- Production of Applause on Ideastream Public Media is made possible by the John P. Murphy Foundation.

The Kulas Foundation, The Stroud Family Trust and by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga arts and culture.

Distribution of this special Applause performance on WVIZ is provided by KeyBank.

(jazz music) - Hello and welcome to this special edition of Applause produced in partnership with the Tri-C JazzFest staging it's 2021 festival, September 11th and 12th at Kane park in Cleveland Heights.

We assembled a quartet of Tri-C JazzFest All Stars, including three Northeast Ohioans, Dominick Farinacci on trumpet, Dan Wilson on guitar, Jerome Jennings on drums and joining them is renowned Bassist and the host of NPR's Jazz night in America, Christian McBride.

(jazz music) - The All-Stars perform original compositions and speak with me, Ideastream's David C Barnett about their JazzFest connections.

Talk about what it was like for you to be learning jazz being schooled in jazz, back in your teenage years compared to now where you are a major figure in JazzFest what is it like going from the student role to the teacher role?

- Yeah it, it's been wonderful in all my formative years formative years, you know we spent so many of them down at Tri-C and with great teachers like Ernie Krivda Steve Enos and Joe Hunter and, you know several others and to be able to be on the on the other side of it now as the Director of the Tri-C JazzFest academy it really, I think forces us to It shows us, you know, how, how well do we really know something that we're trying to teach about?

Cause you have to really internalize it to be able to articulate it and to check out the music that the young musicians are checking out because we're already now, man, that's kind of depressing, 20 years - Yeah, there you go, I hear that - Almost 20 years separation, so, you know, they're listening to all kinds of stuff that I wouldn't really have on my radar and all that is super relevant, you know?

And then, you know, going back to the, you know, really digging into different parts of the history of the music, it's a, it's a great learning experience and I think as an educator, it makes us better, better musicians.

(jazz music) - Daniel, you are a guy from Akron - I am.

- So how did you hear about the Tri-C JazzFest?

Was that a presence in your life when you were young?

- Yeah, actually when I, when I first started gigging, one of my, my first memories of the Tri-C JazzFest was 2004/2005, meeting Horace Silver to meet him, you know I had already learned a bunch of his tunes and, and just his music was always ringing in my ears and just to connect the person with all those great recordings was great Cause he was a really warm funny, you know, inviting person.

So I had the Tri-C JazzFest to thank for that, that meeting.

- And talk about connections, You two were connected.

Talk about that.

- I have Terri Pontremoli to thank for introducing us.

He was an artist in residence here and she's like Dan, how'd you like to play duo with Christian McBride?

I was like, what?

You know i didn't think that that would ever happen But man when we did, we connected right away and since then I've, I've dubbed him the HBIC - Oh the HBIC?

- Head Bassist In Charge - You have the national perspective on a festival like this.

It has a reputation of being an educational festival.

Can you reflect on that a little bit?

- Yeah I think all credible festivals have an educational component Be it something that's actually put into action when you're planning a festival or if it's just by you know, people just simply coming to hear music they never heard before.

so it's a festival that everyone in the jazz community has looked forward to coming to play, you know I first played here, well, I first played in Cleveland in, in 91, but then I came to Tri-C for the first time in 92.

And again, thanks to Terri I've had a chance to come and play this festival quite a bit over the years And it's, it's always been fun.

And then I met this cat and you know, we've wound up forming a bond.

He's in one of my groups, his most recent recording is on my new record label So uh, Terri started something really big.

(jazz music) - The triumphant Land, composition by Jerome Jennings Jerome, Triumphant Land?

is that any Cleveland implications there?

The land?

- Yeah absolutely, People from Cleveland know that this is, this is a underdog city - Yep - Right?, people sleep on Cleveland, consistently.

And I, this is a tune that's dedicated to to folks who are from Northeast Ohio, from Cleveland, Ohio, being from here right up the street - Yep - It's like, people don't expect for you to hone whatever skill you have and take it to another city, and then get your props.

And then people start to call you and you start to, you know, do your thing, it's something special to behold.

And when I see younger guys and gals coming up who make it to New York I'm very touched by that because they, against all odds, you know?

- Yup - So it's the triumphant land.

It's the land.

- When we consider some of the events of the past year, the pandemic hasn't been the only thing, there's been a lot of issues about social, social justice, social issues.

And it seems to me that, that jazz music and social issues have a long history.

And I'm looking at each one of you guys, each one of you guys has reflected that in some way, for instance, Jerome it was 2019.

You released a song and a video, which I saw, which is called Convo with Senator Flowers where you kind of played along with a politician.

Talk about, how did that work?

What was that?

Describe it.

- Yeah so, so basically Senator Stephanie Flowers she's a Senator in Arkansas and, I got whims of a viral video where she was, they were debating about a Stand Your Ground bill, whether to include a fight or flight clause within it.

And she was very adamant about having that in it.

- Now we know, now we know why we want to limit debate.

- Like if, you know, if you have the ability to run, run, don't shoot.

And the gentlemen who were also at the, this meeting, they weren't taking her very serious.

They didn't quite understand.

And I have an archivist who sent me the entire meeting, which was about four hours long that led up to her passionate rant.

- I'll be as quick as I can, as quick as it takes to kill somebody, I guess you want me to be that quick, but you know, - I felt solidarity With her, I understood where she was coming from.

And it was something that, I wanted to be there with her.

So I kind of inserted myself into the, into the room musically, right?

One of the best ways I know how.

- And see how many black kids, black boys, black men are being killed, with these Stand Your Ground defenses that these people raised, and they get off.

So I take issue with that.

I'm the only person here of color, okay?

I am a mother too, and I have a son, and I care as much for my son as y'all care for yours But my son doesn't walk the same path as yours does.

So this debate deserves more time - Dominick, you we're involved in a a social issue project and have been over the past few years.

It has to do with, it's mental health.

It has to do with returning veterans it's called Modern Warrior.

Can you talk a little bit about that from your perspective, taking the music and using it for something else?

- Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, it was a collaboration did with a buddy who fought in Afghanistan for three years and came back dealing with post-traumatic stress.

(jazz music) Yeah We brought together, you know, his story, you know his first person storytelling with music and multimedia element, turned it into a whole touring production.

And it's been great to see like that, how, how bringing together stories and the music kind of inspire a dialogue.

And that's ultimately the goal that in dealing with post-traumatic stress and how it kind of integrates and manifests in society.

(jazz music) - Artist Omid Tavakoli loves planting flowers in the spring On the next Applause, how a different spring, the Arab spring inspired his work and area photographers step in front of the camera for a new portrait exhibit focused on unity.

Plus we'll meet an award-winning artist who paints family and famous faces all this and more on the next round of Applause.

(jazz music) - This is a special edition of Applause presented in partnership with the Tri-C JazzFest, featuring Northeast Ohio musicians, Dominick Farinacci, Dan Wilson, and Jerome Jennings.

Also joining in is the host NPR's Jazz Night in America, Christian McBride.

- Let's talk about this past year, talk about the challenges and the triumphs over the pandemic.

Christian, how did this time, this period that we've gone through and hopefully are crawling back out of right now, did that change your perspective on doing things like NPR's Jazz Night in America?

Did it make different production techniques?

How did you adapt and what did you learn?

- Oh yeah, well I think all of us have collectively become better audio engineers.

I think we've all had to build sort of a makeshift studio in our home.

I certainly went from doing Jazz Night in America, from our home studio in Newark, New Jersey, WBGO to my basement.

I have a little setup down there And of course in the early days of the pandemic, everybody was doing, you know, at home live stream concerts, you know, and I think it kind of wore on everybody after a while, Like the whole virtual thing, just that it, it, it, I think it, we got burned out on that, you know, but on, on the one hand, creative people have to take creative measures to get through dire times, you know?

So it was a wonderful time to, you know, if you look at the bright side, you can concentrate on writing.

You can concentrate on practicing.

You can figure out creative ways to still be able to, to perform for people, even if it's virtual.

You know, you know, a lot of the technology still has not caught up with what improvisational music needs, but it, it, it was fun exploring that territory, even if the results were a little uneven.

(jazz music) - Dominick, you dived into the virtual space over these past few months - Hello I'm Dominick Farinacci and welcome to songbook watch party in partnership with Tri-C JazzFest, Cleveland.

we are here - You called it the song book watch party.

What did you learn from that experience?

- I learned that it's a lot of fun to go back and watch the first few episodes the first one in particular, where I had the camera pointed in the wrong direction and I was on mute for the first 15 minutes of the broadcast.

So that was a lot of fun, but yeah, just, just being a creative.

Yeah.

Like Christian said about the, you know, dealing with with the audio and all the technical stuff that's required to kind of get that up and running.

And it's, i think that the easiest part was, you know, once we were all together, we started doing, you know, broadcast, but you know, not, not having to do the virtual thing, that that was the easiest part, but the challenging, most challenging part was certainly to just figure out all of these, you know, seemingly simple, but incredibly complex things in technology.

And so to say like 98% of the time was focused on that, and 2% was focused on the music.

So really excited to kind of improve those margins.

(jazz music) - Dominick, a person that you were connected with for many years was connected with the Jazz Festival for many years, a Cleveland guy, it's not a performer, it's a producer, Tommy LiPuma.

Talk about his influence on you.

- Absolutely, Tommy.

And I know you and Tommy go even further back I mean, all the great albums that Tommy produced and listened to, you know, countless albums that Christian was on so, that history is incredible for me I have known him since I was a kid.

And it kind of was always my dream to work with him in that capacity, and finally, you know, after his 30, 32 or 33 Year I remember he called and said, all right, man, you know, let's, let's figure something out.

And we went back and forth on where we should do the project.

We ended up bringing it back to here because at the time he was getting more involved with Tri-C and so we decided to bring this big recording project we did right back here to Cleveland and do it at, at the Jill and Tommy LiPuma center for creative arts.

and Christian came out and Steve Gadd and Jacob Collierr came in from London all kinds of wonderful artists and, you know, embedded in was, were incredible educational activities for all the students And they got to observe the whole thing.

So I think like that moment, you know, that Tommy, Tommy's vision of doing it, you know, here in Cleveland, I think that really embodies the big picture kind of relationship I had with him because, you know, musically and, and his passion for coming back to the, you know, to Cleveland and helping to bring up the next generation of, of artists is, you know, it was really invaluable to our community.

So he was a dear friend and definitely miss him a lot and really grateful for all that.

You know, he, he contributed over the years.

(jazz music) - That's it for this special edition of Applause produced in partnership with the Tri-C JazzFest.

The 2021 JazzFest takes place outdoors, September 11th and 12th at Kane park in Cleveland Heights.

Great local music also continues on Applause performances with Corey Grinder and the Playboy Scouts.

This honky-tonk band performs Friday, September 10th, live at noon on the WCPN Facebook page Until then, I'm David C. Barnett leaving you with more music from the Tri-C JazzFest All-Stars.

(jazz music) - Production of Applause on Ideastream Public Media is made possible by the John P. Murphy Foundation, The Kulas foundation The Stroud Family Trust and by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga arts and culture Distribution of this special Applause performance on WVIZ is provided by KeyBank.