Courtesy photo
Maria Schneider is the featured performer at the 2002 Oregon Jazz Celebration.
Kicking out the jazz
■Jazz enthusiasts can prepare
for a celebration of Northwest
music organized by the
University’s jazz studies director
By Mason West
Oregon Daily Emerald
As the new year starts swinging,
the Northwest jazz community is
preparing for competitions that
will be held in late winter and ear
ly spring. At the front of this musi
cal momentum is the School of
Music’s Jazz Studies Program,
which will give the scene a “kick
in the pants.”
That kick comes from Steve
Owen, director of Jazz Studies. In
1989 — his second year at the
University — he organized the
Oregon Jazz Celebration, a festival
designed to be a purely fun and
educational experience in con
trast to a formal competition.
Since that first year, the OJC has
had only one absence, the year
Owen took a sabbatical.
“I guess the festival is kind of
driven by my energy,” Owen said.
Scott Barkhurst, publications di
rector for the School of Music, said
Owen initially had to devote a lot
of energy to establishing the cele
bration’s place.
“There’s so much interest in jazz
in the Northwest that every other
college and city has jazz contests
going on. It’s hard finding a time to
shoehorn people in,” he said.
Barkhurst said the event
spanned three days in its earlier
incarnations, but it has been
streamlined into one day to keep
it manageable.
The 2002 OJC takes place Satur
day from 8 a.m. to 9:45 p.m. with
almost non-stop activity. Bands
from Northwest high schools will
perform from the start of the day
until 5 p.m. with a 90-minute
break for lunch. Teaching clinics,
broken down by instrument, run
from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with frequent
overlaps. Owen said the clinics are
the most important part of the cel
ebration, and he crams in “as
many as we can afford.”
Participation in the OJC is open
to anyone willing to pay the $10
fee, which includes all clinics
and performances, though Owen
said the attendants are primarily
high school students.
All participants will be
crammed into Beall Concert
Hall at noon for a clinic with the
featured performer Maria
Schneider. The hourlong clinic
is a prelude to the evening con
cert at 8:15 p.m. when Schnei
der will conduct the Oregon
Jazz Ensemble, a select group of
University musicians.
Owen was full of praise for
Schneider, who he considers to
be “the leading composer in the
jazz field right now.”
Schneider wasn’t available for
comment because she was in
Australia conducting the Sydney
Festival, a free jazz festival that
draws 80,000-plus attendants.
Her manager, Devra Hall, said
Schneider’s schedule takes her
from Australia to Eugene after
she “stops home to do laundry
for one day.”
Though her schedule is frantic,
Schneider will arrive in Eugene
on Friday to work with the Ore
gon Jazz Ensemble before Satur
day’s performance. Owen said he
tries to find respected profession
als who exceed what is expected
of them to participate in the OJC.
Owen also said he knows
Schneider will have expectations
of his students, and he has warned
them that she will have plenty of
criticism, though she will present
it in a positive manner.
“I told them up front, ‘Nothing
is going to get in her way of how
things should be musically, and
she’ll tell you what needs to be
done. But you’ll walk away feeling
good about it,”’ Owen said.
Hall said Schneider’s conduct
ing appearances at the university
level are generally easier than in
professional circles because the
students do “a lot of hard work be
fore she gets there.”
Owen said the amount of re
hearsal time the Oregon Jazz En
semble has combined with the tal
ent of the musicians makes it “as
good as a pro group, if not better.”
The group annually competes in
the Reno Jazz Festival and consis
tently places either first or second,
Owen said.
To warm up the audience be
fore Schneider and the ensemble
take the stage, two high school
bands that will be selected during
the day will play at 7:30 p.m.
Owen said choosing the two
bands is not based on competi
tion, but could just be for an out
standing soloist or general group
energy. After all, this isn’t a com
petition — it’s a celebration.
E-mail Pulse reporter Mason West at
masonwest@dailyemerald.com.
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