Border song
Gadsden students highlight San Luis R.C. jazz
In a city where norteno, mariachi and other traditionally Mexican genres reign, another musical style is making a niche for itself in San Luis Rio Colorado, Son., one that has its roots in New Orleans. Jazz. The border city across from San Luis, Ariz., even started its own event dedicated to jazz, the Binational Jazz Festival. And the third annual festival is slated for today, beginning at 5 p.m. on the Andador Turistico, a brick-lined walkway on 3rd Street, just a couple of blocks away from the border crossing.
Among the bands performing will be the Gadsden Elementary School District Jazz Band, made up of seventh- and eighth-graders from San Luis, Ariz., whose repertoire will include a mix of Latin jazz, blues, swing and other styles.
Joining them will be bands and musicians from around Sonora and Baja California, including the group Ars Nova from Ciudad Obregon; Maria Vogler, a jazz musician from Tijuana; Trio Berimbau, from Ensenada; and Son de Aca, from Mexicali.
Cesar Juarez, co-founder of the festival that is hosted by the Mexican border city’s arts and culture department, says the event exposes audiences to new musical styles.
“A lot of people are interested in the festival,” he said. “The festival has left a good taste in people’s mouths, and in its first year it was extended an extra hour at the request of people.”
Juarez will head up his own band of musicians from mostly San Luis Rio Colorado who will also play today. And he’s also a music teacher in the Gadsden district and the director of the district jazz band that likewise will be playing.
Just as the festival’s mission is to promote musical diversity, the district’s 27-member jazz band was created 12 years ago to allow student musicians to expose themselves to new genres.
“I really like the chance we have here to be able to play, because there aren’t many opportunities like this one otherwise,” said Victor Hugues, a second year trumpet player.
Juarez said the Gadsden jazz band’s members, though young, are already demonstrating their knack for musical improvisation, a talent he described as essential to jazz and one typically seen only in more experienced musicians.
“We have received very good comments about this band, that its development is coming a long way, and that people like to see them improvise at such a young age,” Juarez said. “It’s something that attracts a lot of attention.”
Juarez said adapting to jazz has been easy for most of the band members since most of them are already members of the district’s better-known marching band, which has won honors for its appearances in parades around the region and which has participated in parades in two European nations.
He believes residents on both side of the border are likewise embracing jazz.
“At first people see jazz as being something strange, but then they appreciate it. It’s an option to the genres they traditionally listen to.”