40th annual Juneau Jazz and Classics pays tribute to its founder, with some new flourishes
- Mark Sabbatini
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
‘40 years ago this kind of series really did not exist…now everyone's copying the formula,’ music director says of two-week festival that started Saturday
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
Linda Rosenthal says the 40th Juneau Jazz and Classics spring festival is a lot like the first one she launched as the event’s founder.
Rosenthal, a longtime violinist as well as festival organizer until stepping away a decade ago, returned for the opening weekend of this year’s festival that started Saturday and continues through May 9. On Saturday evening she saw the visiting Vega String Quartet play with festival music director Zuill Bailey at the National Shrine of St. Thérèse, followed Sunday afternoon by a solo concert by Russian pianist Natasha Paremski at a downtown Juneau church.
"The classical part is right along with what I did the first year," Rosenthal said in an interview during an intermission of Sunday’s concert at Kunéix Hídi Northern Light United Church. "String quartet, classical concert, noontime concerts, all that is similar. Blues were a part. The finale, I’m not that familiar with this group…but, yeah, a big splash at the finale. But it was jazz — mostly jazz — or blues at the finale."
This year’s Jazz and Classics is the first overseen by new executive director Alexander Serio, who took over the position on an interim basis Dec. 1 after Sandy Fortier stepped down after eight years to lead other local and statewide music projects. He said much of the schedule and lineup for the spring festival follows tradition, but there are some new elements, including an "instrument petting zoo" before a family oriented concert by the Vega String Quartet on Wednesday.
"It's really making it accessible to all ages so young kids can come make a sound," he said. "The Vega quartet and Zuill are going to be showing them what to play along with Brian, one of our board members, who's the band director over at Juneau-Douglas (high school), and so they can come and try the instruments out, and then watch the concert."
Another new aspect will be the final concert by Biribá Union, a Brazilian trio featuring cellist/vocalist Mike Block, guitarist/beatboxer Christylez Bacon and bassist/vocalist Patricia Ligia.
"It's a Grammy-winning cellist who toured with Yo Yo Ma," Serio said. "But Christylez Bacon is a beatboxer who also does hip-hop. I don't think the festival has ever had hip-hop."
Bailey, an award-winning cellist who over the years has booked artists for Jazz and Classics events based on who he has collaborated with during extensive touring, said Block performed with his acoustic trio at the Juneau festival a few years ago. More recently, Bailey got a chance to hear Biribá Union while in New York City.
"It is a returning favorite, Mike Block on bass, but it's in the electric form," Bailey said. "And then this guy who plays guitar, sings and does all the percussion with his body. I thought it was fascinating and it actually does work. And it's spectacular, accessible, fun, party music."
Other featured visiting artists include Florida-based blues singer Dottie Kelly, the Navy Band Northwest’s brass band, and jazz pianist Matt Herskowitz with his trio. Venues will range from lunchtime and mainstage shows at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center, to a blues cruise departing from Auke Bay on Saturday evening, to the finale at Centennial Hall.
Bailey, in a presentation to the audience before Sunday’s concert previewing the schedule for the coming two weeks, noted the festival will adhere to the tradition of featuring classical music during the first half before shifting to jazz and blues during the second part. He also offered a tribute to Rosenthal, sitting near the back of the church, saying "40 years ago this kind of series really did not exist."
"There were jazz series and there were blues series, and there was obviously classical series," he said. "But the visionary element of this to bring them all together under the course of one umbrella was not done."
"It's not really hard to birth something, but to be something that no one else is is extraordinary and it took only 40 years for the rest of the world to sort of catch up," Bailey added. "And now everyone's copying the formula of this series and how it impacts the community."
In addition to the scheduled concerts, about 3,000 students will be involved in workshops, free performances and other activities involving the festival’s musicians, said Kristin Garot, chair of Juneau Jazz and Classics’ board of directors. Bailey said one of his goals when selecting artists is ensuring they do more than just show up for a performance or two.
"I want them to be in residence here. I want you to get to know them," Bailey said. He said this is the third time the Vega Quartet has been at the festival, for instance, so "you know them as people, you can ask about their families, you can see what's going on in life."
"I used to lie a lot and say, ‘Oh, we're building for the future,‘" Bailey said. "No — (what) we're building, this is for us right now, and we're showing the younger people how it's done and we're setting a precedent that they will think is normal, and it is their job to carry the torch when it's their time to carry the torch. So we need to pinch ourselves and really appreciate those who brought us here."
Rosenthal said when she founded Juneau Jazz and Classics she felt the community would be supportive due to their enthusiasm for events such as the Alaska Folk Festival, which staged its 51st annual performance earlier this month. She said she wanted to go beyond just chamber music, which resulted in the jazz and blues elements being added — and ended up calling the festival "Jazz and Classics" simply because "it just clicked."
This year’s festival, as usual, contains a number of free performances such as noontime "brown bag" concerts as well as pop-up events not on the official schedule, but which may get notice on the festival’s social media sites. Rosenthal said the festival during its early years didn’t have such shows in places like bookstores and street corners — but "we just appeared in outrageous places" such as the Mendenhall Glacier and at an annual mud run across Gastineau Channel at low tide.
"We had musicians and stations," she said. "John Ingalls was playing his flute in the channel…And then on the other side in Douglas the Juneau String Ensemble was greeting everybody as they came into the finish."
Rosenthal, who said she still performs occasionally elsewhere, isn’t planning to be anything except a spectator at this year’s Jazz and Classics. And she didn’t have any advice for Serio for his staging of the landmark 40th-anniversary event.
"I’m just so happy with the direction he’s taking," she said.
Juneau Jazz and Classics Spring Festival Schedule
Saturday, April 25
• 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.: Zuill Bailey and the Vega String Quartet. National Shrine of St. Thérèse.
Sunday, April 26
• 2 p.m.: Natasha Paremski, solo piano. Kunéix Hídi Northern Light United Church.
Monday, April 27
• Noon: Brown Bag Concert with the Vega String Quartet. JACC. Free.
Tuesday, April 28
• 7 p.m.: Zuill Bailey, cello & Natasha Paremski, piano. Kunéix Hídi Northern Light United Church.
Wednesday, April 29
• 6:30 p.m.: Instrument Petting Zoo. JACC.
• 7 p.m.: "What is a String Quartet?" family concert with The Vega String Quartet. JACC.
Friday, May 1
• Noon: Dottie Kelly, Blues Brown Bag Concert. JACC. Free.
• 7 p.m.: Blues Dance with Dottie Kelly. JACC.
Saturday, May 2
• 8 p.m.: Blues Cruise with Dottie Kelly. Departs from Statter Harbor at 8 p.m.
Sunday, May 3
• 2 p.m: Matt Herskowitz, solo piano. Kunéix Hídi Northern Light United Church.
Tuesday, May 5
• 8 p.m.: Jazz Jam with Matt Herskowitz Trio. Crystal Saloon. Free.
Wednesday, May 6
7 p.m.: Matt Herskowitz Jazz Trio. Chapel by the Lake.
Thursday, May 7
• Noon: Biribá Union, Brown Bag Concert. JACC. Free.
• 5:30 p.m.: Navy Band Northwest Rush Hour Concert. JACC. Free.
Saturday, May 9
• 7 p.m.: Biribá Union — Festival Finale! Centennial Hall Ballroom 3.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
