But they took right away to the funk music, and, years later, we now we have a whole generation of local bands that display aspects of this music. How does carrying such a successful perfor- mance background affect the way you work with your student bands? Well, I try to run it like a real band, as if we were going out there to play and make a living. In that regard, I demand of the students that they play with an acceptable level of professionalism and skill. So, following up on that initial spark, do you feel like the level of interest in these bands has continued to rise over the past few years? Absolutely. It’s come to the point at which I’ve been running two different bands at any given time, and I try to let each band have its own character. Typically, one band will be more traditional and R&B-oriented, with vocals and a horn section, and the other will be more geared towards a progressive, jazz-oriented sound. Now that you’ve worked so closely with students in this setting, do you feel that people of this generation have, as a whole, not been exposed to enough of the music that makes up so much of what you teach in the funk bands? I think that because of the way the world is now, and the fact that there’s so much music out there, instrumental jazz isn’t particularly featured in our society. But at this point in musical history, and in this setting, if you have any interest in that music, it’s sure easy to find and get involved in. And we do have plenty of students here who already have taken an interest in it, and who play it really well. One of the best things for me is having watched this whole scene grow up here in Oneonta. Like I said, it was all metal bands when I first came here. It was all just incredibly loud, and it was all right for what it was, but it was just one repetitive thing. Ever since then, little by little, there has been more energy put into jazz and funk, and improvisation. The level of musicianship has clearly risen. I’ve heard that your funk bands have a big show coming up. We’re playing on April 7 at the Autumn Cafe, as part of a benefit for Oneonta High School. It’s being organized by liveLIVE! Productions. — Sam Spokony Second annual inter-SUNY jazz festival this weekend Throughout the past several years, when one men- tions the State University of New York system and arts educa- tion programs in the same sentence, initial thoughts tend to lean towards the neg- ative. Budget cuts have led to funding woes throughout the state, especially with regard to maintaining valuable aspects of music education, and have left so many SUNY professors without viable op- portunities to create original and engaging programs. But despite the ever-present challenges, Dr. Arthur Fal- bush and the SUNY Oneonta Jazz Appreciation Society have forged a new path for their college and for jazz education in New York state. The Oneonta Jazz Festival, which was founded by Fal- bush (who is also the director of the SUNY Oneonta Big Band) in 2010, brought together both SUNY colleges and regional high schools in its first run. Though not heav- ily funded, the gathering gar- nered praise from both within and outside the Oneonta community, and established itself as the only such event in the Central New York region, as well as the only inter- SUNY jazz festival. The second annual One- onta Jazz Festival will take on Saturday, April 9, in the Hunt College Union build- ing on the SUNY Oneonta campus. Latin-jazz trumpeter Ray Vega to perform Along with performances by student big bands from schools including SUNY Oswego, SUNY Brockport, Schenectady High School and Cooperstown Middle School (which will begin April 7, 2011 O-Town Scene 11 at 9:30 a.m.), this year’s festival will feature renowned trumpeter Ray Vega. A former mem- ber of Tito Puente’s en- semble, Vega has been a highly influen- tial figure in the world of Latin jazz for decades, and is currently a professor of music at the University of Vermont. Vega will perform at 4:15 p.m. in the Hunt Union Ball- room, and will play a variety of jazz arrangements with both the SUNY Oneonta Big Band and a rhythm section made up SUNY Oneonta alumni. Tickets will available at the door for $10, and can be reserved by calling (917) 817-7251. Admission is free for SUNY Oneonta students. Before performing, Vega will present a clinic on jazz and improvisational music at 11:30 a.m. In addition, each student ensemble will take part in educational work- shops with festival clinicians following their performances. Falbush’s progressive strides in jazz education are already well known to both academic colleagues and professional performers; he was featured in the March issue of Downbeat Magazine as a result of his work as co-director of the Proctors Summer Jazz Institute. That mentality, one of creating an effective educational dialogue through improvised music, has also been the focal point of his work on the upcoming festival. As SUNY continues to struggle, the organizers of the Oneonta Jazz Festival have striven to paint a more optimistic picture of the state of jazz and music educa- tion in state schools, and, so far, it seems that they have gained some success. Like so many other programs, what will determine the overall fate of this event is the level of regional support it can engender. With that in mind, the SUNY Oneonta Jazz Appreciation Society has specifically encouraged members of the surrounding community to take part in the festival, and, in doing so, to gain a better understanding of both historic jazz tradition and the way it currently af- fects educational institutions. — Sam Spokony