A look back at Jazz Fest

Swing Dance workshop

Lined up in rows, dancers in the crowded gym stood with their partners. This was at Friday’s Swing Dance workshop as a part of the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival.

Alex Boughamer of the local Swing Devils of the Palouse hosted the workshop in the Physical Education Building.

Throughout the hour, the group learned basic swing moves. Dozens of students were led in pairs as Boughamer demonstrated different steps.

Boughamer said he has been swing dancing for 20 years and has been teaching it ever since.

“It’s another language that you get to communicate in a different way with somebody,” Boughamer said. “And you get to dance to wonderful music, I mean, it’s a win-win.”

As a long time teacher, Boughamer’s favorite part is interacting with the people.

“I love teaching workshops,” Boughamer said. “The kids are great, the adults, everybody.”

When it comes to the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, Boughamer holds respect for the talented students that come to visit.

“It’s just an amazing thing to be able to interact with all the musicians. They’re my favorite people to teach.” Boughamer said. “They’re the ones that make us dance. We love them.”  

Visiting high schooler Jeff Grubb’s favorite part of the swing workshop was the social interaction.

“(I liked) all the different people, different partners, getting to switch partners,” Grubb said.

Swing Devils hosts swing dance lessons at 7 p.m. and general dancing at 8 p.m. on Thursday nights at the Moscow Moose Lodge.  

Haadiya Tariq can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @haadiyatariq

Protecting the Music: Jazz and the International Relations workshop

The Lionel Hampton Jazz Fest workshop, Protecting the Music: Jazz and the International Relations, held Friday morning gave students and guests an inside look into the intercultural and transnational nature of jazz.

The workshop went from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in the Atrium at the Integrated Research and Innovation Center. Bill Smith, director of the Martin Institute Program in International Studies, led the workshop. Smith is an expert generalist, he said.

“I joke sometimes that my job is to know seven minutes about every topic in the world and 10 minutes about no topics,” Smith said.   

The workshop focused on the role and funding of a United Nations’ specialized agency called the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It is funded by countries around the world based on the proportion of the world economy each country owns. The U.S. owns 22%, Smith said.   

UNESCO protects endangered languages and cultural practices. However, jazz does not need protection Smith said. It is considered intercultural and transnational which ensures its protection and promotion.

Practices that do not exist across national borders or widely within their country of origin could be in trouble. While jazz broadly is in no danger of going away, Lindy Hop, a form of jazz swing dance, could. Smith said jazz dance and music practices can be tricky to protect because a lot of it is improvised.

The Jazz Fest workshops gave guests an opportunity to learn about all kinds of things — in this case, jazz and international culture.

University of Idaho faculty and administration do a great job of supporting and facilitating Jazz Festival every year, Smith said in an interview following the workshop. He suggested that more people should get out and attend the events, if for no other reason than to smile at visitors on campus.

“It’s a pretty exciting time,” Smith said. “I really love the Jazz Festival. I don’t sing. I don’t dance, but I can appreciate it anyway and I think that is the key.”

Mariah Wood can be reached on [email protected]

Scat Singing Fundamentals workshop

On Friday morning students gathered inside the Bruce Pitman Center for a workshop in scat singing. The workshop was hosted by a freelance musician from Colorado.

Her name is Jenna McLean. McLean has been scat singing for the last 10 years, but she said she feels she has been doing so for a lot longer.

This form of singing is improvisational, which can make it harder for people to learn.

“I decided that would be a good topic to teach because young singers are trying to get a better grasp on it all the time,” McLean said. “It’s kind of one of the tougher elements of jazz singing for people most of the time, just improvising in general.”

During the workshop, she invited attendants on stage to practice scat. One of those students was Louis Sanchez from Manson High School in Washington. Sanchez plays a variety of instruments but he had never done this kind of singing before.

“I think it’s really cool, it’s a nice way to branch into other types of singing,” Sanchez said. “But I know I probably didn’t sound as well as everyone else did. Compared to me everyone else had more innovation.”

To learn more about McLean and the scat singing workshop click here.

The Introduction to Songwriting workshop

On Thursday afternoon a small room inside the Idaho Student Union Building was filled with visiting musicians for Jazz Fest. There was a variety of students, from elementary school all the way to college students.

There were so many students there that some had to sit on the floor. The workshop was Introduction to Songwriting taught by University of Idaho professor Kate Skinner.

Skinner not only works as a professor, but she also works as a professional musician. Her specialty is in non-classical contemporary piano and vocals, but she also helps students learn a variety of other instruments.

The students were eager to learn about the tips she had for making a living as a songwriter.

“If you want to make a living as a songwriter, learning about the craft is really important,” Skinner said. “All of us can write songs artfully and do that as an expressive outlet and I highly encourage you to do that. If you’re thinking about making a living doing it, you kind of want to think about that craft side of it too.”

To learn more about this workshop click here.

The Power of Storytelling workshop

At The Power of Storytelling workshop during the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, Jason Heath recounted his time as a freelance bassist and his journey to enter the podcast world.

Heath told the story of his car catching on fire and the ensuing panic of saving his bass from the trunk before the car exploded.

Heath said after posting this story online he went viral, gaining the attention of hundreds to his blog.

As a former freelance bass player, Heath now hosts his podcast Contrabass Conversations where he discusses the double bass and interviews musicians. With a large listener base, he has had an opportunity to hear stories from all over the world.

“I’ve enjoyed connecting with people no matter where they are … seeing the incredible variety of paths people take,” Heath said.

Despite his initial hesitation and lack of experience with interviewing people, Heath said he has learned the value of conversations and storytelling.

“It’s what life’s all about,” Heath said.

Heath’s tips for a beginner podcaster interviewing a guest:

• Conduct initial heavy research beforehand, then let go
• Start off with remote chats to more discreetly look at notes
• Formal intros kill the energy between the host and guest
• Listen for excitement
• “What was that like” is a good basic prompt
• Struggle equals story
• Save the best content for later in the conversation
• Be vulnerable

Haadiya Tariq can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @haadiyatariq

Folk Dances workshop

This Thursday, Jazz Fest offered a Folk Dances event. During this workshop, instructor Lori Conlon Kahn taught the basics of dance to folk tunes. People were welcome to come in and get moving.

During the beginning of the workshop, people filled the room and gathered around Kahn — shaking out any nerves they might have.

Demonstrating with a partner, Kahn showed an easy basic dance to folk music. Starting with clapping, patting thighs and shouting, everyone was off to find a partner and dance.

The workshop showed how to dance with a partner but also how to do a line dance. Quickly forming lines, Kahn started to teach another form of dance to folk music.

For more information on events and workshops during Jazz Fest visit their website.

Emily Pearce can be reached at [email protected].

Young Artists’ Winners Concert

The Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival hosted the Young Artists’ Winners Concert Friday evening in the Kibbie Dome to honor the ensemble winners of the day.

The event started with the Lionel Hampton Chamber Jazz Choir Ensemble performance.

There were 15 winners but only 11 performed to compete for prizes. In between the performances there was a bingo game of schools for music related prizes.

The performance groups included a variety of ensembles, from instrumental, vocal and accompanied jazz ensembles with musicians from elementary school to college.

The performers included the WSU Jazz Band I, Sorensen Magnet School of the Arts and Humanities Choir, Sandpoint middle school Advanced Choir,  Sacajawea Junior High Jazz Band, Eagle Staff Jazz I, Clarkston High School Jazz Choir, Vocal Unlimited from Port Angeles High School, Lake City High School Jazz Ensemble, St. Georges Jazz Choir, Sandpoint High School Chamber Choir and the Interlake High School Jazz Choir.

The concert lasted about two hours with back to back performances. The crowd fluctuated throughout but there was a steady amount of people enjoying this concert before the headlining performers.

Paige Fiske can be reached at [email protected].

Lionel Hampton: The Man and His Music

In the workshop Lionel Hampton: The Man and His Music, Doc Skinner talked about his friend Lionel Hampton. He discussed what this Hampton meant not only to him, but to people around him.

Skinner talked about how Hampton was friendly to everyone around him and how he wanted to expose people to the beauty of jazz music.

“He would often say, Doc, would you be my son?”  Skinner said. “Because I feel that we belong to the same family. That’s the way you treat me and that how I treat you.”

Skinner said Hampton would call his house 10 times a day. He would even call during holidays or when he was traveling.

“He called me and it would be 2:30 in the morning, my time,” Skinner said. “I said Hamp, it’s 2:30 in the morning. He says, ‘Well, that’s a good time to call you’.”

Skinner showed the audience videos of Hampton’s concerts, with him playing famous songs like “Flying Home” and “Cobbs Idea”.

Megan Biggs, a UI second year student, was recommended to attend this workshop.

“I didn’t really go in expecting anything,” Biggs said. “But hearing the history and just how much Doc knows about the entire time period and industry is really amazing.”

Biggs enjoyed how Skinner made the stories personal and how they tied into jazz. Skinner was glad to tell his stories and hoped that audience took a lot from them.

“I hope that they remember that this is a great man who loved young people and wanted to help,” Skinner said. “He always said, ‘If the music is fine enough to touch the soul of a human being, we’ve done everything.'”

Ryan Hill can be reached at [email protected].

All that Jazz workshop

Dancing is an integral part of jazz. There is a rhythm and beat to follow along with a decent amount of improvising.

For the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival, Brooke Ciocca led the workshop All That Jazz on Saturday afternoon. Ciocca got her associates of art and dance at the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls, Idaho. She is earning her Bachelor of Science degree at UI. 

“I thought it would be a really good opportunity to be able to come and share jazz dance with musicians who play jazz music,” Ciocca said. “It’s a good opportunity for them to sense how rhythm can work in dance as well as it works the same for them.”

Esther Won, a student from Henry M. Jackson High School in Milk Creek, Washington, was one of the attendants of the workshop.

 “I enjoyed it because even though there were beginners who had never taken a class before or someone like me who’s an experienced dancer; there were different levels of difficulty for the different skills and choreography that we learned was challenging for everybody, from beginners to advanced dancers,” Won said.

Despite Won being an dancer, she said the workshop still challenged her. Ciocca’s goal for the workshop was to have any dancer of any skill level learn more.

“You don’t have to have former dance experience to take a dance class,” Ciocca said. “You can start at a later age as well that if you want to learn you can still learn, it’s never too late.”

This article has been updated to reflect the correct spelling of Esther Won’s name.

Ryan Hill can be reached at [email protected].