More than 100 middle and high school musicians will converge at Presser Hall next weekend. For the 50th year (minus one virtual one) Illinois Wesleyan University's annual jazz festival kicks off on campus Feb. 21.
Bands play for a panel of adjudicators and take part in clinics and workshops with professionals, IWU students and faculty. It's all open to the public, capped by an off-campus performance Saturday, Feb. 22, at Jazz UpFront.
An obvious angle of the jazz festival is to get prospective students to fall in love with IWU and choose it for college. The School of Music recently launched a jazz studies minor that IWU Jazz Director Reginald Lewis said has four students enrolled.
Above and beyond recruitment, Lewis hopes participants fall in love with jazz.
“For me, it’s to turn that light switch on for a child,” he said.
Illinois Wesleyan's Jazz Fest is different from others, in part because of its placement on the calendar. It falls early in the season and is a "comments only" festival, giving bands a chance to get feedback from expert adjudicators with no scores or trophies on the line. New this year, Lewis is having bands meet altogether instead of breaking into sectionals by instrument, giving participants a chance to glean insight from guests James Mauck (percussion), Kirby Fellis (trombone) Nickolas Kaplan (trumpet) and Kurt Reeder (keys) while building their skills as an ensemble.
“The biggest thing is, for those who are playing in a band because it’s fun, they might find a bigger love for it after interacting with all these professionals,” he said.
Another of those professionals is Glenn Wilson, a baritone saxophonist whose resume includes playing with Tito Puente and Bruce Hornsby—and directing jazz at IWU before Lewis. He retired in 2022.
“Everything I’ve learned has come from Glenn,” said Lewis, who came to IWU from a brief stint at Lincoln College before it closed.
Tom Streeter started IWU’s jazz program and launched the festival in 1975. Tim Pitchford was in the role from 2011-2016 before Wilson, who expanded the festival from one day to two.
“The festival has drawn a lot of musicians who played here as students and now they’re jazz band directors,” Wilson said. “It’s really amazing.”
Among them are Colby Powers, the jazz band director at George L. Evans Junior High in Bloomington, and Dwight Township High School band director Jakobe Rabor. IWU Music Education senior Jonathan Mead will also lead a band.
Youth performances kick off at 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 21 with Dwight. They are free and open to the public, as are daily master classes and a pair of adjudicator performances on campus, before the off-campus jam at Jazz UpFront on Saturday.
Wilson said it’s worth the risk to come and listen to youth players—some of whom have blown him away.
Like the music itself, Wesleyan's School of Music is a bit of an improvisation. The program has dealt with threats of closure, turnover and a recent reorganization combining music, theater and art under an umbrella with a common dean. Lewis said things are stabilizing, but most ensembles are still made up of non-majors.
Slowly but surely, generation by generation, it’s catching on, Lewis said.
“With my peers that teach middle school and high school, it’s all on the teacher,” he said. “You have some special students that don’t need motivation to get into it. And then you have some students who might need a little kick.”
For Lewis, who comes from Philadelphia jazz royalty but originally pursued art at his performing arts high school, that kick was an introduction to Art Blakey’s 1964 album Indestuctible.
“It’s a community thing,” he said. “You just have to present the product and sell it.”
