Jazz Fest Hot Time For All Excited Students, Thrilled Batt Play The Big Time In Moscow

Amy White, Cheney High School sophomore and timbal player, was quick to name the appeal of the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival for her and some 14,000 other student musicians.

“We get to miss school and we get to win stuff,” she said.

White spoke only in jest, standing starry-eyed after the school’s big band waxed the AA Division and closed out a day of student performances with a rousing “Yo Mambo.”

“I didn’t ever have any more fun than playing here,” said Jill Jarvis, the school bassist, who strained during her performance to keep from watching herself on the monster television monitors stageside.

As many as 5,000 people have been showing up each night for this year’s festival, now in its 29th year, to hear luminaries like singers Al Jarreau and Dianne Reeves, Boise’s own Gene Harris and Hampton himself.

But as if in keeping with the musical form’s democratic tradition, the festival is a showcase for what Executive Director Lynn “Doc” Skinner calls the “K-through-eternity” set: grade-schoolers, the festival’s 87-year-old namesake, even Idaho’s Republican Gov. Phil Batt.

The state’s headliner-in-chief, a clarinetist of “55 years with a 25-year hiatus,” swung through Moscow Saturday to take in his first-ever festival from both the front row and front stage where he performed.

“This is a marvelous contribution to jazz here,” said Batt, a swing and Dixieland fan who was brought out of his musical retirement when Harris returned to Boise about 20 years ago.

“I’ve always wanted to come but it’s never worked out. It’s not only good for Idaho but it’s good for jazz.”

Batt at first denied being nervous. He said he was “just thrilled.”

But then, “Of course you have some trepidation about it. I just got the reed fixed up - checked it out this afternoon. I just hope I don’t flub all my lines.”

Except for a clumsy handshake with Hampton, Batt made it on stage in one piece and launched into a fairly conservative rendition of “Ain’t Misbehavin’.”

For all the high-powered talent on stage, the droves of young musicians making the scene remain its main focus, said Skinner.

“It’s not just a concert,” he said while watching Seattle’s Washington Middle School from Hampton’s back-stage throne, a stuffed recliner upholstered with piano imprints.

“The purpose of the festival is really to help young people understand this music jazz. If we don’t do it, we’re going to lose it for generations to come.”

Students from roughly 400 schools played here since Thursday, coming from as far away as Sitka, Alaska. It was a far cry from when Skinner took over the festival 20 years ago and only 100 students would be in the audience to hear the competition winners play.

Back then, when he asked about jazz musicians, students would say, “What are you talking about?” Skinner recalled. “They didn’t know there were any. Now kids are collecting CDs and listening to the stuff at home,” he said.

“It’s a step forward,” said trombonist Bill Watrous between performances. “I love to talk to any young person that can admit to me that his favorite music is not grunge.”

, DataTimes