DeFranco brings the jazz to UM

T.S. Eliot writes in the opening line of “The Waste Land”: “April is the cruelest month.” This weekend, however, jazz musicians and fans will prove Mr. Eliot wrong as they pile into the University Theatre for the two-day Buddy DeFranco Jazz Festival.

Since 1980, the Buddy DeFranco Jazz Festival (known as the University of Montana Jazz Festival until 2000) has served both as an educational forum and a showcasing of the genre’s finest contemporary musicians. The festival attracts such guest performers as world-renowned jazz clarinetist Buddy DeFranco, for whom the festival is named.

Lance Boyd, festival organizer and UM jazz director, said he works with DeFranco each year to decide the guest performer line-up. He claims that one of the goals of the performance is to display a model of high-class musicianship for the college, high school and junior high students who typically attend.

“What I want to present for them is a good example of good jazz,” Boyd said. “We’re really here to educate and be a resource to the state.”

Robert Ledbetter, UM director of percussion studies, said the festival provides students with the opportunity to interact and learn from big name musicians while experiencing the “big band” atmosphere common in the 1930s and 1940s.

“Universities are one of the only places that keeps this music going,” Ledbetter said. “Big bands are still alive and well all over the country.”

Ledbetter, who will play percussion in the Festival Jazz Trio, said playing with DeFranco can be both “inspiring and a little nerve-racking.”

“You never know what he’s going to do,” Ledbetter said. “He’ll just get inspired by the moment … you got to be ready, you got to be on your toes.”

Boyd, after years of collaborating with DeFranco, also holds him in very high regard.

“He’s probably one of the best jazz clarinetists in the history of jazz,” Boyd said. “He’s a legend.”

The festival will begin at 8 a.m. both days, with college, high school, and junior high performances. The high school and college bands will play for 30 minutes each, and will be critiqued by guest artists afterward. Musical clinics will follow at 1 p.m. The concerts featuring Buddy DeFranco, guest musicians, the Festival Jazz Trio and the UM Jazz Band start at 7:30 p.m. This year’s guest performers include Phil Woods, James Morrison and Bucky Pizzarelli.

Tickets are available at all GrizTix outlets. Prices for both nights are $40 for adults and $30 for students. Single night tickets are also available for $22 for adults and $17 for students. All seating is reserved.