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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 7, 2017)
'Time and time again bands have said after a performance, "Man we love coming here, because your audience is so great."' — Ted Ledgard TED LEDGARD, PRESIDENT OF THE WILLAMETTE JAZZ SOCIETY PHOTO BY TODD COOPER If students are interested in jazz, many of the shows in Eugene offer discounted tickets. The Jazz Station has student membership discounts, and many of Woideck’s Shedd shows are free for students. Attracting young people to The Jazz Station shows can be challenging, but Ledgard says that’s changing. “When I first started coming here, it was a bunch of old goats like me,” he says. “They were into the jazz from the ’50s and ’60s and so on. It kind of depends on the kind of mu- sic. Some of the foreign students are much more into our jazz than our American students. Most of the younger American students are listening to the more free [style] kind of jazz.” As Woideck closes out the Mingus tribute show, he adds additional lyrics to “Original Fa- bles of Faubus,” a song Mingus wrote in 1957 after Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus ordered the state’s National Guard to block the Little Rock Nine from integrating into a public school, go- ing against the recent U.S. Supreme Court Decision, according to Charles Mingus’ website. In the song, Mingus sings “Boo! Ku Klux Klan (with your Jim Crow plan).” Bassist and composer Sean Peterson, who plays regularly with Woideck, adds the lyr- ics, “No Trump, No Nazis, No Sessions.” Woideck tells me, “Charles Mingus composed “Fables of Faubus” with a lyric that merci- lessly mocked segregationist governor Orval Faubus, Nazis and racial supremacists. Mingus’ then-record company wouldn’t allow him to record the song except as an instrumental. The next year, another record company bravely allowed him to record the piece, scathing lyrics and all.” Although jazz music comprises around 1 percent of all album sales, Woideck thinks the genre is grounded in Eugene. “Musicians play to some extent for the love of it,” Woideck says. “Like classical music, jazz is always going to be a small portion of the music marketplace. Its complexities appeal to an audience that’s looking for a high common denominator. It still thrives every night in clubs, concert halls and universities across the world.” For a list of upcoming jazz shows at the Shedd, The Jazz Station and Broadway House Concerts, visit EW’s music calendar at EugeneWeekly.com. eugeneweekly.com • December 7, 2017 15
