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This past weekend, Fremont Park was alive with the sound of jazz as the third annual Silicon Valley Jazz Festival brought a lineup of a dozen concerts by students and professionals alike to Menlo Park on Oct. 12 and 13.
In addition, the festival organizers invited acclaimed jazz trumpeter, composer and educator Carl Saunders to teach two master classes on Oct. 11 to students at Tierra Linda Middle School and at Menlo-Atherton High School.
Saunders also performed a “Desert Island Jazz” show from 9 to 10 a.m. that day at KCSM, a radio station licensed by the San Mateo County Community College District, at 91.1 FM.
The festival also hosted evening parties and events at Savanna Jazz Club in San Carlos.
Preserving an American art form
Savanna Jazz Club operated in San Francisco’s Mission District for a decade before it moved to San Carlos about four years ago, according to club owner and Silicon Valley Jazz Festival founder Pascal Bokar Thiam.
Thiam, who goes by Pascal Bokar as a musician, teaches at the University of San Francisco in addition to running the jazz club.
The festival, he said, is an extension of the Savanna Jazz Club, and it’s aimed at promoting “this American art form we call jazz.”
On one level, the festival is aimed at filling the festival vacuum on the Peninsula that exists between the more active jazz festival scenes in San Francisco and San Jose, he said.
On a deeper level, though, the festival seeks to combat the art form’s contemporary challenges with recruitment and underappreciation, he added.
“Essentially, the mission of the festival grew out of what we perceived to be a need to promote an art form that’s under siege by the recording industry,” he told The Almanac.
Giving students a chance to learn and show their developing jazz skills “keeps kids out of trouble, practicing their instruments,” he said. “They realize you’re only as good on your instrument as the amount of time you commit to it.
“The excellence comes from a deep commitment to quality, and that doesn’t come quick.
“Jazz is a fabulous avenue to give them not only a sense of community but give them a sense of value of what they can achieve together in a band.”
Jazz, he said, “has been one of the major art forms created by African Americans in North America. It’s an art form that is celebrated all over the planet. … Jazz is a beacon of light and has been a symbol of the best that humans can do in terms of creativity.”
“It’s not a game,” he added. “This art form needs help, and it needs help from every part of the private and public sector, because it represents high aesthetics. It’s a tough battle in a world of quick consumption and immediate gratification.”
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Renowned jazz trumpet composer and educator Carl Saunders, left and visited Director of Band and Orchestra Kent Kurrus’ class at Menlo-Atherton High School’s October 11, 2019. (Photo by Sammy Dallal/The Almanac.) -
Renowned jazz trumpeter, composer and educator Carl Saunders visited Menlo-Atherton High School’s band class on Oct. 11 to lead two master classes. He was part of the Silicon Valley Jazz Festival held in Menlo Park on Oct. 12 and 13. (Photo by Sammy Dallal/The Almanac.) -
Renowned jazz musician trumpeter Carl Saunders gives Menlo-Atherton High School students a master class on Oct. 11. (Photo by Sammy Dallal/The Almanac.) -
Renowned jazz musician trumpeter Carl Saunders gives Menlo-Atherton High School students a master class on Oct. 11. (Photo by Sammy Dallal/The Almanac.) -
Renowned jazz musician trumpeter Carl Saunders gives Menlo-Atherton High School students a master class on Oct. 11. (Photo by Sammy Dallal/The Almanac.) -
Renowned jazz musician trumpeter Carl Saunders gives Menlo-Atherton High School students a master class on Oct. 11. (Photo by Sammy Dallal/The Almanac.)
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