The end of an era is left with a cleft hanger
Texas A&M University-Kingsville’s (TAMUK) School of Music hosted its first Jazz Festival since the start of the pandemic. This year, the 54th Annual Jazz Festival featured competitions, an educational clinic and a live jazz concert featuring Grammy-award winner Bob Reynolds and TAMUK’s jazz band. The event took place March 25 and 26 in Jones Auditorium.
The clinic was an opportunity for Reynolds to speak with students and up and coming improvisors who are in high school jazz bands. He explained how important it is to pass on things he learned from his mentors to these students who are at an impressionable age.
“If I have the opportunity to come to an event like this and speak to a bunch of young people, sharing the various things that I have learned and synthesized along the way, I just feel like I need to do that,” Reynolds said. “It’s just paying that forward.”
Students from across Texas also participated in the festival’s competition. Benjamin Jaso, a Harlingen High School senior, won the “Most Outstanding Jazz Musician” award and his team placed first in the overall contest.
“COVID-19 was a struggle that has impacted all of us as a whole but with taking precautionary efforts to be safe, we didn’t stop working,” Jaso said.
Like many students, Jaso saw the Jazz Festival as a culmination of friendly competition and educational opportunity.
“One thing I learned from the Kingsville Jazz Fest is how inspiring it is to listen to many groups from across Texas, how amazing jazz education has to offer and how much passion myself and many others are bringing to the bandstand while performing,” Jaso said.
Through the Jazz Festival, TAMUK School of Music wished for all students to have the opportunity to experience live jazz music because of its modern scarcity.
“Improvisation is the heart of jazz music, so the fact that they get to hear other students and professionals like Bob Reynolds improvise and perform, they learn, they grow and they imitate as they develop as jazz musicians,” Director of School of Music Dr. Paul Hageman said.
Although this is the beginning of renewing an age-old tradition, it is the end of an era for Dr. Hageman, as this was his last time being the Jazz Festival host before his retirement.
“I was just trying to enjoy the evening because I have done this so many times and as the director of the festival, there are so many hundreds of details,” he said. “So, the whole time, I was just enjoying it thinking, ‘This is wonderful. I love this music and I love these students.’ It was really a special feeling from that standpoint.”
