{"id":2254,"date":"2014-05-29T07:20:38","date_gmt":"2014-05-29T13:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=2254"},"modified":"2014-05-31T18:52:02","modified_gmt":"2014-06-01T00:52:02","slug":"lively-jazz-scene-thrills-musicians-listeners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2014\/05\/lively-jazz-scene-thrills-musicians-listeners\/","title":{"rendered":"Lively jazz scene thrills musicians, listeners"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jazz<\/a>

John Warner\/Last Best News<\/p>

On a Sunday this winter, performers at a jazz night at Walkers Grill were guitarist Alex Nauman, drummer Bill Honaker, bassist Mark Bryan and trombonist John Roberts.<\/p><\/div>\n

Sitting in the bar at Walkers Grill on a Sunday night, you can tell when the out-of-towners walk in.<\/p>\n

They generally pause just inside the door and stand there staring at the scene before them. It\u2019s almost always crowded, with a clientele running from teenagers to people in their 70s or 80s. Walkers has an elegant, uptown feel, and there\u2019s excitement in the air. In the corner of the bar area, in front of the big picture window looking out on North 27th Street, jazz musicians, really good jazz musicians, are just tearing it up.<\/p>\n

You look at the out-of-towners again and they seem to be thinking, \u201cThis is Billings? Billings, Montana? On a Sunday night?\u201d<\/p>\n

It sure is.\u00a0And a few blocks away, on most Thursday nights of the year, there is a scene almost as surprising, involving some of the same musicians you see at Walkers.<\/p>\n

The other place is the Garage Pub at the Yellowstone Valley Brewing Company, a cavernous industrial space where empty kegs and pallets of empty bottles tower over a big stage.<\/p>\n

Most Thursdays, the Garage is crowded, too, with 75 to 100 jazz fans listening to a stage full of musicians, some of them seasoned pros with hundreds of gigs under their belts, some of them raw high-schoolers new to performing in public.<\/p>\n

Walkers has had Sunday jazz for 15 years and the Garage Pub has been putting on the Thursday night jazz jam for three years. But regulars will tell you: this year the crowds have been bigger and more consistent, there are more musicians, and there is more great music than ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s crazy is that news of this has spread to other places,\u201d guitarist Alex Nauman said. \u201cI meet all these musicians from all over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nauman has had a lot to do with the jazz renaissance in Billings. The 30-year-old from Basin, Wyo., is one of the hosts of the Garage Pub\u2019s jazz jams, a regular at Walkers, a busy music teacher and a jazz evangelist whose enthusiasm for the music is as bottomless as it is genuine.<\/p>\n

\"Pub\"<\/a>

John Warner\/Last Best News<\/p>

High-school jazz musicians, from left, trumpeter Alex Michels, guitarist Art Baker and alto saxophonists Jorey Egeland and Hayden Duncan joined some of the regulars during a recent Thursday night jam at the Garage Pub.<\/p><\/div>\n

Nauman came up with the idea of the Thursday jam three years ago, teaming up with bassist Parker Brown and percussionist Brad Edwards to pitch the idea to George Moncure, the owner of Yellowstone Valley Brewing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to have a place to play jazz where we could really go crazy,\u201d Nauman said. He also wanted a place where young jazz students \u2014 he and Brown both give lessons at their Allied Music studio \u2014 could play in front of people. And of course Nauman also hoped to build an audience for jazz.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll those things at the same time,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel like we\u2019ve accomplished quite a few of those goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

It took some doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat first year, there were some dark nights,\u201d Nauman said. \u201cI remember one night we made, like, 30 bucks.\u201d That\u2019s when they were making $1 dollar off every pint of beer sold.<\/p>\n

But they stuck with it, putting up posters, passing out handbills and promoting the shows on social media, and this year the jam just took off.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven through this incredibly bad winter, people still showed up,\u201d Edwards said.<\/p>\n

Moncure said the jams have been attracting at least 75 people a week, sometimes 100 or more. If you want to see the Thursday night jam session, tonight\u2019s your last chance until next fall. The jam, which runs from 5 to 8 p.m., has always taken a summer break.<\/p>\n

\"Hartungs\"<\/a>

John Warner\/Last Best News<\/p>

Lillian and Jim Hartung are regulars at Walkers Grill and the Yellowstone Valley Brewing Company’s Garage Pub, seen here.<\/p><\/div>\n

Moncure said the popularity of jazz in Billings grew from a confluence of different factors. The key one is that Nauman, Brown and Edwards are all such talented, hardworking musicians. They inspire other musicians to give it their best and they fire up audiences with their enthusiasm and musicianship.<\/p>\n

Another factor is the growing involvement by high school and college students. Besides the students from Allied Music, there are students from trumpeter Jeff Long\u2019s music classes at Senior High School. Long and Nauman also teach a Tuesday night jazz improv class at Senior High, sponsored by Arts Without Boundaries.<\/p>\n

One of the improv students is Hayden Duncan, an alto sax player who is a senior at Senior High. He was introduced to the rudiments of jazz as early as the fifth grade, but he had never experienced the thrill of a playing for live audience, outside of school concerts, until this winter.<\/p>\n

Long had encouraged him to join the jam, but \u201cI never really had the courage,\u201d he said. But then his friend, guitarist Art Baker, who had been to a jam earlier in the season, suggested they go to the Garage, just to listen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were just blown away by the musical talent of those guys,\u201d Duncan said of the house band, consisting of Nauman, Brown and Edwards. He was inspired enough to go back the next week with his sax.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was absolutely exhilarating,\u201d he said, and he\u2019s been back to play six or seven times since that debut, usually with three or four other friends from Senior High. He credited the house band for making the experience so rewarding.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we do wouldn\u2019t sound nearly as good if they weren\u2019t so talented and so tight,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

There are also college players, musicians studying under Tony Hammond at Rocky Mountain College and John Roberts at Montana State University Billings. Hammond and Roberts have distinctly different styles, but both are excellent trombonists who also happen to sing very well. Some of the best jazz jams of the year have seen the two of them standing side by side on the Garage stage, inspiring and goading each other on.<\/p>\n

Moncure said Roberts\u2019 return to Billings added a new flavor to the local jazz scene. Roberts is a native of Malta who studied music at MSUB and then played funk and Latin jazz professionally in Los Angeles for 16 years.<\/p>\n

\"Pub\"<\/a>

John Warner\/Last Best News<\/p>

A Thursday night at the Garage Pub.<\/p><\/div>\n

Besides sitting in with musicians at Walkers and the Garage Pub, Roberts started a new Latin jazz band called John Roberts and Pan Blanco, based on the Spanish nickname \u2014 White Bread \u2014 he picked up in L.A., where he was often the only Anglo player in a crowd of musicians.<\/p>\n

Roberts said he was pleasantly surprised by the music scene in Billings, and by the quality of the musicianship. In L.A., he said, he was always a sectional player, meaning he rarely got to cut loose and solo. Now he\u2019s soloing on piano and trombone, singing, arranging and leading a band.<\/p>\n

“I played more jazz in the last nine months than I played in L.A. in the last five years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He has been most impressed by all the young musicians performing here. High school music programs always encourage their students to get out and play in public, Roberts said, but he\u2019s never seen anything like this level of involvement.<\/p>\n

The Latin music Roberts introduced has encouraged more dancing and bigger crowds, and it just seems to fire up an audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a Duke Ellington tune,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cYou can\u2019t not swing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Brown\"<\/a>

John Warner\/Last Best News<\/p>

Parker Brown, an accomplished bassist and guitar player, is a major figure on the Billings jazz scene.<\/p><\/div>\n

At Walkers, jazz is played every Sunday of the year, from 7 to 10 p.m., with the exception of Super Bowl Sunday and the occasional holiday.<\/p>\n

Bill Honaker, the owner of Walkers, started offering jazz 15 years ago, when he was still at Third Avenue North and North 27th Street. Honaker had jazz on Friday and Saturday nights at the old location, the idea being to bring in a few extra people and stay open a bit later on the weekends.<\/p>\n

A jazz drummer himself, Honaker also wanted to play. He began by committing to offer jazz for at least a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy goal was to make it break even,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd with jazz, it took a while.\u201d<\/p>\n

But he kept it going, switching over to Sunday nights after the move two blocks south to First Avenue North and North 27th. Honaker is behind the drums three out of four Sundays, joined by a stable of local musicians and jazz players from Missoula, Helena and Cody, Wyo., plus the occasional traveling musician from out of state.<\/p>\n

On Sunday nights, Honaker said, \u201cyou get a whole new clientele, and 60 percent of them are really into the music. I don\u2019t know if the crowd is younger, but it\u2019s more of a hipster crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n

The jazz in the air seems to be having other influences as well.<\/p>\n

Joanie Swords, the owner of Harper and Madison, a caf\u00e9 and bakery, hadn\u2019t sung since high school choir but got the itch to get back to it last year.<\/p>\n

Though she didn\u2019t know her well, Swords approached jazz singer Marian Booth Green, a regular performer in Billings who also sings at Walkers. They worked up some standards, including \u201cI Am a Woman\u201d and \u201cPeel Me a Grape,\u201d backed by pianist Joe Sullivan, drummer Mark McGiboney and bassist Robin Martinez, and performed at Harper and Madison on May 17 to a sellout crowd of 45, who were also treated to desserts and champagne.<\/p>\n

Though she was so nervous she almost threw up at early rehearsals, Swords said, \u201cI had a blast.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s stays awfully busy in her kitchen but has managed to get out and listen to jazz at the Garage and Walkers, which helped inspire her decision to start singing again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that all contributes \u2014 to see that people want to hear music,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Sullivan, her pianist, also plays regularly at Walkers and the Garage and recently founded his own jazz sextet, Joe\u2019s Little Big Band. He is another longtime Billings musician, and he and McGiboney get credit for first trying to start a jazz night at the Garage.<\/p>\n

\"Marcy\"<\/a>

John Warner\/Last Best News<\/p>

Marcy Baumgartner, taproom manager for Yellowstone Valley Brewing, rounds up tips for the musicians.<\/p><\/div>\n

That was in 2007, but it only lasted during one fall and winter. The crowds weren\u2019t too big and so it faded away. Who knows, though. Maybe if they had just stuck it out it would have gotten as big as the current incarnation.<\/p>\n

Sullivan said it works now because there\u2019s a big group of friendly, ego-less musicians who really like to play together, \u201cand they\u2019re working their asses off. It\u2019s really fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown, the bassist who also plays guitar and performs in a handful of different groups in different genres of music around town, said the scene has built on itself, and just keeps growing.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing I\u2019ve noticed in Billings is, when it becomes the thing to do, people will be there in a big way,\u201d he said. And once the fans started showing up, the musicians got more serious, he said. \u201cI think everybody kind of stepped up this year,\u201d he said. \u201cThe consistency was a big part of this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nauman said the musicians keep it loose but give it everything they\u2019ve got. They play \u201cwhatever feels right at that minute,\u201d he said. \u201cWhoever feels like playing something yells it out and we go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two of the biggest jazz fans in Billings are Jim and Lillian Hartung, who met at the Philadelphia Folk Festival in 1974. If they\u2019re in town, they rarely miss a show at Walkers or the Garage, or any other jazz show in town.<\/p>\n

Jim Hartung, who remembers seeing Louis Armstrong at the Shrine Auditorium as a boy in 1956, said a big part of the scene right now is the number of talented musicians.<\/p>\n

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>\u201cThere are a lot of good players who can sit in and play with anybody,\u201d he said. He also credits Edwards, who besides being perhaps the premier jazz percussionist in Montana has long hosted the Afternoon Jazz show on Yellowstone Public Radio. In Billings, \u201cthat\u2019s one of the things that\u2019s been consistent, as far as exposing people to jazz,\u201d Hartung said.<\/p>\n

Lillian Hartung said what she likes best is the \u201cfluidity\u201d of the jazz scene, with old hands mentoring young players. \u201cIt\u2019s wonderful to see another generation coming up,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Moncure said all the exposure for the young musicians has encouraged even more young people to start playing jazz, at Senior High and other schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the good news is, there\u2019s more to come,\u201d Moncure said.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note<\/strong>: One hates to start listing names, for fear of leaving someone out, but it would be a shame not to mention a few other musicians we couldn\u2019t squeeze into the story proper.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with two percussionists \u2014 Gy Moody, who is always in the thick of things when music is being played in Billings, and Matt Devitt, who plays everything from heavy metal to classical music and is a standout jazz drummer.<\/p>\n

And we can\u2019t forget Mark Bryan, another great bassist, nor guitarist Jeff Troxel, of Cody, Wyo., and violinist Trevor Krieger, who often perform together. We invite readers to remind us, in the comment section, of all the good musicians we have neglected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sitting in the bar at Walkers Grill on a Sunday night, you can tell when the out-of-towners walk in. They generally pause just inside the door and stand there staring at the scene before them. It\u2019s almost always crowded, with a clientele running from teenagers to people in their 70s or 80s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[725,723,727,724,733,729,732,239,728,731,726,734,721,722],"class_list":["post-2254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-alex-nauman","tag-bill-honaker","tag-brad-edwards","tag-george-moncure","tag-hayden-duncan","tag-jeff-long","tag-jim-and-lillian-hartung","tag-john-roberts","tag-mark-bryan","tag-matt-devitt","tag-parker-brown","tag-tony-hammond","tag-walkers-grill","tag-yellowstone-valley-brewing-company","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}