Note: Each month, KPLU invites a teen guest DJ to play his or her favorite pieces on the air. The program is part of KPLU's School of Jazz.
Blake Clawson and Matthew Tweten from Anacortes High School are the Student DJs for the month of February. Blake and Matthew's hour aired from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on February 4th.
To get to know them better we asked Blake and Matthew to answer a few questions about jazz:
Which instrument do you play and why?
Blake: I primarily play the bass trombone and the piano. I love the bass trombone because it’s one of - if not the - most versatile wind instrument. Not only is the range of the instrument huge, but its personality can be so diverse in terms of timbre and style, and of course, the slide is a unique and fantastic feature. All of these facets sum up to allow the player a massive spectrum of playing styles and capabilities. It’s a very enjoyable instrument to play.
Perhaps even more versatile than the bass trombone is the piano. I tend to play piano for personal enjoyment and to compose, though I have played a bit of jazz piano in ensembles as well.
I also love to sing jazz, which I’ve only been doing for a little over a year. The voice is probably my favorite “instrument” because it’s just so personal and human. It’s expressive and intimate in ways that other instruments are not.
Matthew: Primarily in Jazz I play Bass. For me it's the beautiful combination of subtle and extreme (in your face) all in one. You have a musical say that can be quite literal, and also simultaneously very metaphorical.
What’s your all-time favorite jazz piece and why?
Blake: That’s too difficult to answer. It’s like picking one feeling. There are lots of good feelings - and I suppose a good number of bad ones as well - but without a little of everything, it’s pretty hard to say one is your favorite. One wouldn’t mean so much without the context of others. That’s not to say that you need bad pieces to enjoy the good ones, though. Rather, there’s something special about every piece of music, and each is valuable in its own respect. I can’t pick one piece.
Matthew: I can't say that I have a favorite jazz piece. Anything with true feeling in a form that I find aesthetically pushing. Frequently (if not always) I prefer something live over almost any album.
Who’s your jazz hero and why?
Blake: That’s a really tough question. In some ways, picking one feels like overlooking the rest. However, I’d likely say that one of my favorite jazz musicians is Ella Fitzgerald. I find her to be one of the most enjoyable musicians to watch and to listen to. She’s passionate and skilled; she conveys emotion very well when she sings. There’s a wonderful transparency in her music that keeps me coming back for more time and time again.
Matthew: Hands down Louis Armstrong is my jazz hero. If anybody is and ever was what jazz is, it's Louis. His sense of self is what jazz means, sounds, feels, and represents to me.
What is jazz, exactly? How would you explain it?
Blake: Jazz is improvisation. It’s a style of playing and it’s a style of harmony. But most importantly, jazz is a mindset. It’s not a coincidence that jazz musicians are stereotyped to be a certain way--that’s the mindset. It’s relaxed, it’s ecstatic, it’s passionate, it’s emotional. Jazz is an expression of feeling and emotion that is spontaneous and wonderful.
Matthew: Jazz to me is relative aesthetic musical freedom within a form. The freedom to give and take with and from others.
Blake and Matthew's Setlist:
- “TALL COTTON” COUNT BASIE (THE BASIE BIG BAND)
- “RAN KAN KAN” TITO PUENTE (El Rey)
- “ALICE IN WONDERLAND” EDDIE HIGGINS (Standard Higgins)
- “EVERY DAY I THINK OF YOU” ARTURO SANDOVAL (Dear Diz: Every Day…)
- “A CHANGE IN THE WIND” JOSH NELSON (I Hear a Rhapsody)
- “IF YOU COULD SEE ME NOW” JANIS MANN (Blow Away)
- “MEMORIES OF YOU” MARCUS ROBERTS (Wynton’s LP: Marsalis Standard Time)
- “SUMMERTIME” ELLA FITZGERALD/LOUIS ARMSTRONG (Porgy & Bess)
- “PEANUT FACE” GEORGE GRAHAM (With More Help from My Friends)
- “SAMAMBAIA” YO-YO MA (Obrigado Brazil)
