The second annual Juneau Jazz Festival packed nearly thirty performances, workshops and events related to jazz music into four days last week. The festival’s musicians also went into the schools and placed professionals in the seats among student musicians from Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan.
At Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé on Friday, the sounds of Herbie Hancock filled the air in the music wing as the Sitka High School Big Band played for a jazz clinic. Joining the students were professional musicians from around the world. While they performed, other students at the high school were just beginning their day.
The clinics were part of the Juneau Jazz Festival, a partnership between Juneau Jazz & Classics and Juneau School District. From jazz combos made up of a handful of musicians to full big bands with close to thirty members, students worked with music educator Bob Athayde and other jazz musicians to add some finishing touches to their sets before two days of concerts.
It’s the second year Juneau has had the jazz festival. Before that, the event ran in Sitka for about two decades. Athayde is based out of California, but he’s been involved with the festival since 2002. He said the students’ attitudes and ability to take feedback brings him back to Alaska each year.
“It’s always uplifting to see young people play music, be engaged. And, you know, if someone says, ‘Oh, kids.’ No, kids are doing really good things. And I think we just have to continually catch them doing something right,” Athayde said.
Brian Van Kirk is one of the organizers and teaches band at Juneau’s high school. He said these events can connect students to professional musicians.
“There’s no other festival that puts the accessibility of the artists to students like this – the Sitka Jazz and now the Juneau Jazz,” Van Kirk said. “It’s nowhere else that you sit in a section and work with Grammy award-winning musicians.”
The festival comes as the Alaska State Legislature is considering bills to increase school funding. Years without significant permanent increases have led districts across the state, like the Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District, to consider music program cuts.
But Van Kirk said these programs do more than teach students about the arts.
“What we learn in band cross-pollinates to all the things that you need to be successful as an adult. Hard work, repetition, diligence, community, working together on a project – all of those things transfer,” he said.
In addition to ensembles from area schools, students from the three participating high schools – Juneau-Douglas, Sitka High School and Ketchikan High School – formed the All-Alaska Jazz Band. Juneau-Douglas senior Elijah Goins played piano for the band. He’s been playing keyboard for 10 years and has focused more on jazz through high school.
“It’s fun being able to create something and sit down at a piano or pick up an instrument and just play whatever you want. And jazz allows you to do that. It’s so improvisational that there isn’t bad jazz. There’s just different jazz,” he said.
Goins said it’s great to learn and play with different artists beyond his own school.
“It’s such a different experience to get to work with other students that have different teachers and to work with these musicians that have been playing for years and are just leagues ahead of you and can share so much information,” he said. “It’s so valuable.”
The festival is expected to return to Juneau next year.
