A Sunny Day In Minneapolis Town

Jeez, hasn't the weather been astonishingly, unseasonably warm and sunny and mild? It's like we are four to six weeks ahead of the normal patterns. I'm sure there's a downside to it (drought, for example) but in the short term it sure is pleasant. Despite this, jazzers keep spending part of their Saturdays with us at McRae Park rather than raking, mowing, gardening, painting, etc. Today we had twelve people at the workshop, including Matt (vocals) returning for his second workshop and Evan (bass) joining us for his first. After the workshop, Evan remarked "where else can you get this kind of experience?" He's right, the Jazz Workshop is a unique tradition in Twin Cities jazz- a place where people can come and learn to play jazz by playing jazz. The rest of the group today included Annie, Dick and Toria (vocals), Max (bass), Gene (drums), Ira (alto sax), Steve (trumpet and flugelhorn), Wes (tenor sax), Craig (guitar), Owen (accordion) and Tim (guitar).

The set list for the day included "Moanin'" and "It Could Happen To You," neither of which came off well. So then we tried "Blue Monk" which was a much better "starter tune" with which to get warmed up. From there we went on to play "Hot 'Lanta," "How Insensitive" (instrumental), "Blue Room," "I Could Have Danced All Night," "I'm Old Fashioned," "How Insensitive" (vocal), "Let's Get Lost," "Nature Boy," "Moanin'" (a second try which went somewhat better), "Centerpiece," "Mood Indigo," "How Deep Is The Ocean," "Why Aren't You My Love" (an original by Dick Jacques), "Willow Weep For Me," "Don't Get Around Much Anymore," "Here's That Rainy Day," "Again," "Lullaby of Birdland." That's 21 songs in about 3 1/2 hours.

I didn't bring my camera today so the photos are courtesy of Don Lehnhoff (bass and trombone) who took these a few weeks ago and sent them to me. Thanks, Don! At the top we have Wes on tenor sax; Wes has been a regular at the Jazz Workshop for a couple of years and is a self-taught sax player. In the next photo is Steve, on trumpet and flugelhorn, who has been coming to the Jazz Workshop for quite a few years and has been one of the people responsible for keeping it going through some times of sparse attendance. Continuing further down today's blog post we have Tim (guitar) and Max (bass); Tim has been coming for a bit over two years and writes the weekly blog and the Craigslist ads and otherwise tries to shirk responsibility for everything else. Max is new to playing jazz and has been coming regularly for a couple of months, making great srides in getting comfortable with the music. A few weeks ago he'd be looking somewhat baffled at the charts and now just plays through the changes. The last picture is Annie, who is the workshop coordinator. Her husband, the late Sam Favors, was the founder of the Jazz Workshop over 30 years ago with the vision of providing an opportunity for people to learn to appreciate and play jazz music. Over the decades many of the Twin Cities jazz musicians learned to play jazz at the Workshop under Sam's tutelage. Sam also founded the Freedom Jazz Festival, now being carried on by a dedicated group of former Workshop members.

The Workshop will meet again next Saturday at McRae Park from noon to 3:45. If you're interested in playing jazz, come on out and give it a try! As Evan said after the session, there is just nowhere else in the Twin Cities- and few places in the entire country- where someone can so easily get this experience. Thanks to the vision of Sam Favors and the dedication of Annie and others, we still have this wonderful resource. We need you to help keep it alive!