By Heather Matthews
Staff Writer

The newest faces in the local jazz scene don’t wear sun glasses and suits, they wear skater shoes, baggy khakis and T-shirts. They aren’t found practicing in the smoky, dark, crowded bars of the city. They’re found in classrooms. And while they may be experienced musicians, they are still only in high school.

Miranda Watrous, 14, has been playing the drums for three years. A member of one of the many jazz ensembles at the Concord Community Music School, Watrous improvises many of the rhythms for the pieces to perform. Here she performs Pink Floyd’s Money.

Originating in New Orleans as a meld of African beats and European musical stylings, jazz is known as the only truly American art form. Jazz began to reach a high point of popularity in the 1920s, or the Jazz Age, with hundreds of jazz clubs across the country featuring a new artist every night. Interest in jazz peaked in the 1950s, with the introduction of rock and roll, and since then the form has become an underground music interest.

“Jazz had almost died off,” said Stephen Guerra, director of Concord High School’s Jazz Band.

Misconceptions about the art, combined with the growth of hip hop, pop, and rock and roll, turned the nation’s youth away from jazz, making them see it as “old,” slowing the growth and interest in the art form among the area’s youth, said Guerra.

“Jazz is seen as what your grandparents listen to on the AM stations,” he said. “Either that or it’s seen as smooth jazz like Kenny G.”

But through his involvement with Concord High School as a composer in residency for the last four years, and now as a teacher, Guerra said he has witnessed an increase in the number of students interested in studying jazz as well as listening to it.

This year, there are 84 students enrolled in the school’s band program. Eighteen of those students are also enrolled in the school’s jazz band, but according to Guerra 25 students of his play jazz regularly.

At the Concord Community Music School, there are more than 150 students enrolled in the school’s jazz programs, said David Tonkin, chairman of the jazz department.

“There is a real demand to be in jazz courses,” said Guerra. “There is a genuine interest in kids in Concord to listen to and play jazz. There’s a drive that (these kids) have. They want to do more.”

The drive to do more with the art is what prompted Matt Kendall, 17, a senior at Concord High School, to become part of Sound Inc., a jazz band comprised of local young musicians. Started by Christopher and Sebastian Sink when they were in eighth grade, Kendall joined the band two years ago. The group features Kendall on trumpet, John Feliciano on bass, Sebastian on drums and Christopher on keyboard.

Kendall started playing trumpet in the sixth grade, but only became involved with the jazz scene outside of his school lessons when he was a freshman. Through Sound Inc., along with his involvement in the high school band and Scholarship Jazz Ensemble at the Community Music School, he is now playing jazz gigs three to four nights a week. Kendall sees his involvement with jazz as a way to immerse himself in the arts in Concord.

“The thing with being in a jazz band is that we are asked to do things for adults,” he said. “We are playing while people are looking at art or engaging in wine tasting. It’s an interesting experience. I don’t know any way to describe it.”

Jazz also allows Kendall to express himself artistically, giving him freedom to experiment with music.

“Jazz lets me freely create sort of my own music,” he said. “I can manipulate the form and manipulate the song, making it my own.”

Jazz does not just provide an opportunity for creativity, it also gives them the opportunity to work with other musicians.

“The schools in Concord bring everyone together to work on projects. The up-and-coming musicians are able to make friends with each other. (Jazz) is about working with other musicians and communication and the excitement of creating on the spot,” said Tonkin. “You can play a song 100 times, but it will never be the same. You just make a connection with other people on stage. It’s like a very Zen thing, you are there in the moment.”

According to Tonkin, the collaboration, improvisation and creativity of a jazz performance is what makes it such an exciting art form to experience live.

“Jazz is much easier to experience live,” said Tonkin. “That’s when you see something really happening and you can feel that energy. That’s what music is about. It’s about energy.”

While you can see live jazz performances five nights a week at Hermanos Cocina Mexicana or every Monday at the Barley House performed by some of the best and most seasoned musicians in New Hampshire, according to Tonkin, there aren’t many other venues to experience jazz in Concord.

“Live music doesn’t hold the same place it used to hold,” he said. “When jazz first started there used to be clubs at every other doorstep, but now people’s lives are busy and it takes more of an effort to get out and see live music.”

However, the Concord Community Music School and Concord High provide opportunities to experience some of the best and most innovative live jazz in the area through recitals, clinics and workshops. On Oct. 23, the Concord High School Jazz Band, the Hopkinton High School Jazz Band, the David Tonkin Group, the Freese Brothers Big Band and several other acts will be featured in a Hurricane Katrina benefit concert with all proceeds going to aid the American Red Cross. The concert will be held at the Capitol Center for the Arts.

For more information on Sound Inc., visit the band’s Web site at soundinc.net. For more information on the Concord Community Music School, visit ccmusicschool.org. For more information on the Concord High School Jazz Band, call 225-0800.

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