Teens, Festival, Competition and All That Jazz

Youth Expo was complete with the usual fair attractions--pony rides, funnel cakes and animal balloons. But in the middle of the carnival chaos, big band sounds filled the air--a music decidedly more mature than the clientele.

At a time when most teenagers play in rock or marching bands, about 100 students from seven high schools competed in the ninth annual Jazz Festival competition Saturday at the Orange County Fair and Exposition Center.

Jazz, they said, is becoming more popular among their generation. And while it may have been music their parents introduced them to, it is a style they have developed on their own.

“I’ve played in rock bands, but jazz is awesome,” said 18-year-old Fernanda Luppani, a bass player at Woodbridge High School in Irvine. “There are a lot of people my age into it now. You can go into coffeehouses and hear it. It’s great.”

Rob Foote, a 17-year-old trumpet player from Huntington Beach, said that he listens to more alternative music than jazz, but enjoys the prestige of playing in a jazz band.

“Basically, jazz is the best of the best,” said Foote, a senior at Edison High School in Huntington Beach. “There is no embarrassment about playing jazz.”

“Except maybe these stupid cummerbunds,” said 17-year-old Phil Johnson, taking the blue band off from around his waist.

“People respect what we play,” Johnson explained. “It’s a talent they don’t have.”

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The seven jazz bands were divided into divisions based on experience and each performed three pieces ranging from ballads to sambas. Judges critiqued the selected music for precision, tempo and quality of soloists.

Victor DaCosta, a 17-year-old saxophone player from Mission Viejo, said jazz is more complicated than other forms of music. But he wasn’t nervous before his solo Saturday because he plays impromptu, he said.

“You’re making it all up out there. You just go off,” DaCosta said. “Jazz is relaxing. It’s laid back.”

DaCosta’s band director, Dan Robbins, said the similarities between jazz and rock are what initially attract younger players.

“They can relate to it more than classical,” Robbins said. “In jazz, you have much more freedom. They can be creative.”

Dana Wheaton, who was judging Saturday’s competition, said he hears a jazz influence in alternative music. He said it would be presumptuous of him to say that jazz is gaining popularity among teens, but he said the signs are everywhere.

“I’ve seen it with my own kids,” he said. “They’re learning the jitterbug.”

DaCosta, however, warned that despite his fellow band members’ musical passion onstage, several of the musicians are in the band just for school credit.

“People don’t understand what it takes to do it. They don’t appreciate it. It’s just an easy course,” DaCosta said. “Only a few people study hard. But when you do, it’s a lot of fun.”

Others seem to have yet another motivation.

After the competition was over and the trophies had been awarded, a trombone player from Yorba Linda sat with his friends on a park bench near the entrance to the fairgrounds and performed. The case in front of him had 15 cents in it.

“We’re going to the music store and we don’t have any money,” said 16-year-old John Goetz. “So, I’m trying.”