School jazz ensembles highlight concert at Thousand Oaks High
By Cary Ginell soundthink@aol.com

Jazz fans wondering where the next generation of musicians is coming from, take heart: It's alive and well in the Conejo Valley Unified School District, as evidenced by last week's concert sponsored by the Thousand Oaks High School jazz program.

In recent years, jazz has become an increasingly isolated and inaccessible musical art form, especially in the Conejo Valley. Aside from an occasional PBS special, it's rarely seen on TV. There are no clubs in town that feature the music on a regular basis, and the local NPR station abandoned most of its promising jazz format a few years ago in favor of prerecorded network talk and news programs.

Thousand Oaks High School band director Marty Martone assembled four groups, two from TOHS and two from Cal State Northridge, for a lively concert of jazz encompassing a variety of styles and moods. The program was arranged in reverse experience order, with the youngest group coming on first.

Directed by Janine Delwarte, the PM Jazz Band consists of 15 musicians who've been playing jazz only since February. As one would expect, they are still learning their craft, but Delwarte, whose father, Bob, created the jazz program at CSUN, understands the looseness of jazz enough that she encouraged the students to at least dress the part. As a result, the young would-be hipsters strutted on stage dressed in black, complete with dark glasses, bright neckties and hats.

Most audiences are not aware of how difficult it is to improvise, an ability that is the nuts and bolts of jazz. Although arranged charts are created for the musicians, there are open areas of eight to 16 bars where individuals stand up and take improvised solos based on a series of chord progressions.

The musicians in the PM Band were understandably selfconscious, but clearly showed they're headed in the right direction. Drummer Breanna Hale, for example, has shown significant improvement in the several months she's been playing, according to Delwarte, progressing from a simple boomchuck accompaniment to pounding away at the tom-toms a la Gene Krupa on the Louis Prima swing standard, "Sing, Sing, Sing."

The second group, dubbed the AM Band, led by Martone himself, shows what a few years' experience can do to a jazz unit. The group members are more selfassured, relaxed and imaginative, exploring different styles of music, from big band to bossa nova. The band's set was to be performed at the Reno Jazz Festival the following weekend.

"Why Musicians Can't Dance" highlighted the silky smooth trombone of senior Brian Caseblot. "We'll Be Right Back" was an exciting chart composed by Grammy-nominated writer Les Hooper, showcasing the power and command of drummer Joey Martone (the leader's son) and especially Kristie O'Quinn, whose alto sax solo positively sizzled. Martone doesn't lead the group as much as encourage them, nodding in approval, making eye contact and bouncing with the beat.

Following the TOHS bands were the two CSUN units, whose experience allowed for more challenging works, both technically and intellectually, to be performed. The first set, played by the "B" Band under Gary Pratt, focused on more modern sounds.

This band, which was also on its way to Reno, played four works, including one original composition by lead alto saxophonist Michael Mull titled "Montana de Oro." Mull and guitarist Blake Straus were featured on Vince Mendoza's "Sketch No. 2" while Pratt led the group through a flawless rendition of John Coltrane's signature tune, "Giant Steps," in a rhythmically as well as harmonically challenging and powerful chart by George Stone.

The CSUN "A" Band, directed by Matt Harris, closed out the show with a selection of tunes, most of which were written by the Brecker Brothers and Thad Jones. The highlight of this set was the strutting, funky "Minor Booze," written by Maynard Ferguson alumnus Willie Maiden.

For more information on band activities at Thousand Oaks High School, check the tohsband.org website calendar.