FIFTH OPENING – The Sitka seine boats Hukilau and Rose Lee pump herring aboard this afternoon at the end of Deep Inlet during the fifth opening in the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery. The opening was being held in two locations beginning at 11 a.m. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
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Daily Sitka Sentinel
On Stage: Native Jazz and Dee Daniels
By TOM HESSE
Sentinel Staff Writer
A handful of Fine Arts Camp instructors will remove their teaching hats briefly this weekend to spend an evening in their usual roles as world-class musicians for the Native Jazz Trio’s concert with vocalist Dee Daniels.
The Native Jazz trio rehearses in 2013. (Sentinel file Photo)
The Native Jazz workshop is a week-long class that teaches students the inner workings of jazz and how to use that knowledge for arranging traditional music into a jazz style. The workshop culminates with a concert by the professionals at the Performing Arts Center 7 p.m. Saturday. The trio, made up of Christian Fabian, Reuel Lubag and Sitka’s Ed Littlefield, will play with vocal jazz star Dee Daniels, whose own workshop for singers begins this weekend.
Littlefield said that after the group played with Dee Daniels at an event last year, he decided he had to get her on board for another concert.
“We all played a show with her last year and I sat her down and said we have to do this again,” Littlefield said.
“It’s the real deal. You’re not going to find a more talented vocalist,” he said, adding that it gives the rest of the group a little extra motivation to bring their best on Saturday night.
“For us, our game has to be raised ... It feels really good because we’ve got a strong singer and she’s so alive with the music and we want to complement that,” Littlefield said.
The Native Jazz program is in its third year. The program is something of a Google Translator for traditional songs into jazz and Littlefield said students learn how to deconstruct Native music and find ways to put it back together as a jazz arrangement.
Bass player Christian Fabian said the group goes through a similar process when they take songs from their respective backgrounds and then teach that process to the students.
“We take all our backgrounds and use the melodies as a vehicle and we put them into a jazz setting,” Fabian said. “What I want is for (the students) to learn that process and then apply it to the music from their backgrounds.”
“What it does is it brings everyone closer to their heritage and where they come from. These melodies are hundreds and sometimes thousands of years old and they’re being brought into a new light.”
Students who take the class vary greatly in their experience levels. Regardless, Littlefield said, they all get to the same place.
“There’s amazing growth. We’re talking like not being able to know your circle of fifths ... and then going from not knowing it to being able to draw one and understand the basic concept of it and that’s just kind of what we do on day one,” he said.
“From day one they have so much more information and from day two they start utilizing that information and by the end of the week they’ve got a really good understanding of what the music is and how they can apply it,” Littlefield said.
One student from Kodiak, Littlefield said, was lamenting that she missed out on earlier music theory education, but Littlefield said she would more than make up the difference during this week.
“I told her you’re getting possibly more out of this five-day workshop than you would from a full class year,” he said. “When she gets back to her high school She’s going to know way more, and she’s going to be able to use that in what she’s doing there.”
The theory portion of the workshop is a necessary foundation to get to the rest of the concept, Fabian said.
“They get like a whole college education,” Fabian said. “We do not expect them to immediately become a great composer. But once you understand the concept, then at some point you’re able to sit down and use it.”
The instructors usually start by showing the students how they did it and then the students dive into their own projects, Fabian said. Often the students start logging long hours to use the information they’re gaining.
“Classes start at nine but usually when Ed and I walk in there we see at least half of them already sitting at the piano and working on their pieces. At lunch time and late at night we see them just sitting down and working on their pieces,” Fabian said.
“They are using these concepts right away, and it’s just mind boggling.”
The camp is open to all ages and Fabian said the range of age and talents is actually an asset when working with the students.
“I think having different ages in the room, really it’s exceptional because it adds diversity and this is a program that is built on diversity,” Fabian said.
Littlefield said the group is working to grow the program to reach more kids.
“Just raising up the level of jazz education in this state has been phenomenal,” he said.
“I’d love to see this as a week-long adventure in jazz. That’s kind of what the Fine Arts Camp is growing into. We’re trying to find ways to keep growing these programs as the camp grows without losing out on the quality of the instruction.”
Littlefield said one part of that is making the camp accessible and affordable to Native kids from around the state.
“The program is very affordable for people. I like to say it’s almost cheaper than day care except you’ve got world-class musicians coming to Sitka to teach you for seven hours a day,” Littlefield quipped.
The workshop ends with a student performance 7 p.m. tonight at Rasmuson Hall on the SJ campus. Admission is free.
The professional concert will be presented at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Performing Arts Center. Tickets for the Saturday concert are $25, or $20 for students and seniors, and can be purchased at the door or at Old Harbor Books.
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20 YEARS AGO
March 2004
Matthew C. Hunter of Sitka recently returned from Cuba as part of a St. Olaf College International and Off-Campus Studies program. Hunter, a junior physics major at St. Olaf College, is the son of Robert and Kim Hunter of Sitka.
50 YEARS AGO
March 1974
Eighth graders have returned from a visit to Juneau to see the Legislature. They had worked for it since Christmas vacation ... Clarice Johnson’s idea of a “White Elephant” sales was chosen as the best money-maker; Joe Roth won the political cartoon assignment; highest government test scorers were Ken Armstrong, Joanna Hearn, Linda Montgomery, Lisa Henry, Calvin Taylor and David Licari .....