This is good stuff! I had not been exposed to this type of music very much until last summer. I was a sound and lighting engineer for weekly concerts that would go on at the Gallivan Center. The majority of the performances consisted of Miles Davis-esque music, although none of them played quite as smoothly. I really enjoyed this job because I love music, but also because it was fun to see how much fun everybody had. The concerts were all free to the public, so we would draw a decently sized crowd every night. It was mostly older people and families taking their kids out for a fun night, and everyone was very into it. My favorite part was when everyone would get up and dance in front of the stage, because it was nice to see the concert becoming such an interactive experience. While this is not usually my first choice of music, I absolutely love the carefree, happy atmosphere and attitude that goes along with it.
Glad you had that fun and valuable experience. Utah used to have a big jazz scene. That was a function of the railroad, which passed through Ogden. The scene slowly collapsed over the decades. This is no surprise, as jazz, once America’s preferred form of music, was eclipsed by rock and then hip hop. Lately, jazz is experiencing a bit of a local resurgence. Part of this is due to the influence of saxophone player Joe McQueen, who was one of the first jazz musicians to settle in Ogden and start building a scene. Joes was recently honored on the 100th anniversary of his birth.
While it’s certainly important to appreciate jazz for aesthetic (art) and social (dance) reasons, it’s also well to recall that the history of jazz music was, as should be expected, always tied up with politics. How could it be otherwise in a country whose greatest musicians, for many years, were not even allowed to patronize the very venues at which they played. A course covering the history of jazz in America, and the rest of the world, would make for an really interesting IT8 some semester in the future. I only wish I had the knowledge necessary to teach such a class.
This is good stuff! I had not been exposed to this type of music very much until last summer. I was a sound and lighting engineer for weekly concerts that would go on at the Gallivan Center. The majority of the performances consisted of Miles Davis-esque music, although none of them played quite as smoothly. I really enjoyed this job because I love music, but also because it was fun to see how much fun everybody had. The concerts were all free to the public, so we would draw a decently sized crowd every night. It was mostly older people and families taking their kids out for a fun night, and everyone was very into it. My favorite part was when everyone would get up and dance in front of the stage, because it was nice to see the concert becoming such an interactive experience. While this is not usually my first choice of music, I absolutely love the carefree, happy atmosphere and attitude that goes along with it.
Glad you had that fun and valuable experience. Utah used to have a big jazz scene. That was a function of the railroad, which passed through Ogden. The scene slowly collapsed over the decades. This is no surprise, as jazz, once America’s preferred form of music, was eclipsed by rock and then hip hop. Lately, jazz is experiencing a bit of a local resurgence. Part of this is due to the influence of saxophone player Joe McQueen, who was one of the first jazz musicians to settle in Ogden and start building a scene. Joes was recently honored on the 100th anniversary of his birth.
https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900019946/99-year-old-ogden-saxophonist-joe-mcqueen-keeps-utah-jazz-alive.html
While it’s certainly important to appreciate jazz for aesthetic (art) and social (dance) reasons, it’s also well to recall that the history of jazz music was, as should be expected, always tied up with politics. How could it be otherwise in a country whose greatest musicians, for many years, were not even allowed to patronize the very venues at which they played. A course covering the history of jazz in America, and the rest of the world, would make for an really interesting IT8 some semester in the future. I only wish I had the knowledge necessary to teach such a class.