Keeping the improv alive

Time, of course, threatens to obscure the art of playing classic jazz, but there are those who will go to great lengths to keep it alive.

This weekend, jazz lovers will enjoy that rare treat when impassioned musicians, some of whom have traveled thousands of miles, share the love at the 2006 Orange County Classic Jazz Festival.

More than 44 years ago, one of this weekend’s performers, Annie Hawkins, ran away from Australia to England for love and music.

“We love the music, and it’s going to die if we don’t protect it,” said Connie Baker, one of the event’s producers. “Cultural events aren’t profitable, and we don’t get into it for the money, but we have to support these bands in order to do it.”

Some artists feel overcome by their passion for performing.

Playing “delights me so much I sometimes cry,” Baker said, quick to add she does not make a spectacle of herself when she plays double bass. She quietly turns her head, blows her nose and continues. “There’s fire and joy and emotion in the music.”

Hawkins plays in the Fryer-Barnhart International All Star Jazz Band and is one of five members who traveled from England to play the festival.

The improvisation in classic jazz — which spans from the teens to the mid-1950s and includes ragtime, Dixieland, swing, big band and boogie — inspires the musicians as they carefully tune their ears to the sounds of each other’s playing. Usually classic jazz musicians rely on the feel of their instrument, rather than written music, to play.

“The way jazz was written, it was written to be free within the frame of the song,” said Louis Mazetier, who took a holiday from his radiology practice in Paris to play at the festival. “You were not obliged to play what was written, while staying in the harmony and rhythm of the song and being able to fool around.”

Growing up in the French countryside, Mazetier discovered jazz and taught himself to play by ear and is now considered one of the world’s top stride pianists, a fading style made popular by greats like Duke Ellington and Fats Waller.

Mazetier will join his band, Paris Washboard, on stage at the seventh annual event. The band features Gerald Bagot, who Mazetier said has transformed his washboard into a more evolved percussion instrument.

“The music is full of happiness and strong emotion,” Mazetier said as a piano tuner plunked keys on one of the grand pianos on the stage. “It is not destructive musicÂ…. It emphasizes the good aspect of human beings.”

Musicians and organizers agree that the festival will be a toe-tapping, fun-filled event for people to mingle and share their enjoyment of music.

“Music is just a way for people to be together,” said Jim Fryer, who plays trombone in the Fryer-Barnhart International All Star Jazz Band.

“It’s not just us playing; it’s us having fun with the people.”

And from the experience of those who have watched the music unfold, people who listen do have fun.

“It’s lovely to see audience reaction,” said Geraldine Rees, who is here with her boyfriend Nick Ward, the drummer for Fryer-Barnhart.

“The band has a really good rapport with the audience,” said Ward, who collects 1920s drum kits.

The music is a throwback to American history and reflects America’s only true original art, Baker said.

“It’s great, lively music,” Fryer said. “It’s the music that’s American in the best possible way.”

Mazetier and most of his fellow musicians learned to play classically as youngsters but were hooked on jazz after being exposed to records or clubs.

“Being able to play an instrument is different than playing music,” Mazetier said. “Playing music is being able to reach a point of emotion and being able to speak your own way.”

Often at classic jazz festivals, people get dolled up in clothes that reflect their favorite period of jazz. Some of the songs even spur impromptu parasol parades in tribute to the New Orleans style.

“It’s the New Orleans version of the Conga line,” Fryer said with a laugh. “I love seeing that; it’s fun.”

The Hilton will be alive with music for three days, with bands playing from 10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. About 100 volunteers signed up for the event — and they make it possible, Baker said.

“Watching people smile, tapping their hands and feet” is what she loves about playing, Hawkins said.

“This is for them to enjoy themselves, and it gladdens my heart.”

IF YOU GO

2006 Orange County Classic Jazz Festival at the Hilton Orange County/Costa Mesa

3050 Bristol St.

10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday

$40 Friday, $45 Saturday, $33 Sunday

www.oc-classicjazz.org

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