High school students get to study jazz alongside the greats in a one-of-a-kind program at The Nash, one of the Valley’s only jazz clubs. And it’s not your average high school marching band.
“Most students in high school only really have two options: marching band and big band,” Joel Goldenthal, the executive director of The Nash, said. Instead, the Legacy Ensembles are small jazz combos that allow high school students to learn more about jazz and perform together.
“Not only do they get the opportunity to perform, they get coached by college-level expert musicians,” Goldenthal added. Mike Kocour, the director of jazz studies at Arizona State University, and Eric Rasmussen, the director of instrumental music at Scottsdale Community College, are the program’s instructors. They coach the red and blue ensembles, which are separate ensembles within the program.
“The program is educational, nurturing and is just a lot of fun,” explained Antonio Nango, who played tenor saxophone in the program during high school. “It was exhilarating, they picked the best musicians and everybody knew what they were doing,” he further explained.
“(We) were playing with people who cared about the music and were directed by some of the best jazz musicians in town,” said Joaquin Rosales, who played trumpet and drums in the program during high school.
The program is designed to help any high school student who is interested in jazz be able to express themselves and learn about the art. It has been ongoing for nearly nine years.
The program doesn’t have a formal recruitment process Rasmussen explained “It’s really about word of mouth, just reaching out to connections and holding out auditions.”
“I got in when I was 16 or 17, getting into that band was a big deal for me. They only let so many people in, and it felt like a huge accomplishment,” Nango said.
“The program is free of charge and that is one of the things we are happy about,” Rasmussen said. However, students need to have their own instruments for practice and performance, according to Rasmussen.
“We don’t take students with the greatest facilities alone, but on their potential to learn and grow,” Goldenthal said. This goal gives students an opportunity who may not otherwise have the chance to learn.
“For me personally, this was great, since my high school did not have a band so this was one of the few opportunities I had to practice and grow,” Rosales explained.
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The ensembles give the students to be instructed but also perform their art. “We played what the directors brought in and what we wanted to play,” Rosales described the music that the ensemble performed. Music practiced and performed also ranged from jazz standards to the modern music that has been made into jazz music. “One of the recordings I go back to is a rendition of ‘Freedom’ from Kendrick Lamar’s ‘To Pimp A Butterfly,’” Rosales said.
This blending of modern music with jazz is helping to bring more attention to jazz music, with the Legacy Ensembles being a good way to help bring awareness. The Nash is “trying to bring awareness to a new generation and show that this music is ever evolving and still embracing modern music,” Rasmussen explained.
Jazz is a genre of music that has seen a decline of popularity in recent years, this program is a way of helping expand the popularity of the genre. “The popularity of jazz music is a battle that all of us are fighting,” Rasmussen said. “You know, keeping the music alive.”
“People tend to gravitate to what is popular. There’s definitely a niche for it, people can get into the music and write music in the style,” Nango said. “Younger people are getting more involved with it and there’s jam sessions on Sunday nights, and there’s always younger kids who are there,” he continued.
The program has lasting impacts on the lives of the students once they leave the ensemble.
“Jazz will always be part of my life,” Rosales explained how this program has affected them.
Nango currently is studying music and explained that the Legacy Ensembles gave him the solid foundation he needed to continue in music.
Students from the program have gone onto different things in the music world upon leaving the program. “We’ve had students go on to study not only at ASU but out of state,” Rasmussen explained. College was not the only option with others going directly to trying to make a name for the selves, according to Rasmussen.
While the program is still ongoing, it has not gone unscathed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic forced the program to adapt to a virtual format.
“We lost the dynamic of having the musicians playing and listening to each other in one room, which is what jazz is all about,” Goldenthal said.
“Jazz music is really born from communication and improvisation and that small group interaction,” Rasmussen said.
This removal of being in person hindered the way the ensemble performed, according to Goldenthal. “The virtual format can never replace being in person, especially in something like jazz,” Goldenthal said. “Where you have to listen to the player, that is lost online.”
This virtual format also made jazz performances near impossible due to the difficulties of the internet, especially when it came to timing. “We can have a meeting online, but whereas the several millisecond doesn’t matter to you and me, but musicians who are playing at very specific times, it doesn’t work,” Goldenthal continued.
This has not been an entirely negative change, Goldenthal said. “One of the benefits of this is students have gained engineering skills and communication skills that they may not have developed otherwise,” he said.
These online obstacles have been overcome with “in person being back in full swing” for the program, Goldenthal said.
This switch has made many happy, according to Rasmussen. “I think people are glad to be back, there’s a social aspect to this music and it needs to be played live.”
“The venue is back at full capacity,” he said. The Nash seats 160. “We were at half capacity for a few months,” he continued.
With the venue being back in full swing, and shows beginning, it becomes more important to support those who are playing the music, according to Nango.
“No matter how popular or unpopular jazz music might be, it’s still a form of music and art,” Nango said. “If you have a person who is playing this form of music and they are trying their darndest to make this happen, go out and support them.”
“There’s just no verbs or adjectives to explain what it is really like being on a band stand with people you are close with, support the music and the people you love,” he said.
Contact the reporter at psmithga@asu.edu.
