PORT ANGELES — It’s happening more and more, said Kevin MacCartney, national park ranger-turned-jazzman.
That moment when everyone in the band clicks together, to sail up on a wave of sound — the Peninsula College Jazz Ensemble is flying there ever more frequently, he said, and “it’s magical, really.”
MacCartney is one of the 17 players who’ll give a concert this Wednesday night in the Little Theater at Peninsula College, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd. The music will start at 7 p.m., and admission is free for all.
This won’t be a night of strictly straight-ahead jazz, added MacCartney, who plays tenor saxophone and flute. Sammy Cahn, George Gershwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Eric Alexander and Thad Jones are all on the agenda, as is the Average White Band classic “Pick Up the Pieces.” And bandleader and pianist David Jones is contributing an original work, plus a Latin cha-cha arrangement of Jerome Kern’s “Pick Yourself Up.”
Another reason to come to the concert, according to MacCartney: “We have a beautiful woman singer,” offering standards like “Tangerine” and “Lover Man.”
She is Leyah Nelson, 16, of Sequim, a Running Start student at Peninsula College. And though fronting a big band is a new experience, Nelson has plenty of music in her background. She grew up in a family that lived on the stuff. Her mother Diane Nelson took her on many trips to her birthplace, Nova Scotia, for family get-togethers; that meant kitchen parties where “we’d play music all night long,” said the singer.
Nelson hopes to go on to the University of Washington and earn a degree in music performance — like fellow jazz ensemble member Brittany Brabant.
She’s the band’s 21-year-old trombonist, and another player holding up the younger end.
“There’s a high level of professionalism for such a small group,” said Brabant, who is from Port Angeles.
She relishes being a part of the mix, which ranges from young students such as herself to retirees like John Adams, a former computer consultant from Pomona, Calif. The clarinetist and saxophonist drives from Port Townsend to play with the college ensemble.
Jones, who just this week became a tenured professor at Peninsula College, began building the ensemble three years ago. These days he revels in his musicians’ diversity. Adams, for example, has a background in classical music; John Sanders of Quilcene plays the electric bass as well as a selection of percussion instruments; and Mike Mills, an older member, handles the congas with cool concentration.
Completing the picture are saxmen Bob Bailey, Josh Chrisman, Andy Geiger and Steve Lingle; trumpeters Zerreca “Z. Z.” Bennett, Fariss Ryan and Devin Spade; trombonist Don Smaltz, guitarist Joel Rich, bassist Mike Kochanek and drummer Tor Brandes.
“There’s a good sense of camaraderie,” among the players, “and that translates to the performance,” Jones said.
“I like playing with young people,” added MacCartney, “but the main thing is I like playing with good people.”
Jones has taken the jazz ensemble far in just these few years, he said, by challenging the musicians, rather than handing them a bunch of easy pieces.
The rapport among the players, MacCartney believes, is a bit like playing on an athletic team.
“The sum is greater than the parts,” he said.
And the jazz squad here “keeps getting better and better.”
