My mom beat me to it!

As my mom mentioned, last night was the jazz camp’s jam session, at the increasingly illustrious Monterey Live. I had never been to one of the jam sessions in the past, and besides wanting to lend my voice and ears to the evening, I also wanted to see the club. It turned out to be a great idea. The people there turned out to be everyone from enthusiastic beginners to long-time professionals, but they were all united by a shared love of the art.

I walked in and was immediately greeted by Rob, with a delighted “Finally! A vocalist!”. As I got farther and farther into the club, more and more people came up, saying hello and expressing similar thoughts. The fear that had prevented me from participating in the past–that I would be an unwelcome guest in a world that can casually talk about B flat Dorian mode and complicated-sounding chord progressions–began to dissipate. I still wanted to get situated before actually singing, so I watched a wide variety of performances, from Davis’s “So What” to the funk “Watermelon Man” to the standard “The Lady Is a Tramp”. Eventually, though, I picked a tune and got up the nerve to perform myself; it took a fair amount of prodding from my mom, a few of her friends, and a few of mine.

I walked on stage and stood there for a few minutes while the wonderful bassist (and person) Zach Parkes finished copying the changes from my fakebook. As I stood rather awkwardly, Corey Watkins asked if he could sit in, and I felt hugely relieved. He is an amazing saxophonist, and just the fact that he wanted to play with me made me feel so much more comfortable. Along with Eddie Mendenhall on piano and Dylan Aiello on drums, I was under excellent care.

We played “Embraceable You” as a slow swing, and rarely–if ever–has a song come so easily to me. I really felt as if I could do this forever, and, I have to say, I’d like to. I was much more confident than I’ve been before, and I could tell the difference in my sound as well as my presence. Someone even asked me afterwards if I perform regularly at Monterey Live.

I loved the whole event. It has made me feel a lot better about myself and my abilities to perform without getting paralyzed by fear.

Here’s hoping it carries on to tomorrow night!

2007 Jazz Camp — The Mom Point of View

This year’s Monterey Jazz Festival Camp has been amazing in so many respects — but one of the most amazing parts has been watching my daughter change before my very eyes.  Some of my wonderment comes from thinking about that other important Mom — Shirley Kiatta — who left such a beautiful comment here on this blog and who is in our hearts daily.   She had to have gone through this same magical process of watching her baby girl grow into a mature jazz singer.  Last night when Katie took the microphone at the Jazz Jam at Monterey Live and hit those rich, robust notes … and did it with such mastery and control …I flashed back to kindergarten at Swallow School in Hartland, Wisconsin …when she suddenly ‘owned’ the gym with her rendition of ‘Bright Shining Star’ at the Christmas (oops…Holiday!) concert.  I remember being stunned then just as I was last night. 

And oh what joy to be surrounded by her fellow Jazz Fest musicians — the ever astonishing Zach Parkes (whose Mom used to be one of Katie’s babysitters!) on bass, the incredible Eddie Mendenhall on piano and Corey Watkins whose solo was a showstopper. This year’s Clint Eastwood Award winner at Carmel High, our dear friend ‘guitar god’ Alex Govan, was front and center. In the back of the room, beaming at his students, was Dr. Rob Klevan, who has done so much to make the Jazz Education program the stand-out it is today.

It’s funny – feel like I am reviewing a concert when in fact what I am really doing is reviewing the power of music in our lives.  It deepens everything. I saw that on stage last night, in the dynamics between the musicians.  I saw that on the Comments left by Leroy Downs and Shirley and Tom Kiatta and our friend Diana.  In this 24/7 barrage of in-your-face messages, it is so easy to slip into living in a chain of shallow moments that merely skim the surface of feeling.  That’s not what’s happening here with these intense and soulful lovers of jazz.  Heartfelt can’t begin to describe it.

Stay tuned for tomorrow night’s concert at Steinbeck Center … and then Thursday night’s performance at PG Middle School.

I am posting this picture of Hydeus with her students because I just plain love these happy faces.

—Sarah Browne, Proud Mom of Katie Carroll

Jazz Camp, Day Four…oops.

I did miss a day yesterday, and I’m sorry for it. The highlight of yesterday was the clinic on Charlie “Bird” Parker, which discussed mainly his method of taking other songs and writing new melodies over them; “How High the Moon”, for example, became “Ornithology”, and some song about Indiana (for the life of me I can’t remember the title) became “Anthropology”. It is fascinating hearing not only the same set of chord changes but slight traces of the original melodies in Parker’s adaptations.

One thing I’m noticing about jazz camp this year is that I have a much, much greater appreciation of the music. I’ve always loved the old vocal standards, but this year I find myself being able to intelligently enjoy the instrumental music to a degree I haven’t previously. I look forward to ten o’clock when we all meet to listen to the music of yet another jazz great, and listen with rapt attention while the people on either side of me try to fall asleep.

Tomorrow my friend and I get to have a private lesson with one of the piano clinicians in the afternoon. I don’t know what we’re going to be working on, but I am so excited. I know I’m getting to sound like a broken record, but I am truly glad to have this opportunity.

MJF Camp, Day Two

Today was my second day of camp, and, unfortunately, I didn’t get to test out any individual songs. So “Embraceable You” has gotten a chance to sit in the corner of my mind and develop, and hopefully will be that much more secure tomorrow. What I did definitely enjoy about today was full camp session on Miles Davis, which went fifteen minutes over schedule and still felt too short. First Sal, one of the trumpet clinicians, played “Green Dolphin Street”, and then we sat back for a powerpoint on Davis’s musical journey. It proved to be a very complex path, from his days with Charlie Parker and Gil Evans to Sketches of Spain to jazz fusion to Tutu and beyond. In my mind, as soon as the world entered the 80′s, everything changed–and unfortunately, so did Miles Davis. While that period of his musical career is not my favorite, Kind of Blue is one of my favorite albums, and in spite of all the differences in his style and approach, I think I can safely say I am a fan. 

Tomorrow everyone will get a chance to sing. I hope everything goes well, for my own perfectionism, and my desire to rise to the opportunity I was given.

The First Day of Camp

Today was the very first day of the Monterey Jazz Festival Jazz Camp. Being as this was Year Four of my attendance, I knew what to expect: we’d arrive in the auditorium at MPC (Monterey Peninsula College), listen to Rob detail our two-week experience and all its necessary regulations, and then listen to a very clear reminder as to why we pay attention to these clinicians year after year. I always enjoy the clinicians’ concert, for several reasons. One, I can remember back to my very first jazz camp and my feelings of confusion and slight boredom (yes, I admitted it) at this very new art form, and can trace how much my appreciation and understanding of jazz has grown since then. Two, the level of skill of all these people is tremendous. I love being able to sit in the audience and think, “Scott’s bass solo was great!” and realize that Diane Schur probably feels the same way when he plays with her.

It’s a great way to start off camp, because I am already acutely aware of how lucky I am.

After we’re dismissed from this, we travel to our master classes. This is when my fellow vocalists and I are acquainted with Dick Whittington and Madeline Eastman, our two clinicians. Dick is a phenomenal and invaluable piano player (it takes great patience to deal with a bunch of teenagers endlessly requesting keys for eight different songs), and Madeline is a prominent vocalist on the Peninsula and elsewhere who will be guiding us through the week.

Today, our master class went through some basic “repeat after me” exercises, particularly to test the concept of time, and began solo singing. I sang “All the Things You Are”, which is a song I absolutely love–but there are certainly some kinks I need to work out.

I left with a goal: to straighten out the issues I’m having with “All the Things You Are” and begin to look over “Night and Day” and “Embraceable You”, the songs I hope to examine tomorrow.

With Heartfelt Thanks to the Kiatta Family

 Honoring Hydeus

 

The Hydeus Kiatta Scholarship to The Monterey Jazz Festival Camp

Sadly, last fall the world lost a talented and beautiful young jazz singer named Hydeus Kiatta. Thanks to the generosity of the Kiatta Family who established a jazz education scholarship in their daughter’s honor,  I received a full scholarship to the world famous Monterey Jazz Festival Camp so that I could continue my vocal jazz studies. You will be learning much more about Hydeus as I blog each day of my Jazz Camp journey this June. 

The Monterey Jazz Festival Camp: Prelude

Every year, the Monterey Jazz Festival hosts Monterey County students in an intensive, two-week Summer Jazz Camp.This amazing program is under the direction of Dr. Rob Klevan. It is because of Rob that I am able to attend my fourth and final year of Jazz Camp, because he nominated me for the Kiatta family’s generous scholarship.

 I cannot begin to express how grateful I am for this opportunity, as jazz has become a vital and valuable part of my life. I can only hope that I do justice to the memory of such a beautiful and talented young woman.