Tallcorn Jazz Festival to hit high notes

The University of Northern Iowa’s chapter of Phi Mu Alpha will host its annual Tallcorn Jazz Festival Feb. 19 and 20.

Andy Heard, junior business management and communication double major, he has been involved with music since fourth grade and became involved with jazz in seventh grade.

“Every musician spends a lot of time and puts in a lot of hard work and dedication to their practice time,” Heard said. “Our work pays off when we give a good performance. Jazz is improvisation. I consider improvising kind of like speaking your mind. It’s just fun being able to make up what comes to your mind.”

Heard is second tenor saxophone in UNI’s highly acclaimed Jazz Band One. He also serves as the Tallcorn Jazz Festival’s chairperson.

“Tallcorn and the Sinfonian Dimensions in Jazz concert is put together by the brothers of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia,” he said. “We are a music fraternity here on campus devoted to helping advance music in America.  This festival has always been put on by this chapter at UNI, and we are just keeping the tradition going. This will be the 55th year for the Tallcorn Jazz festival and the 57th annual Sinfonian Dimensions in Jazz concert.  This festival is the longest running high school jazz competition this side of the Mississippi,” said Heard.

According to Heard, the Tallcorn Jazz Festival, along with other jazz band competitions, separates high schools based on their size. They use their school’s class, 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A, to categorize the bands. 1A and 4A will perform Feb. 19 and 2A and 3A will perform Feb. 20.

“(Competing bands) get a 20-minute performance,” Heard said. “We have four judges, two of which are clinicians, and they have ballots which they grade the bands on a thousand-point scale.  There are many different categories which the band is graded on. A few examples would be dynamics and overall sound of the band. At the end of the day we have someone tally up the scores and the top three bands receive trophies. If you place in the top two, you will get a bid into the Iowa Jazz Championships.”

The Iowa Jazz Championships are held eery April at the Civic Center in downtown Des Moines.

Adjudicators and clinicians have been hand-selected from across the country to promote a high level of education and fair judging. Professionals include Paul Haar of the University of Nebraska; Rick Stone of the New England Conservatory Preparatory Academy of Music; Brent Sandy of the University of Iowa; Miles Mortensen of Minnetonka High School and Christopher Kozak, director of jazz studies at the University of Alabama.

There are also Cedar Valley ties with the judges and clinicians. John Kizilarmut, professor of jazz percussion at Drake University, and Paul Clark, a public school music educator, are both UNI alumni and will be in attendance at the Tallcorn Jazz Festival. Also, Jim Gosnell, a former band director in Cedar Falls, will participate. Heard credits Chris Merz with finding such qualified staff.

“I highly recommend … anyone free Friday or Saturday to come check out the night concert with Jazz Band One and guest artist the Matt Wilson Quartet,” he said. “This is a group of great musicians. In New York, you would be paying up to $50 for a ticket.”

Phi Mu Alpha president Issac Brocksus is also glad to see the Matt Wilson Quartet come to town.

“We’re excited to bring in a group with such reknown as Matt Wilson Quartet,” he said.  “We hope that UNI students will seize this opportunity to come to the SDIJ concert and see this energenic group.”

Tickets for the Sinfonian Dimensions concert are $5 for students and $10 for adults. For more information about the Tallcorn Jazz Festival visit www.uni.edu/jazzstudies/tallcorn.