I like to think there’s a creative
side to everyone. While my artistic skills are limited to doodles, my
signature dance move is similar to Uma Thurman’s T-Rex imitation in
“Pulp Fiction” and my acting skills would never make the cut on “Days of
our Lives,” I am a huge music nerd. After all but living in my high
school’s music department, starting the day at 6:20 a.m. by singing in the
choir or playing saxophone in the jazz band and finishing as late as
11:30 p.m. by playing clarinet, flute or sax in a pit orchestra or
disrupting athletic events in the pep band, I came to UW to be a music
performance major. 

Four years ago I got
into the UW Jazz Orchestra on tenor sax. We play at a few venues around
town and around the state — some high schools, performing arts centers
in Brookfield, Portage and Middleton, jazz festivals in Cudahy and
Milwaukee, that sort of thing. But Saturday we had an incredible
opportunity: opening for one of the world’s top jazz orchestras at
Madison’s own Union Theater.

BUCKET LIST ITEM #3: PRACTICE YOUR ART WITH THE PROS.

As
part of the Isthmus Jazz Series, the legendary Vanguard Jazz Orchestra
came to Madison last weekend. The orchestra was started by trumpeter
Thad Jones and drummer Mel Lewis in the ’60s after a weekly gig at the
Village Vanguard became permanent.We were fortunate enough to be able to
play a few tunes with them before the show at a clinic. A few players,
including drummer John Riley, lead trumpter Tanya Darby and lead alto
player Billy Drewes, sat in with us to play a chart called “Kids Are
Pretty People.” These musicians have performed with jazz giants like
Woody Herman, Buddy Rich, Herbie Hancock and many, many more … it was
intimidating, to say the least.

Before
the clinic, I was nervous. We were to perform one of the group’s own
charts, “Extra Credit,” in which I had a pretty weird solo. And before
we got onstage, I was flustered and grabbed the wrong reed to use, which added to a recipe for potential disaster.

As
we played, the group of incredible musicians stood watching us. My solo
was crap. Sound barely came out at times, I even squeaked. Considering
my faults, their
feedback was generous: everyone was really nice and helpful to the whole
band, which isn’t always the case with big-shot musicians. Tenor saxophonist Ralph Lalama even offered me some
improvisation tips.

Fast forward to the
concert. Staff estimated about 800 people in the audience — a decent
sized crowd. I don’t easily get nervous, but I desperately wanted to
show the orchestra I wasn’t some kid who doesn’t know how to play. I
grabbed the right reed and tried to slow down my racing heartbeat.

Before
I knew it, my close friend Colleen opened the concert with a badass
bari sax solo on Charles Mingus’ “Moanin’.” From then on the 40-minute
set was a blur. In my longer solo (the one I was worried about), I threw my
105-pound self into producing the biggest sound I could with fingers,
heart and mind racing. It went over well. (Even though the cheers I
heard I could easily identify as coming from my family and several
friends. Thanks guys.)

After our set,
which was also composed of a few Latin charts, a Thad Jones piece and
Duke Ellington and Count Basie swing, we got to see the VJO in action.
Words would hardly do justice to their brilliant improvisations, huge
sound and flawless technique, but it left me bounding with excitement
and motivation to work harder.

Overall,
the show was an incredible experience — after all, how often can one say
they played with world-famous members of a world-famous band? It gave
me newfound hope in pursuing this music thing post-graduation that I’d been
lacking for the past year.

Sometimes all it takes is a little inspiration to get creative endeavors back on track.

SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT: Check
us out on Facebook by searching “UW Jazz Orchestra” — if you scroll
down far enough you can find a video of me honking out a solo on Buddy
Rich’s “Channel One Suite” — or check out the Village Vanguard Orchestra
at vanguardjazzorchestra.com.

What’s on your bucket list? Tell Katie your stories and ideas at [email protected].