You are sitting in on a jam session with a jazz ensemble in a darkened room in a converted
factory. The ceiling is high enough to be lost in the darkness and the windows are covered
with rugs for better acoustics. The hardwood floor has been refinished recently, but
obviously has a history of hard, industrial use. It could be anywhere. The musicians are
just setting up. Like jazz musicians anywhere, they communicate largely in grunts and
sleepy gestures as they concentrate on getting ready to play. No clues there... [New
Orleans? No, not hot enough. Amsterdam? No, not smoky enough. Greenwich Village?
Not enough traffic noise outside for that.] The combo starts to warm up. They are made
up of all sorts of people - teenaged, middle-aged, prosperous, not-so-prosperous, male,
female. The only thing they seem to have in common is the exquisite care that they take
with their instruments. The piano player announces the first number to the band - a
Charlie Parker piece. The players shuffle through their sheet music and find their places.
[Paris? No, they are speaking English and aren't nearly rude enough.] The baby grand
starts in and establishes the rhythm. A few bars later, the drummer and the kid on the
double bass join in. Suddenly there is a surge of energy in the air. One by one, other
players join in - a tenor sax, a guitar, another sax. A woman sitting in the shadows, who
you had dismissed as a girlfriend of one of the musicians walks to the microphone and
starts scatting like Cleo Lane. The rooms buzzes as the band winds up the number, but
before you can get your bearings, new players rotate in and start the same number again in
a calypso arrangement. As the other musicians clump offstage, you suddenly realize what
they all have in common. They are all wearing sensible boots and warm clothing. Believe
it or not, you are in Brattleboro.
So goes an Wednesday evening jam session at the Vermont Jazz Center.
The Center was started 23 years ago by Attila Zoller. He was not well known by the
general public, but was a giant in the jazz world and possibly one of the greatest jazz
guitarists of the century. He played regularly with Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz, Herbie
Hancock and Benny Goodman. In 1975, he had the idea of starting a summer music
program out of his house in Newfane, Vermont and invited various Jazz Greats to
participate - George Maraz, Lee Conantz and Ron Carter to name a few. The program
was successful and attracted more attention each year, drawing participants from all over
the world, particularly Europe. Each year, it would be held at a local school - Putney
School, Landmark College, etc.. Over the succeeding 20 years or so the it became a local
institution, if not a particularly well known one outside of music circles.
A few years ago, Zoller became ill and was faced with the harsh fact that he was dying.
He needed to find a successor to carry on the Program's mission. He decided that the new
director should be young enough to put in the time and energy needed to establish the
Program as a going concern. He chose Eugene Uman, a graduate of the Jazz Program at
Queens College in New York who had worked with the Berkeley School of Music and the
New England Conservatory. Zoller introduced Uman as the new Director at a Program
function in June of 1997. By the time Zoller passed away last winter, Uman was hard at
work.
The change in directors necessitated a change in philosophy. Zoller had been so passionate
about the project that he had been able to carry it through many lean times on the strength
of his reputation and personal magnetism. When that didn't work, he was know to buy
favors with his legendary Chicken Paprikash. All of which makes for great stories, but not
for the ongoing running of an institution. Uman needed to establish the organization on a
more pragmatic basis. His first order of business was to find a permanent home for the
Vermont Jazz Center, which he and the board of directors had decided would evolve to a
year-round institution. After months of looking, he found a space, almost by accident at
the Cotton Mill Hill facility in Brattleboro. He was struck by the resemblance to loft space
in New York and realized its possibilities. He, his friends, family and a host of volunteers
spent months refurbishing the space - refinishing the floors, making the rooms acoustically
usable and generally making it suitable for music and dance rehearsals and performances.
The Center's mission underwent a change as well. Zoller's dream had been to make
Southern Vermont a Mecca for jazz. He wanted it to be so incorporated into the social
fabric that it could almost be taken for granted. His approach was very straight-forward,
reasoning that the best way to do that was to play lots and lots of great jazz with some of
the best musicians in the world and to let the music speak for itself. To a great extent, he
was very successful with that approach, building a world-class reputation for the Program,
but with his passing, Uman decided to focus as much on education as performance. Every
concert is now accompanied by at least one workshop to help developing performers and
fans.
With the help of Howard Brofsky, the President of the Board of Directors and Joy
Williams, Zoller's long-term companion and friend of the project, Uman wrestled the
VJC's books into order and got most of the red-tape under control. The donation of a
concert-quality baby grand piano and a $10,000 grant from a former student gave Uman
the momentum he needed to get the Center up and running.
Today, the Vermont Jazz Center hosts classes, performances and workshops. Its summer
program continues to be strong and attracts prestigious instructors and passionate students,
but Uman gives the credit for establishing the Center to the Wednesday night jam sessions.
"It's the only resource of it's kind that most of these musicians have any kind of access to,"
he says. "This area is rich with talent and the Center gives them an opportunity to shine."
To judge by the rapt look of concentration on the faces of the combo as they start in on
"Yardbird Suite", he's right.
********
The Vermont Jazz Center is located at 72 Cotton Mill Hill, Brattleboro, VT 05301.
Phone/Fax: (802) 254-9088
e-mail: vjazz@sover.net
Website: www.sover.net/~vjazz
