Jeff’s Blog

Jazz great Oscar Peterson dies at 82 - Celebrities- msnbc.com
Oscar Peterson, who sat atop the world of jazz piano for decades with his driving two-handed swing, technical wizardry and rapid-fire solos, died on Dec. 23 of kidney failure, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp reported.

This is very upsetting to me. Oscar Peterson was actually an idol to me. His jazz piano playing is (was) incredible and it inspired me. His album, Night Train was one of the first jazz albums I ever bought, and it’s still one I practically worship. He lived a musically successful life, however. It’s just a shame he won’t be working his jazz magic anymore. Herbie Hancock, another one of my jazz idols, said this about Oscar Peterson’s passing:

Oscar Peterson redefined swing for modern jazz pianists for the latter half of the 20th century up until today. I consider him the major influence that formed my roots in jazz piano playing. He mastered the balance between technique, hard blues grooving, and tenderness. You’ll find Oscar Peterson’s influence in the generations that came after him. No one will ever be able to take his place.

This shows how deeply Oscar Peterson influenced the jazz community. He was truly something special, and he will be missed.

I just got back from CCJA. This session, I started out in one in Boulder that focused on iim-V7-IΔ’s (a very basic chord progression in jazz) and Bb blues (a very basic concept in jazz). I completely understand where they are; I was there too when I was in seventh grade. I respect that they’re taking the opportunity to learn more jazz outside of school.

However, I’m a bit beyond those concepts, so I got the guy who runs it to switch me into a different group. I ended up in the one run by Jeff Jenkins - one of the best pianists in the area! The music is very challenging, and I’m really excited to be in the group. I think I’ll learn a lot from my time there, from Jeff and from the music itself.

Tonight was the second of the two holiday concerts. Long story short, it was better in everything except full orchestra (the Messiah), which was so much worse. It was disappointing and embarrassing to even be on the stage. Oh well, at least it’s over now.

Tonight was the first Holiday Concert out of two; the next one is tomorrow. Tonight we had to get there at 6:30pm, at which point we waited an hour and a half to get to set up the stage to play. First up was Jazz 3. I played Sing, Sing, Sing on piano with the band, and the other pianist played The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)
along with a vocalist. Then, I moved over to my bass clarinet for our concert band (”Wind Ensemble”) performance. We played A Festive Christmas and A Christmas Entrada, both of which went very well. Then I moved to my third instrument, regular clarinet, for what should have been the best performance of the night. Unfortunately, the choir and orchestra didn’t do their part, and the Hallelujah Chorus was, in fact, a disaster. It might be better tomorrow evening, but I’m not counting on it.

So far this summer, I’ve been up to a lot. I am working as a web designer at the BVSD again, and I got a raise this year. My old boss (the webmaster) left, and they’re still in the process of hiring a new one. Also this year, I got to bring in my keyboard and compose some background music for a podcast they’re doing, which was amazingly cool. I got to use Garage Band and make loops with my own bass lines, drum beats and other licks until it sounded like a song.

Along with working, I did C’s Jazz in Summer again this year, which was not as good as it was last year. It was still great to play jazz though, and the guitarist was amazing at playing blues. I’ve also been doing a salsa group with CCJA. There have only been two sessions so far, but it’s going to be really fun.

I also participated in Bike to Work Day, a yearly event in which many businesses provide free breakfast to people who either bike or walk to work in an effort to reduce pollution from cars and get people active. Finally, marching band has started again, and we’re really far ahead. We plan on doing very well in the state competition this year, and we’re well on our way. We’ll be marching and playing in the Independence Day parade this Wednesday as well.

Those are all the major things that have been going on; I also switched my blog to WordPress, but that’s not really important. This summer is a week shorter due to a school schedule change, and it’s already going fast, but it’s not that bad. At least I have something to do.

Tonight was this session’s final performance. It was, once again, one of the best groups I’ve been in. There was a great drummer (a high school senior), two great saxes (one was a freshman), our instructor (a college professor), and me. We played Caravan, Sweet Love of Mine (in a reggae style), and Ornithology.

We got there early enough to watch a few other bands, and then we were on. Our instructor had knee surgery today at about noon, and yet he still made it for the gig tonight, albeit using crutches.

The actual performance went great, and the decent crowd we attracted liked it. Unfortunately, I won’t have time to do CCJA in the fall because of marching band, but I’ll be able to do the winter session.

Just now, our school had a Fall Music Festival. Basically, it was showing off to parents what the music department has been doing so far this year. Marching band opened with their whole show, just standing and playing. It was very impressive. Next, some singing groups performed, and after a brief intermission, Jazz 2 was on. They were decent, certainly worthy of performing. Then came Jazz 3.

We were better than we had ever been before in rehearsal, and personally, I made no mistakes. I hit all the syncopations right, always knew exactly where I was in the song. I was by no means perfect, but I was at a satisfactory level for myself. After we played Trumpets Out Front, a basic blues form song, we played Firing Line, our funk chart. They were both awesome. After the performance, our band director announced the names of the drummers, the bassists (and forgot one), and then said, “This is the first time we’ve ever had a freshman in Jazz 3,”, and introduced me to the audience. People were actually clapping for me as an individual for once, which was amazing.

I have been very busy pretty much since school got out. I’ve been working for the BVSD doing web design, attending Marching Band practice every Monday night from 6pm-9pm, and participating in C’s Jazz in Summer, a jazz improvisation camp. Of course, I always leave time for playing catch with my brother and dad, playing video games, watching Rockies games and occasionally working on version four of my blog.

YEAH!!! It’s Winter Break!!! I had a piano lesson earlier today also. And tomorrow morning I have a dentist appointment. After the dentist, I get to go see my friend’s brother’s play (it’s a Christmas show). I’ll bring my mp3 player.

And tomorrow night, we’re going to a Nuggets game! (Just my family, not my friend and his family.) So that’ll be pretty awesome.

Then Friday I’m going to my aunt and uncle’s house for a Christmas celebration and we’re going to trade around tree ornaments. Saturday is a Broncos game (hopefully in HD) and Sunday is Christmas! And then I have the rest of winter break to have no school!