Vail Jazz Goes to School treats students to live music at Vilar Performing Arts Center

School isn’t always all about reading, writing and arithmetic. Sometimes education comes in the form of music, and in this case, the course of study follows jazz music with the Vail Jazz Goes to School program.

Vail Jazz Goes to School has been bringing jazz education to local fourth and fifth graders for over 25 years. The timing is good because many students decide whether or not they want to join band in the fifth grade and the introduction to jazz may help them choose an instrument. Vail Jazz Goes to School was founded by longtime Vail Valley performer and music teacher Tony Gulizia and the founder of Vail Jazz, Howard Stone. The valley lost both local icons last year, but their legacy lives on in Vail Jazz and bringing the sounds, history, instruments and vibe to the next generation.

At the Vilar Performing Arts Center on April 10, school kids were brought in by the busload to enjoy one of two performances led by Drew Zaremba, Vail Jazz’s new regional artistic director. While Zaremba ran the show and played the piano, he was backed by Briana Harris on the saxophone, Shawn Williams on trumpet, Domi Edson on bass, Michael Pujado on percussion and Mike Marlier on drums.

---

---

Earlier this school year, the students took part in three Vail Jazz Goes to School learning sessions in the classroom, but the information presented comes to life on the Vilar Performing Arts Center’s stage during the live performance.

“It’s about introducing the kids to jazz. It’s about sharing with them the instruments and music in general, but in particular, it’s an emphasis on jazz because that’s our national heritage, our American gift to the music world that we can be proud of,” Zaremba said.

---

---

Zaremba introduced the audience to Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn with huge photos up on the stage and a little bit more about the duo.

“Ellington is one of the greatest composers and piano players of all time. He wrote over 1,000 songs. Strayhorn was his best friend, and they wrote many songs together and we’re going to play one of their famous songs, ‘Take the A Train” in New York City,'” Zaremba said.

Up next, band member Domi Edson told the students about the swing era and how jazz music was the most popular music in America at that time.

---

---

“Today, you may go to a dance club and dance to hip-hop but back in that era you would go to a big dance hall and listen to jazz music and swing dance, and swing dancing is crazy, people would have competitions and people would get thrown around, you should look it up on YouTube,” Edson said.  

“The music they would dance to was jazz played by big bands, much bigger than ours, we’re talking four or five trumpets, five saxophones, four trombones, piano, bass, drums, guitar and there were lots of big bands out there, but one of the most famous was led by an amazing clarinet player, Benny Goodman. We’re going to play ‘Stompin’ at the Savoy’ and the Savoy was a really famous dance hall,” Edson said.

The students also learned about and listened to other famous jazz musicians like Ella Fitzgerald, Sonny Rollins, the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie. New this year was the dance party segment.

“The show is 75 minutes long, and some adults can’t even get through 75 minutes without getting up and stretching their legs, so fourth and fifth graders surely won’t be able to make it, so I thought ‘Let’s have a dance party!’ Let’s do what jazz music has been doing for decades. It’s music to dance to. The kids seemed to really love the dance party segment this year,” Zaremba said.

The kids also loved listening to their peers’ lyrics in the 12-Bar Blues Contest.

“During the Vail Jazz Goes to School classroom sessions, the students are taught how to write the lyrics, the structure of it, and how the lyrics all work together and how you have a conflict, you repeat the conflict, and then you have a resolution. It’s cute and it’s hilarious and the kids loved it, it was a big hit,” Zaremba said.  

Topics ranged from dancing on glass to searching for a lost dog in the ocean to looking forward to summertime at the pool with friends and fencing with bread. The imaginations definitely went wild during the 12-bar blues.

12 Bar Blues Contest winners:

• Renata Venegas, fourth grade, Gypsum Elementary School; Teacher: Susan Reid
• Leslie Duran, fifth grade, Gypsum Elementary School; Teacher: Susan Reid
• Ellie Barnwell, fourth grade, Eagle Valley Elementary School; Teacher: Cindy Reichardt
• Mica Bonta, fourth grade, Eagle Valley Elementary School; Teacher: Cindy Reichardt 

The Denver School of the Arts’ jazz ensemble also came up from the Front Range to play at the Vilar Performing Arts Center so the kids could see young jazz musicians in a live performance.

Scarlett Before-Horses plays piano for the Denver School of the Arts jazz ensemble and was excited that the kids were being exposed to this at a young age.

“When I was their age, I didn’t really have a super direct connection to jazz music or a lot of live performance music in general and I think being able to provide that initial spark of inspiration and joy from playing music is really a wonderful thing,” Before-Horses said.

In addition to Vail Jazz Goes to School programs in Eagle County, the Vail Jazz Workshop brings in a dozen kids from all over North America for a 10-day intensive workshop during the summer. To learn more about the educational side of Vail Jazz, to go VailJazz.org.