By the very late-1950s a new style of music, “funk,” began to be heard, initially in New Orleans, but by the mid-1960s it was everywhere.  While there is not a consensus over the origin of the term “funk,” there is an agreement that it was first used as slang to mean “earthiness” and describing something deeply felt and authentic.  That pretty much sums up what funk is all about.  The musical foundation of funk was built upon a fusion of the unique jazz rhythmic patterns employed by Black musicians in New Orleans with elements of R&B and soul music added into the mix, along with a healthy bass “groove.”While ethnomusicologists may continue to debate the origins of the name and the music, what is clear is that funk is for dancing and this year Wycliffe Gordon has once again assembled a band of some of the funkiest musicians around to play for your dancing pleasure.  So bring your dancing shoes and get prepared to get down! 

When it became apparent in early April of this year that Vail Jazz might be able to present the 27th Annual Vail Jazz Festival, we immediately began to focus on how we could make this year’s Festival as celebratory as possible.  Let’s put the “festive” in our Festival became our mantra and it didn’t take long to conclude that we needed to go back to the beginning, to our roots, where it all started, in New Orleans. What better way to rejoice and celebrate a return to “normal” than to pay tribute to the genius of Louis Armstrong and the music of New Orleans. To lead this musical escapade are two great interpreters of the music of Pops, Wycliffe Gordon and Byron Stripling. Joining them are Terell Stafford and Alphonso Horne, both of whom having been deeply influenced by the music of Satchmo. So get ready to put your hands together, stomp your feet and party as Vail Jazz pays homage to arguably the most important jazz musician who ever lived and the city that birthed the music we all love.

Last year was the 25th anniversary of the Vail Jazz Workshop and Vail Jazz had great plans to celebrate this special edition of the Workshop.  It was of course not possible to bring a dozen young musicians and the faculty of six together in the intimate setting that the Workshop requires, but through herculean efforts by the Workshop faculty, the Workshop was presented virtually. However, this year, once again 12 gifted and dedicated young musicians are in residence in Vail for 10 days of intense professional level training that is synonymous with the Workshop.  In addition, Workshop alumni will perform over the Labor Day weekend as Vail Jazz continues to pursue its mission to perpetuate jazz. The tradition of bringing alumni to the Veil Jazz Party started a number of years ago with the goals of supporting our alumni by providing them with performance opportunities, while inspiring the Workshop students in residence to pursue becoming professional jazz musicians. Since Vail Jazz was not able to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Workshop in person with you last year, we could not think of a better way to do so now then to reunite the six very talented alumni that have returned to Vail to perform as professional this year SIDE BY SIDE next to their mentors and let all of us enjoy the great music.

Academic-types will debate whether a piano is a string instrument or a percussion instrument. Does it really matter how you describe the mechanics of a piano?  Not really, because what matters is the sound that the piano makes and of course, that is where the pianist comes in.  It has been said that the piano is “an orchestra in a box” and that seems a good way to describe it, but the best definition may be an equation: 1 piano + 1 player + talent = sheer joy.    Add into the mix another piano and another player, along with a healthy ingredient of improvisation and you have the following equation: 2 pianos + 2 improvising players + talent = heaven.  That is why Vail Jazz presents a Piano Duos show every year.

Charlie Parker, Dave Brubeck and Clark Terry were all born in 1920 and last year Vail Jazz planned to celebrate the centennials of the births of these legendary jazz musicians.  Of course, there wasn’t much celebrating going on last year, but that hasn’t deterred us from paying tribute to these jazz giants and their musical legacies this year. 

Charlie Parker, nicknamed “Bird” (as well as “Yardbird), was the trail blazing alto saxophonist and composer who was one of the founding fathers of bebop.  A tragic figure who died in 1955 at the age of 34, he was a musical genius whose influence is still being felt by successive generations of players more than a half century after his passing.  

The pianist and composer Dave Brubeck was the antithesis of Bird in so many ways.  Dave was a family man, who passed away the day before his 92nd birthday.  Best known for his employment of unique time signatures and contrasting rhythms in his music, Dave was more in the “cool” school, as bebop was not his thing.  For nearly a half-century Dave brought jazz, first to the college campus of the US, and then throughout the country, ultimately entertaining jazz audiences worldwide. 

Trumpeter and flugelhornist Clark Terry was a virtuoso who played with the who’s who of jazz over a remarkable career spanning seven decades.   He played with a distinctive lush melodic quality and was always ready to swing.    Mumbles (a nickname he earned from his parody of scat singing) was a beloved figure that taught, influenced and mentored countless jazz musicians, most notably Miles Davis.

So here’s to a happy 101st birthday to Bird, Dave and Mumbles!