PASSING THE TORCH

by Bill Fogarty


The scene: A music classroom at Olathe South High School, March, 1999.

March 24, 1999 -- British alto saxophonist Peter King at Olathe South High School with drummer Scott May and saxophonist Elijah Buchholz.The occasion: Peter King, the British alto saxophonist considered one of the best anywhere by international jazz followers, is in Kansas City for the dedication of the Charlie Parker Memorial at 18th and Vine.

March 24, 1999 -- British alto saxophonist Peter King at Olathe South High School with drummer Scott May and saxophonist Elijah Buchholz

King has agreed to do a free clinic for instructor John Kieffer's jazz program. He works with the big band for 40 minutes, mostly aims at getting them to play relaxed, takes a solo or two, and encourages them to keep up their interest in jazz. End of clinic? Not quite.

Afterward, when the class has been dismissed for lunch, and as King is packing up his horn, up steps the band's lead alto player, Elijah Buchholz, still with saxophone in hand.

Elijah starts to riff on Charlie Parker's "Now's the Time," soon a smiling Peter King has his horn back out of the case, another kid (Scott May) sits down at the drums, and... away they go. Solos and fours are exchanged, the outhead is played in unison, and the crowd of students that has gathered to hear this spontaneous exchange stands and roars at the finish.

On this bright spring day, young Mr. Buchholz (now a student at JCCC with plans to attend the University of Nebraska next year as a music performance major) has engaged in a musical dialogue with a worldclass player and has acquitted himself well.

And he has provided those on hand who care about America's music with a ray of hope that good jazz is being passed on to a new generation.

Like Elijah Buchholz, Scott Salvaggio is another Johnson County jazzman (and alto saxophonist) who is making his way up through the ranks.

Scott first became known to this writer with his near-weekly visits last summer to Tommy Ruskin's Saturday jazz jams at Fedora on the Plaza. Now, one year out of Shawnee Mission East, Scott is beginning his second year at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Scott began studying the saxophone in the sixth grade, but he had little awareness of jazz until an instructor suggested he attend a jazz camp at UMKC. It was good timing.

"I was strongly attracted to jazz (then)," Scott says. "The older students were very encouraging, I started buying jazz CDs, and I really started to learn more about jazz."

Reading the autobiography of Miles Davis was also another part of Scott's jazz education.

"I was reading the words of someone who said it the way he believed it."

When Scott was finishing up at Shawnee Mission East under the tutelage of director Kim Harrison (Scott also held down the lead alto chair in the school jazz band), he won a scholarship to attend Berklee where he is now in a position to take on a dual major in performance and jazz composition.

"My major influences as a player are Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane," Scott says. "For composition they are Duke Ellington and Gil Evans."

Good role models, indeed.

So, where does this tale of two saxophonists lead? Does it suggest that America's youth are taking us back to a golden age when a younger generation could name everyone in the Basie trumpet section? Hardly.

But, the mere fact that these young people are developing an attachment to jazz in an age of so many dubious cultural distractions is, at least to this longtime jazz fan, testimony to the art form's incredible power.

It is also testimony to good jazz education programs in the Heartland along with solid teaching from people like John Kieffer at Olathe South and Kim Harrison at Shawnee Mission East. This is Johnson County, Kansas we're talking about, after all. And not a part of the country most think of as a "jazz oasis."

"I think Johnson County is having a renaissance," Harrison says. "Take a look: There are eleven schools with jazz bands. That's not bad!"

On second thought, maybe a new oasis is about to spring forth.

Of course, there are always the possible budget cuts all school music departments dread, but despite such constant threats, jazz education programs in Greater Kansas City area schools continue to offer instructional opportunities that are rarely matched in many other cities.

One major asset Kansas City has to offer is a large body of outstanding professional players who can back up teachers with specialized assistance. Harrison, for example, has drummer Ray DeMarchi come to Shawnee Mission East weekly to teach percussion. And both Harrison and Kieffer speak highly of their experience working with veteran trombonist/educator Arch Martin. Over at Sumner Academy, newly appointed jazz instructor Todd Wilkinson, himself an established area jazz musician, leans on tenor saxman Doug Talley for imported support. And there are many other area musicians who moonlight as adjunct coaches.

But behind these many cogs in the wheel of jazz education lies an even more essential ingredient: parental support.

The parents are the ones who come to the concerts, provide the money for instruments and private lessons, and put up with all that practicing around the house. Sometimes there is great sacrifice involved on that end as well.

Let's hope these many supportive parents never forget that, for the sake of this great music, theirs is a noble sacrifice. The jazz musicians -- and audiences -- of tomorrow begin with kids like Elijah and Scott. And these future musicians and aficionados will best be nurtured by caring teachers, parents, and established jazz artists who take the time to pass the torch.


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