Unfortunately I was right, or fortunately if you look at it from the standpoint of staying totally on the safe side.
As I write this, we would normally be experiencing another UMM Jazz Festival. The event has been an early-April staple on this community's calendar for so long. No, it isn't as big as it once was but let's not weigh size or duration as the only criterion.
I heard UMM Jazz Ensemble I directed by Jonathan Campbell on March 8. The jazz group concluded the Celebration of Women Composers concert at the recital hall. The show covered lots of ground and was the kind of brilliant showcase for talent we'd expect. Jazz Ensemble I performed "Choro Dancado" by Maria Schneider. Featured soloists were Josh Engelkes on tenor saxophone and Jack Campbell on piano. The pandemic came along and prevented jazz from having its annual biggest showcase.
Jim Carlson was the director who established and built up the Jazz Fest. We don't see much of Jim any more, if at all. I think he "escaped" to warmer climes in Florida where I'm sure the pastime of golf is accommodated very well! At least under normal circumstances it is. Just about every facet of our lives is affected by the current health specter with the virus.
When all this is over, if it ever truly ends, will UMM land on its feet and operate in the normal way? When you look at government bailouts and radical Federal Reserve actions, you must wonder if our normal economy and way of life can return any time in the foreseeable future. So many people are going to need help. But you cannot create wealth out of nothing.
Being frank about our interests
If in the future we find we can backpedal out of this, how much support can a public liberal arts institution command for itself? I have always been an outlier in this community, saying the day may come when we have to accept an adjustment away from the liberal arts mantra that has characterized the campus. You might say I've been an outlier on some other subjects too.
But regarding the campus, the bottom line is the support, vitality and numbers. There is no doubt the liberal arts have virtue. How can one argue otherwise? Maybe the Trump crowd would, but let's not be distracted by that now. Trump himself distracts us every day through the TV screen.
People of sound mind and reason support academics across the spectrum. However, the drastically evolving nature of our universe with its unending avalanche of information online, must be recognized. We must adjust.
Music is relevant everywhere
I do know this: regardless of how our Morris campus progresses in the future, it will have to have music! That is my family's priority which is why the Ralph and Martha Williams Fund exists. Jim Carlson was in my father's vocal group that symbolized UMM in the earliest days when PR was so vital. Carlson and Ralph Williams are among the cornerstone people in the institution's background. My father retired in 1978 and Carlson started the Jazz Festival the next year.
I still remember the first visiting jazz clinicians: Randy Purcell and Rick Cornish. Randy was an "alum" of the Maynard Ferguson orchestra which was a catalyst in getting so many kids turned on to jazz. I remember attending the Jazz Fest party at Jim's home and getting to hear a Maynard story or two from Mr. Purcell. My parents and I attended many Fest parties there through the years.
An assortment of fascinating musicians/personalities came to UMM for the Jazz Festival. Needless to say, jazz presents a kaleidoscope of personalities. There were ups and downs. A trumpet player tried getting out of his contract because he'd just gotten an offer from (as I recall) Oprah Winfrey, but he was told "no." Legend has it he came here in a sullen frame of mind. A female brass player was reportedly not as nice or tactful with the high school musicians, as she should have been. She needed to remember that many small high schools have jazz programs that are modest, seeming almost an extension of pep band - they are worthy of respect.
Reminding of a virtue of Morris!
There was a clinician who was offered a ride from the party to his overnight accommodations and said "no," on the basis that he so appreciated being in a town where it was safe to walk after dark, he just wanted to walk! Bless him.
The heyday of Jazz Fest was when you'd see orange school buses from the visiting towns around Morris. For a number of years I had a nitpick with how we didn't get to hear enough of Jazz Ensemble I, as I felt the other groups took up too much. In particular I thought the combos got over-emphasized. In the early years I felt the combos could be a little, well, "non-descript" (a term I learned from high school band director John Woell). Carlson seemed to remedy the alleged deficiency as time went on: a combo would go on stage with a specific artistic niche or mission, for example Dixieland.
I'm sure Jim Morrison would agree with what I'm saying about the combos. And if people don't wish to respect my views, you'll listen to a Morrison (wink wink). Really you should listen to me too, as I too have opened my checkbook. I really don't know how the Williams $ contributions compare to the Morrisons. I do know that when in Morris, do as the Morrisons do.
Carlson brought "Tonight Show" drummer Ed Shaughnessy to the Fest one year. If my memory is correct, we had some bad wintry weather for that Fest. I also remember photographing the drummer and Jim at the party, for publication in the Morris paper, with a container or two of alcoholic beverages visible. Our culture was different then: we could feel rather amused at such a photo: jazz musicians who enjoy their mind-altering substances! True to stereotype I guess. A lot of that was probably just myth anyway. You must be of sound mind to create superb art. Sometimes I think the artists prod the myth because they find it makes them relatable?
My father Ralph launched UMM music by doing more than he was technically required to, according to Williams family legend. Don't tell the union. UMM really had to show all the oomph it could in the early times. Frankly there was some sense of desperation - no exaggeration. Those early days are fading into the mists of time. The Ralph and Martha Williams Fund is there to impress on everyone the wide breadth of UMM music history.
Just did a check on the web to confirm that church choirs continue to perform my father's compositions. I always confirm that it's Ralph E. Williams and not Ralph Vaughn Williams. The latter is the "other" Williams (LOL). Here I present a link to a choir performance from a UCC church in Corvallis, Oregon. Please listen and enjoy. Dad gained a little immortality doing this.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
 |
| The above is a page from the first UMM yearbook, "Venture." |
No comments:
Post a Comment