When a degree in jazz studies first emerged at Western Connecticut State University in the mid 80s, the actual playing of jazz on campus was very much an underground event. Students would get together after hours and play in the lofty rooms of White Hall, out of sight and earshot. Dr. Dan Goble, current chairman of the music department at Western, recalls jazz tunes being banned from the department’s hailed Bösendorfer piano when he began his studies in 1994. “There was an urban legend that jazz destroyed pianos,” Goble recalls. 

These days, the Bösendorfer is second to a refurbished Steinway and jazz is played often on any and all of the department’s pianos. Western’s jazz studies program is steadily growing into one of the best in the country, and the department is in its 14th year of organizing the Jazz Festival, a multi-day campus event featuring performances by professional musicians, master classes and non-competitive clinics for students.

This year’s JazzFest includes performances by the Danilo Perez Trio, the Dafnis Prieto Trio and a number of ensembles from within the Western community. The event takes place April 30 through May 2 and includes master classes in rhythm section, trombone, trumpet and saxophone as well as clinics presented by both featured performers, culminating in a weekend of extraordinary opportunity for musicians and music-lovers alike.

Western’s JazzFest is unique in that students play for clinicians in a non-competitive setting. Many festivals focus on performance and the accrual of points, but here students flourish under the aim of collaboration and education. College students and area high school and middle school musicians have the opportunity to perform for professional jazz artists from within the Western faculty as well as outside clinicians hired specifically for the event.

“The students have about 30 minutes to perform,” says jazz studies coordinator Jamie Begian. “They can get the jitters out with the first song, and the clinicians see that the second and third songs are more demonstrative of their abilities.” Critiques last for another half hour, leaving students with a great deal of feedback that can only result in growth.

Begian will hand pick ten students to accompany the Western faculty band for the opening night performance of the festival. “The kids get to play with some serious professionals, and they really dig it,” Begian says. “They can really let go and they’re taken care of.” 

Western’s Jazz Orchestra will join world-renowned drummer and composer Dafnis Prieto on the following night, with accompaniment charted by current student Darren Litzy and alumni Chris Johnson and Dan Brandl. Senior Nick Impionbato is particularly excited for the Prieto performance. 

“I’m a drummer, so it’s right up my alley,” he says. “I listen to Dafnis all the time. It’s really fun music. Prieto and Perez are both incredible musicians.”

It happens every year: big name musicians sweep through and turn Danbury into a beacon of jazz for a few days. Past festivals have seen the likes of Roy Haynes, Dave Holland, Paquito D’Rivera, Jimmy Heath and Chick Corea, whose appearance in 2006 sparked the biggest JazzFest turnout thus far. 

“Corea is incredibly influential in the jazz community,” says Impionbato, “so that was pretty impressive. The line was outside the door and wrapped around White Hall. It was out of the ordinary.”

This year’s featured performers are expected to tap into the prevalent Latin community in and around Danbury. Prieto is from Cuba and pianist-composer Perez is from Panama, and both musicians are sited for an energetic, Pan-American sound. Aside from the two highly anticipated performances, students are buzzing in wait of each musician’s respective clinic.

Taking the Soul for a Walk, Prieto’s most recent work, is a heralded 12-song album rooted in the seven songs written for his 2005 Emotion Series, a work commissioned by Chamber Music America. With titles like “The Sooner the Better”, “Just Say It” and “I Felt You Were Coming”, each song is an auditory expression of various emotions Prieto has experienced since coming to live in New York in 1999. The album showcases Preito not only as an intuitive and brilliant drummer but also as a remarkable composer. 

Perez first achieved notoriety in the early 90s as the youngest member of Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nations Orchestra. He won the Grammy for Best Jazz Album with his 1998 release, Central Avenue and has been nominated in other categories several times. Perez, bassist Ben Street and drummer Adam Cruz have a deep friendship and musicianship that is more than tangible in their live performance.

Begian puts a lot of work into making JazzFest happen every year, but the time is well-spent. “I am working to establish Western as a national level institute for jazz studies,” he says. “That’s the ultimate goal. And things are really getting stronger, the economy be damned.”

Western’s jazz program has all of the elements essential to reaching this goal. The professors are excited for the talent portrayed by the incoming freshman class, students hail the program and the seasoned faculty, and every year JazzFest functions as a recruiting tool, bringing young musicians from Connecticut and New York to campus. While JazzFest is an iconic university event, it is also an exceptional occasion for the surrounding community. 

“The kids really respond to the energy from the festival,” says Goble, who was instrumental in creating the first JazzFest in 1996. “The student body is elevated, the seniors get really pepped for their evaluations. It happens when any guest artist comes to campus, whether it be an author or someone involved in theater. JazzFest is something great for Danbury; it’s a resource for the community. These are great musicians, available for a fraction of the New York City jazz club cost.”

Middle school students will be critiqued throughout the day on Thursday, April 30, and an all-star concert with the clinicians is scheduled for 1 pm. The Western Jazz Faculty will perform that night with accompanying students at 7 pm at Ives Concert Hall. High school and college students will attend clinics throughout Friday and Saturday. Another clinician concert will take place at 1 pm on Friday, May 1. Prieto’s clinic is scheduled from 5 to 6 pm followed by his performance with the Western Jazz Orchestra at 7 pm. Perez will present a clinic at 4 pm on Saturday, May 2 and is scheduled to perform with his trio at 7 pm.

For more information, visit Wcsu.edu/Music/JazzFest.