by MEREDITH M. GRIFFITH
Sounder contributor
The Orcas Island music scene is about to get a whole lot jazzier.
“It’s so exciting, I just can’t wait,” says local musician Martin Lund. “It’s going to be a lot of fun!”
Lund has orchestrated a new annual Orcas Island Jazz Festival this Labor Day weekend, a three-night celebration featuring musicians from Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo as well as from Seattle.
Friday night, Sept. 4 will feature the acoustic “gypsy jazz” quintet Pearl Django, whose style is reminiscent of the jazz clubs of pre-World War II Paris. Performing with them will be Gail Pettis, an outstanding vocalist who has been very well received by Orcas audiences in the past.
Saturday will be Brazilian night, featuring the Jovino Santos Neto Trio: Jovino dos Santos on piano and flute; Chuck Deardorf on bass; and Jeff Busch on percussion and drums. An added bonus on Saturday is Paula Santoro, an internationally acclaimed vocalist from Sao Paulo, Brazil.
“Paula is from a different part of Brazil, Minas Gerais, and the music is very different than the typical sambas and bossa novas that Americans associate with Brazil,” said Lund. “Jovino Santos is an exciting player; he’s just full of energy, he’s been up here before and the people loved him. Bassist Chuck Deardorf, the head of the jazz department at Cornish in Seattle, and percussionist-drummer Jeff Busch, are complete masters of their instruments, and add up to a solid, driving rhythm section that is guaranteed to deliver.”
Sunday will see a return by the Jovino Santos Neto Trio along with Pettis and Santoro, with a completely different musical selection.
Each show will begin at 7:30 p.m. at Orcas Center. Tickets cost $28 for adults and $16 for students; three-day passes are $75 for adults or $40 for students. Tickets for Saturday and Sunday evenings also include a pre-concert talk about Brazilian music by Santos from 6:45 to 7:15 p.m. Tickets may be purchased from Orcas Center at 376-2281 or www.orcascenter.org.
“The performers are amazing,” Lund says. “I promise you that these concerts will be nothing short of spectacular!” Also in the lineup of amazing musicians is Lund himself, performing each night and joined on Sunday by Gene Nery and other island jazz greats.
Lund says that when he graduated from the UW music school in the early 1970s, he began dreaming about starting a music camp for inner city kids. It did not take very long to figure out where this camp should be located, since his favorite place on earth was Orcas Island. Years passed, and he moved to Los Angeles to seek his fortune in the music world.
“But in the back of my mind,” he says, “I always had this burning desire to create something special for kids who did not have as many opportunities to reach their goals in music as I did, with great teachers and mentors that were there for me.”
He adds, “It dawned on me this summer that the Orcas Island Jazz Festival was the beginning of the fulfillment of those dreams from the 70s, fresh out of college. Though we are starting small this year by having three concerts over the Labor Day weekend at the Orcas Center, I see no reason why this festival of jazz cannot become a center of teaching jazz to kids and adults as well as a place to come and hear world-class musical improvisation at its best.”
