25 Jul 39th Annual Telluride Jazz Festival: Overview
The 39th annual Telluride Jazz Festival takes place this coming weekend, Friday, July 31 – Sunday, August 2, 2015. The list of top talent featured by impresario Paul Machado includes Guest of Honor and Grammy-winning saxophonist Ernie Watts; James Brown collaborator Maceo Parker; New Orleans Supergroup, The M&Ms; Eddie Roberts’ West Coast Sounds featuring Jennifer Hartswick; Nosotros, and others. (For a closer look at the full line up, including samples of their sounds and videos of the performers in action, go here.)
Jazz: A brief history of the genre
“Jazz.” It’s one simple syllable that represents a maze of styles, rhythms, and eras.
Historians have been known to describe jazz as a secular version of African American church music. Just substitute “oh baby” for “oh God.”
In the late 19th-century, obscure black musicians created the genre, a synthesis of Western harmonic language and forms re-mixed with the rhythms and melodic inflections of Africa. At that time, the word “jass” was slang for making love – and for awhile, the music was relegated to brothels.
But jazz remains the only indigenous American musical form to have exerted an influence on musical development throughout the Western world.
We have World War II, the Mafia and their clubs to thank for bringing the genre into the mainstream.
But what is jazz? The genre appears to be as illusive as quicksilver.
2015 Telluride Jazz Guest of Honor Ernie Watts
Well, technically speaking, jazz is characterized by improvisation or the spontaneous creation of variations on a melodic line; by syncopation, where rhythmic stress is placed on normally weak beats of the musical measure; and by a type of intonation that would be considered by many out of tune in Western classical music.
Since taking over Telluride Jazz in 1991, however, Paul Machado has clearly been in tune with this “out-of-tune” form of musical expression. He created an event of international stature with something for everyone from classical jazz to Caribbean rhythms and all stops in between, including New Orleans, blues, funk, and greasy soul.
Telluride Jazz Festival: In a nutshell
The history of Telluride Jazz begins in (another) tranquil mountain town, this one in Yugoslavia, where a young man named Nick Terstenjal once lived. Passionate about the genre, Terstenjal migrated to America, settled in New York for a spell, then moved to Telluride in 1975. The Telluride Jazz Festival, then known as the Telluride Jazz Celebration, was born out of his radio program in 1976.
Over the years, Telluride Jazz changed hands time and again, though the line-up was always star-studded.
In 1983, town took over. By 1984, jazz venues included Town Park, plus downtown clubs and bars. Lynn Rae and Buck Lowe took over as promoters, also in the mid-1980s, and Machado became their stage manager. He also worked for the Lowe’s successor, Cheryl Clayton, before taking over the controls himself.
Nowadays, there are close to 500 jazz festivals around the world. In the southern Rockies alone, every town of resort status has improvised on the theme. Telluride, however, remains at the head of the class in the class. Sure, the altitude pushes the talent a bit, but the scenery more than compensates and everyone lucky enough to perform here is inspired to push the envelope.
Telluride continues to offer a unique opportunity to enjoy internationally recognized talent in an intimate setting of rough 2,500 supporters. At its center, Telluride Jazz is an aural elixir so good it makes your ears smile.
In addition to the weekend sets on the Town Park Stage starting Friday, July 31, 2 p.m. – full schedule here – Telluride Jazz happenings include New Orleans Day (all day Sunday), Jazz After Dark, concerts at the Sheridan Opera House, Fly Me to the Moon Saloon, and The Roma Bar at Hongas, starting at 10. Check schedule here for acts and exact times.
Free events include yoga and open clinics. (Details here.)
Telluride Jazz is also a red hot green event. For details on the Green Commitment, go here.
A Final Note:
As a boy, Paul Machado was head solo bugle player for six years in a drum and bugle corps that competed all over New England and Pennsylvania. Today, Machado no longer toots his own horn. Others do it for him.
This coming weekend, Machado gets his moment in the sun. (We hope. Not the moment. The sun.)
And to put everyone in the mood, watch this video featuring Guest of Honor Ernie Watts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIoX-1D7d-w
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.