Thursday, May 23, 1996
On campus concert blends jazz, reggae with understanding
By Rodney Tanaka
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
The intramural field hosts an event this weekend that will cause
people to kick up the grass and work up a sweat. Visitors will not
accomplish these feats by rounding the bases or swinging the golf
clubs. Instead, thousands of people will dance and picnic to the
sounds of reggae and jazz bands.
The 10th Annual UCLA JazzReggae Festival descends on the
Intramural Field Sunday and Monday with a diverse collection of
styles. Each day features seven hours of musical entertainment and
more than 50 booths offering food, arts and crafts. The music
offers listeners new perspectives and cultures.
Miatta Fahnbulleh, performing her mixture of reggae, jazz and
funk on Monday, views the concert as an opportunity to bridge
cultures.
"Every effort must be made to bring us together as human beings
in terms of understanding ourselves, and you cannot do it any
better way than through the culture, music and art of a people,"
Fahnbulleh says. "Music is about harmony, togetherness and
celebration. These cultural shows are the only way we’ll start to
understand each other.
The performer views herself as an ambassador of African music.
She pulls influences from a wide range of sources, all filtered
through her experiences. She says that great music leaves an
indelible impression on her.
"What makes great music is a creative artist in touch with their
environment and with people," Fahnbulleh says. "An artist that is
sensitive and sincere is able to create that great music in time
with nature."
Sunday’s headlining jazz band derives its name from the idea of
people in touch with each other. The group called "Unity" gathers
together solo performers who enjoy working with each other. Drummer
and musical director Michael Shapiro describes their sound as
Brazilian jazz with rich harmonies. He welcomes people who attend
the festival when they otherwise may not listen to jazz or
reggae.
"It’s a jazz musician’s dream to be able to do what it is they
do and have as many people as possible have access to it.," Shapiro
says. "Jazz is not the most accessible musical art form."
"Everyone at this festival could probably tell you about playing
in a jazz club to eight people," Shapiro adds. "It’s great that
it’s at a university where younger people that may have absolutely
no idea what the music is may stumble across it and say, ‘Hey,
where has this been?’ There needs to be more events like that."
One group of UCLA students needs no encouragement to attend jazz
festivals. The members of the UCLA Jazz Quartet, brought together
during fall quarter, complement each other as fellow musicians and
close friends. They play together outside of the school heading and
will head to the recording studio this week for an album. Next
month they will travel to Armenia to perform at the largest music
hall in the capitol city.
"I think Americans take all the art around us for granted," says
bassist Todd Sickafoose. "In Armenia, audience members will walk
for miles to listen to jazz. They’re hungry for it."
The quartet is equally motivated to perform for audiences.
Pianist David Ake says that jazz appeals to him more than other
genres because of the freedom involved. He enjoys playing in the
quartet because of the opportunities not available as a solo
performer.
"The music that I write and the music that I most enjoy playing
is in this configuration, to have that interaction with players
that you enjoy playing with," Ake says. "It’s nice to get ideas
from over here that you haven’t thought of and toss ideas back and
forth."
Sickafoose enjoys the improvisational nature of jazz and finds
the bass to be a powerful tool to influence the direction of a
piece.
"At any particular moment you’ve got your hands on the steering
wheel," Sickafoose says. "Everyone’s leading, but as the bass
player I have control as the link between rhythmic elements and
harmonic elements, a bridge between the drummer and piano
player."
The link between jazz and reggae goes beyond common musical
origins. This weekend they will allow students to experience
different styles of music.
"It works out more in terms of a festival occasion and people
enjoying themselves outside," Ake says. "That’s as good a pairing
as any. Jazz fits in anywhere and so does reggae."
CONCERT: The Tenth Annual UCLA JazzReggae Festival, jazz on May
26 and reggae on May 27 from noon to 7 p.m. both days at the UCLA
Intramural Field. Admission is free. For more info, call (310)
825-9912.
Culture will be performing at the 10th annual JazzReggae
festival.