BFF ’16: Sweet Dillard

It is hard to believe it has been eight years since the bankruptcy of the International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE). Frankly, the jazz community has yet to recover from the loss of its annual conference. For the hundreds of massively gifted high school jazz bands around the country, IAJE used to be a golden opportunity to showcase their talents and maybe jam with the legends. In the post-IAJE world, Jazz @ Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington competition is now the marquis event for high school big bands. Under the direction of the strict but charismatic Christopher Dorsey, the Dillard Center for the Arts has twice won the competition, but not in 2013. The following year, Mr. Dorsey challenges the band to do better, while giving them invaluable life lessons. Jim Virga documents their 2014 season in Sweet Dillard (trailer here), which screens during the 2016 Brooklyn Film Festival.

Mr. Dorsey had previously taught in predominantly African-American and white schools, so he was well suited for a truly multi-racial, multi-ethnic campus such as Dillard. For any artistically or musically inclined student in Broward County, it is the place to be, in part because of the big band’s success. Mr. Dorsey is not afraid to unleash his inner drill sergeant, but he also knows how to build up his students’ confidence. He is a formative influence on many, including his son.

Rather amusingly, Mr. Dorsey’s son was initially afraid to reveal his plans to major in engineering instead of music, but of course that was just fine with his father. The scholarship probably did not hurt either. Yet, what really matters to Mr. Dorsey is the application of the lessons learned on the bandstand: team work, responsibility, self-expression. (In fact, the son’s desire to help jazz musicians as a successful professional echoes those of the teen protagonist in Nat Hentoff’s Jazz Country, which remains maddeningly out-of-print).

Seeing young, enthusiastic jazz talent is wonderfully uplifting. Virga and his co-producer-cinematographers Susan and Mike Stocker (who happen to be Dillard parents) capture a full sense of the band’s spirit and dedication. They swing mightily, especially by the time they get to the Essentially Ellington (jazz cineastes might also remember the Ellingtonpalooza from Bruce Broder’s CHOPS). It is amazing how fresh Duke still sounds, especially when hungry young players are attacking his charts.

Dillard boosters tastefully make their points about the importance of music education without ever sounding strident or interfering with the film’s flow. Of course, the kids are their best argument. Many come from mean circumstances or chaotic home lives, but most of them will continue onto college, many with scholarships. Although Sweet Dillard runs just short of an hour, Virga and editor-co-producer Konstantia Kontaxis nicely balance student backstories with Mr. Dorsey’s swingingly wise pedagogy. Highly recommended for jazz fans and general audiences, Sweet Dillard screens again tomorrow (6/6) at the Wythe Hotel, as part of this year’s Brooklyn Film Festival.

Tribeca has CHOPS

One of the refreshing things about attending IAJE conferences is seeing and hearing high school students who have a passion for jazz. Those are the sort of young musicians who are performing in Jazz @ Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington competition this weekend and are featured in Bruce Broder’s documentary CHOPS, screening at the Tribeca Film Festival.

CHOPS started as a film about Broder’s son Owen, an alto and clarinet player, and his jazz band mates from Douglas Anderson School for the Arts, in Jacksonville, FL (DA). What started as an examination of their dedication to jazz grew in scope when their school’s band was accepted by Jazz @ Lincoln Center for Essentially Ellington, dubbed “the Super Bowl” of school jazz band competitions at one point in the film.

The DA jazz band had competed in Essentially Ellington once before, but they were clearly considered underdogs. Eventually, CHOPS introduces viewers to two bands from Seattle, who are perennial rivals in EE, sort of the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox of high school jazz bands. However, the DA musicians are the focus of the film, with Broder, drummer Jamison Ross, trombonist T.J. Norris, and trumpeter Jeron “Recio” Fruge taking most of the interview solos. On camera, these young musicians are poised, articulate, witty, and very serious about their music.

Every year J@LC sends out new Ellington transcriptions to high school bands. Those who chose to compete, record three of them, with hopes of performing their selections in New York. Each year, one tune seems to be picked by nearly every band. In 2006 “Idiom 59, Part 2” (part of a suite originally composed for Newport) was the song of the year, seen performed by a string of bands in a montage. Conversely, we only see one rendition of “Rocks in My Bed,” but Isabella DuGraf, the vocalist from Seattle’s Roosevelt High, seems to make quite an impression on the young men from DA.

Anytime a film comes out with a predominantly Ellington soundtrack, its worth seeing. However, CHOPS really captures the passion these students have for the music, which only grows as they go work their way towards New York. There is no question you develop a rooting interest in the DA band as you follow them from band auditions, through their preparations for the competition, to the main event. Watching it makes one optimistic about the future of jazz. All sorts of marketing comparisons could be made for the film: a musical Rocky, Hoop Dreams with a rhythm section, etc.

In fact, the sports comparison is apt. Its producers have a background in sports films, and it has been entered in the Tribeca Film Festival’s sports film division. Certainly, the DA band members practice, travel, and play together like a sports team does. What they do demands mental and physical discipline, and the competition they face is just as serious.

CHOPS has one more screening in conjunction with Tribeca, at 10:30 tomorrow morning, in the Kips Bay AMC. Hopefully, as it makes the festival circuit, CHOPS will land a nice distribution deal, because it really deserves it.