Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
Jazz musician does benefit gig
 |
| Saxophone player Greg Abate performs with The Big Bad Jazz Band at GCC during the Hoover Jazz Band Benefit Concert Tuesday. (Alex Collins/News-Press) |
Saxophonist Greg Abate plays at a fundraiser to help send students to festival in Reno.
By Angela Hokanson
Renowned alto saxophonist Greg Abate flew from Boston to Los Angeles on Tuesday to help jazz band members from Hoover High School get to Reno this spring.
Abate, a Grammy-nominated musician who has played with the Ray Charles Orchestra, took the stage at Hoover High School with instrumental music groups from Hoover and Glendale Community College as part of a fundraising concert to help send the Hoover students to the Reno Jazz Festival in April.
Hoover High School jazz band members have played in places like Japan, China, Australia and Europe on four international tours since 1999, but this year, the school’s jazz department is organizing a more local trip so that more student-musicians can afford to go, said Hoover music teacher Craig Kupka.
“All of those trips — they were expensive and only limited amounts of kids would do them,” he said.
About 30 jazz band members from Hoover are expected to go to Reno, compared to the dozen or so students who have been able to go on each of the recent international trips, Kupka said.
During the festival, Hoover jazz band members will compete against other high school jazz groups. They will be able to listen to jazz concerts and attend lectures about music during the three-day affair.
“There’s going to be all kinds of musical events to attend,” Kupka said.
But even though Reno is closer to home, there are still considerable expenses for the group, so students have been fundraising to cover costs for things like the charter bus, hotel rooms and festival entrance fees, Kupka said. Tuesday’s concert was one of those fundraising efforts.
At the show, Abate played the jazz standard “Body and Soul” with the Glendale Community College Big Band, which Kupka leads.
Later in the night, Abate was expected to take the stage to perform several numbers with Hoover’s “straight ahead” jazz combo, including “A Night in Tunisia” by Dizzy Gillespie.
Before the show began, Caity Brady, who plays saxophone with the straight ahead jazz combo, said she was looking forward to playing with someone of Abate’s caliber.
“You grow from playing with people who are 10,000 times better than you,” said Caity, who is 17.
Abate’s presence at the concert was serendipitous, Kupka said.
The two friends had played music together and been roommates more than 30 years ago in Los Angeles, but had lost touch when Abate moved east, Kupka said.
Then, Abate happened to call Kupka as he was putting the concert together.
“Out of the clear blue sky, he reconnected with me,” he said.
Giving the students a chance to play with an accomplished musician like Abate, who knew at a young age that he wanted to be a musician and followed that dream, was sure to be inspiring for the young musicians, Kupka said.
Abate rehearsed with the Hoover straight ahead jazz combo for less than an hour before he took the stage. He had flown into Los Angeles just hours before.
“It’s always an improvisation,” he said about the lack of formal preparation. “My life is an improvisation.”
Abate, a Grammy-nominated musician who has played with the Ray Charles Orchestra, took the stage at Hoover High School with instrumental music groups from Hoover and Glendale Community College as part of a fundraising concert to help send the Hoover students to the Reno Jazz Festival in April.
Hoover High School jazz band members have played in places like Japan, China, Australia and Europe on four international tours since 1999, but this year, the school’s jazz department is organizing a more local trip so that more student-musicians can afford to go, said Hoover music teacher Craig Kupka.
“All of those trips — they were expensive and only limited amounts of kids would do them,” he said.
About 30 jazz band members from Hoover are expected to go to Reno, compared to the dozen or so students who have been able to go on each of the recent international trips, Kupka said.
During the festival, Hoover jazz band members will compete against other high school jazz groups. They will be able to listen to jazz concerts and attend lectures about music during the three-day affair.
“There’s going to be all kinds of musical events to attend,” Kupka said.
But even though Reno is closer to home, there are still considerable expenses for the group, so students have been fundraising to cover costs for things like the charter bus, hotel rooms and festival entrance fees, Kupka said. Tuesday’s concert was one of those fundraising efforts.
At the show, Abate played the jazz standard “Body and Soul” with the Glendale Community College Big Band, which Kupka leads.
Later in the night, Abate was expected to take the stage to perform several numbers with Hoover’s “straight ahead” jazz combo, including “A Night in Tunisia” by Dizzy Gillespie.
Before the show began, Caity Brady, who plays saxophone with the straight ahead jazz combo, said she was looking forward to playing with someone of Abate’s caliber.
“You grow from playing with people who are 10,000 times better than you,” said Caity, who is 17.
Abate’s presence at the concert was serendipitous, Kupka said.
The two friends had played music together and been roommates more than 30 years ago in Los Angeles, but had lost touch when Abate moved east, Kupka said.
Then, Abate happened to call Kupka as he was putting the concert together.
“Out of the clear blue sky, he reconnected with me,” he said.
Giving the students a chance to play with an accomplished musician like Abate, who knew at a young age that he wanted to be a musician and followed that dream, was sure to be inspiring for the young musicians, Kupka said.
Abate rehearsed with the Hoover straight ahead jazz combo for less than an hour before he took the stage. He had flown into Los Angeles just hours before.
“It’s always an improvisation,” he said about the lack of formal preparation. “My life is an improvisation.”
Save/Share
 |
 |
|
| Globe-trotters hold court | KIDS TALK BACK: Engineering club key to discovery |
Article Rating
Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of glendalenewspress.com.
Submit a Comment
We encourage your feedback and dialog, all comments will be reviewed by our Web staff before appearing on the Web site.
Not registered yet?
RSS