Crescent school rolling out annual jazz fest at UVSC

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Feb 11, 2005 by Rebecca C. Howard Deseret Morning News

Sandy seems like an inconspicuous place to have a music school that would host world-class jazz musicians, but the Crescent School of Music is doing just that.

The 2005 Crescent Jazz Festival begins Thursday, Feb. 17, at Utah Valley State College in Orem, bringing with it 13 guest artists -- many of them multiple Grammy Award-winners.

Headlining will be Steve Smith, former drummer for Journey, who has been named No. 1 drummer five years in a row by readers of Modern Drumming magazine, according to Crescent Music School's director Caleb Chapman. Other artists, such as Jeff Coffin, Conrad Herwig and Wayne Bergeron, will also be participating.

"It's a three-day event," said Chapman. "It's an educational jazz festival, which means that during the day, we do a lot of clinics.

"Students come from all over the state. We have about 1,500 students registered this year, and that's all age levels up through college."

The focus, Chapman said, is on giving the students educational opportunities by mixing them with the guest artists. Some students will perform for the artists, and some will perform with the artists.

"The student groups come and perform and get feedback from our guest artists," said Chapman. "They have three different categories - - they have big bands, which are 20-person jazz bands, and then they have combos, which are small groups, and then as soloists they compete as well."

In addition to the daytime events, the festival will be hosting evening concerts on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Feb. 17-19.

Thursday's event, the "Legends of Jazz Concert," will feature Steve Smith, Greg Osby and Buddy's Buddies, which features Steve Marcus, Andy Fusco, Baron Browne and Mark Soskin.

Friday's "All Star Concert" includes Wayne Bergeron, Conrad Herwig and Kelly Eisenhour performing with the Crescent Festival Orchestra.

Saturday's concert will mix the school's elite bands -- such as Crescent's Super Band and Salsiology -- with all of the guest artists.

"Saturday night is always the most exciting concert and always the one that sells out," said Chapman, "because that's when we have our top student groups share the stage with the guest artists, and it's the coolest part of the festival.

"And it's really fun, because we've got some of the top musicians in the world that come to the festival."

The Crescent School of Music is an after-school program, Chapman said. "The groups that we have there are kind of all-star groups that are made up of students from all across the state."

There is a fee for evening concerts, but daytime clinics, workshops and student performances are free and open to the public.

If you go

What: 2005 Crescent Jazz Festival

When: Feb. 17-19

Where: Utah Valley State College, Orem

How much: Evening concerts: $12 adults, $8 students; $50 VIP packages include all three days and receptions

Phone: 801-492-1342 or 866-566-8742

Web: www.musicagain.com

Also: Daytime clinics, workshops and student performances are free.

E-mail: rcline@desnews.com