BRATTLEBORO — In the recent Academy Award-winning movie, Whiplash, a student is terrorized to learn how to play jazz by his teacher at a prestigious music school.
Eugene Uman, artistic director of the Vermont Jazz Center (VJC), says he has not seen the movie, but has read all about it. He believes that the bullying in Whiplash couldn't be further from what happens at the VJC.
“At the Center, we want to nurture the potential in both our audiences and students,” says Uman. “The mission of Vermont Jazz Center is to spread the word of jazz in a supportive way. That's how I learned jazz. It's certainly how I studied under Jimmie Heath who played with Coltrane and Miles Davis; and Howard Brofsky, who was a mentor for me and this entire VJC. That's the way it should be.
“I believe jazz is the music by and for the people. You could say that it's the music of Che Guevara.”
The Vermont Jazz Center is dedicated to creating and preserving jazz through the presentation of workshops, concerts, and instruction to a broad constituency of artists, students, and the general public.
To help people appreciate the music, Uman writes elaborate notes for each concert, which can be found at the VJC website at www.vtjazz.org.
He told The Commons, “The notes often take me over six hours to write. I think they are very important. I like to prepare people in each concert what to expect, to explain what is it about the music being performed that is unique. I like to see my job also as an educator who guides people to discover what makes up jazz, so that they can more fully appreciate the music.
“Take our Sofia Rei, our next performer at VJC. She is a very exciting performer who I first discovered at the Winter Jazz Festival in New York City. Sofia Rei is essentially an encyclopedia of South American rhythms. Every song uses a different rhythm. She sings like a bird; she really has an extraordinary voice.”
On Friday, Oct. 30, at 8 p.m., VJC, in collaboration with Next Stage Arts Project, will present the Sofia Rei Quartet at the Vermont Jazz Center, located at 74 Cotton Mill Hill.
Called one of the best Argentine singers ever and a song researcher with a vibrant voice, Rei is emerging as a star while still holding firm to the scholarly mission of discovering and performing song forms and rhythms rarely heard outside their native cultures.
She comes to the Vermont Jazz Center with a quartet of like-minded individuals who share her passion for exploring the deep troughs of Latin rhythms.
“For this concert we are collaborating for the first time with Next Stage in Putney,” says Uman. “VJC is eager to collaborate with the other arts organizations in the area. Brattleboro has many fine arts organizations that would be great to team up with.”
As a collaborator, Next Stage is sharing cost for the Rei concert, and helping with publicity as both are hoping to reach out to broader audiences.
“It was great working with Maria Basescu from Next Stage,” says Uman. “We are like-minded and share the same vision to get great music out to the community.”
For most of the time, Uman says concerts at VJC are sponsored by someone in the community.
“Our sponsor pays performing expenses, so all the money at the door comes to VJC, which we can use to upgrade the facility and support our education programs. These concerts are seldom sponsored by local businesses, but rather by individuals in the community who step up and underwrite the events.”
Last year, VJC was able to use the ticket profits to do extensive renovations to the VJC performing space.
“Now, we have the state of the art lighting and sound system,” says Uman.
Uman sees his job is to spread the word of what's happening at VJC.
“This means I have to do a lot a marketing,” he says. “We usually have full houses at our concerts, but that is not something I take for granted. I reach outside southern Vermont to places like Northampton [Mass.] and Keene [N.H.] because I want out-of-state people to begin considering VJC a destination for concerts.”
When jazz artists come through Brattleboro, they are “struck how this little town has such a hip and soulful audience,” Uman adds. “After jazz drummer Carl Allen performed at VJC [earlier this month], he confessed to me, 'When I came up to Brattleboro, I didn't know what to expect, crickets or hip audiences.' He was delighted it was the latter.”
Uman admits that in some ways jazz can be a hard sell. “They say that these days jazz is only 0.075 percent of the music purchased,” he explains. “In the 1920s and 1930s, with the proliferation of big band music, jazz used to be the most popular music in America.
“But then again all jazz is not the same. There are many styles of jazz.
“There are some performers who I call jazz entertainers, such as our local Samirah Evans. I certainly don't mean that derogatorily, I love Samirah. She comes from New Orleans and brings from there that music that makes you feel good.
“On the other hand, there are more esoteric jazz musicians that will take you on an incredible journey, which can feel familiar but may not be as easily accessible as other music.
“We try to include all styles at VJC.”
When scheduling a season, Uman tries to find what is best for the artist and for the audience. He has to begin planning early.
“Our season runs from September through June, so I have to begin preparing the winter before,” Uman says. “By the end of March, I have to have filled all the performing slots because the season program is published in April.”
Uman says it is important to program a balance of styles of jazz, always insisting that everything is of exceptional quality. “We have hard bop, big band, solo performers and small groups,” he says “There is a wide variety of jazz styles, and each concert addresses some element that keeps different people coming.”
For instance, this season upcoming concerts include:
• On Nov. 14, Brazilian vocalist Maucha Adnet with Helio Alvez and Duduka DaFonseca, in a tribute to legendary composer Antônio Carlos Jobim.
• On Feb. 13, 2016, Eric Alexander and Scott Mullett, in an evening when two tenor saxophonists goad each other in the bebop tradition of Sonny Rollins and Sonny Stitt, Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster, and Dexter Gordon with Wardell Grey.
• On March 12, 2016, pianist and composer Fred Hersch, who The New York Times called “singular among the trailblazers of their art, a largely unsung innovator of this borderless, individualistic jazz - a jazz for the 21st century.”
• On April 16, 2016, Renee Rosnes, cited as “one of the finest pianists in jazz."
• On May 14, 2016, Ben Williams, winner of the 2009 Thelonious Monk Competition on bass, a Grammy Award for his work with Pat Metheny's Unity Band, and winner of top overall rising star in Downbeat's 2015 Critic's Poll.
This year has turned out to be an especially exciting season, but Uman wants to emphasize that there is more to running VJC than putting on concerts.
“We have multifaceted wonderful education at VJC,” says Uman. “We provide many programs: youth, Latin, bebop, two choruses and ear training programs.
“In addition, we have a jam session every week, only costing $5. Here, anyone can have access to playing with professional musicians. The jam sessions are a gateway to jazz. This is a community for exploring the language of jazz in a non-threatening environment.
“Someone new to jazz may come and hear others play and think, 'You know, they are not so hot; I just may try to learn a tune with them.' So here begins what can turn out to be a lifelong love affair with jazz.
“Our jam sessions mean a lot to some people. Participants can come from remarkably far away. For instance, I had a father drive his son all the way from Concord, N.H., each week for several years. That kid is now studying at Juilliard, where we still keep in contact through email.”
For the last 40 years at the Putney School, VJC has presented its Summer Workshop. Founded in 1975 by Attila Zoller and directed by Uman since 1997, this intensive jazz exploration hosts about 40 instrumental and 20 vocal participants from around the world for a challenging, invigorating weeklong summer workshop.
The program is set up so that participants can focus intensively on the music: learning opportunities include classes in theory, composition and arranging, vocal studies, ensembles, listening, master-classes, and jam sessions.
“Last summer we had students from as far away as India and Japan,” says Uman.
In 2014, the center was recognized for its efforts when VJC received an Acclaim Award from Chamber Music America (CMA) which recognizes “extraordinary cultural contributions in a locality or region.”
The CMA Acclaim Award, which honors two arts organizations nationally each year who have served their community by providing access to art and culture, is tailored to recognize the accomplishments of organizations that are generally “off the radar.”
VJC fits that criteria perfectly; it provides services and access to art for those living in a rural area with limited connections to live art and music education.
Awards may be great, but Uman already knows that what he does at VJC is important.
“For a lot of people out there, jazz is what sparks their lives,” he says.