International Association of Jazz Education Convention
Long Beach, Ca, 2005
by Shannon Kennedy
This year I had the opportunity
to go to the IAJE Conference in
Long Beach with Greg Vail. I
went on Saturday, the last day
of the Convention.
When you first walked in, you walked through aisles of schools
with prestigious music programs.
The was an array of attendees
at the convention - from junior
high band students to jazz
veterans. Everywhere you looked
there was a big name musician
trying out this horn or that
mouthpiece. I had the chance to
meet and talk with people like
Don Braden, David Liebman, Kurt
Elling, James Moody, Dan Higgins,
Bob Mintzer and the
Yellowjackets, Eric Marienthal,
Dave Koz, Bob Sheppard and
even the guy who makes my alto mouthpiece (!!) Rheuben Allen.
I had a blast at the convention. There were a bunch of really cool
instruments including a plastic saxophone, a straight alto, some old
military sax that you play with a bassoon reed and circus saxes a.k.a.
curved sopranos (I used to have one!).
Walking around the exhibit area, I had the chance to hear a lot of
people play, and there are definitely a lot of kids out there that sound
really good, and a lot that don't (sorry...).
I got to try out a couple of different soprano saxes while I was there,
and was pretty impressed by the creativity and genius that goes in the
manufacturing of some of the horns.
I also tried a few mouthpieces and absolutely fell in love with my new
Jody Jazz mouthpiece. I bought a new 7* gold plated or lacquered (I
can never remember the difference) for my tenor sax that I can't stop
playing just because I adore it so much. Greg bought new soprano and
alto mouthpieces from Brancher - this really cool French guy that I only
spoke to for a second.
While Greg was there, I hung
out around him and his friends
most of the time, but after he
left, I walked around and
sought to make a few friends
myself. I hung out with
Rheuben Allen most the time
and Jeff Peterson from the
horn shop that I go to.
The Convention had concerts
that started at 8 every night,
and so when concert time
rolled around, Bijon Watson,
Chris Creswell, and Carlos
Ordiano joined Greg and I to
go watch the Yellowjackets
who played some of the best
music I have ever heard live.
Bob Mintzer kills on EWI. After
Yellowjackets, we watched
Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat
Band which was totally
awesome.
