Glenn, a baritone saxophone player for the East Lansing Summer Solstice Jazz Orchestra, was just one of many musicians to perform at the 16th Annual Summer Solstice Jazz Festival.

The event, which took place Friday and Saturday in downtown East Lansing, featured 12 jazz groups from throughout the country.

Some of the festival’s local talent included the Community Music School Jazz Orchestra and the Lansing Community College Faculty Quartet.

More well-known acts, such as Wycliffe Gordon, who has been named “Trombonist of the Year” six times since 2001, and jazz singer Alexis Cole, who has won vocal competitions worldwide, also performed throughout the weekend.

“We always bring in lots of Michigan artists, and then we also bring in a couple national artists as well,” said Ami Van Antwerp, communications coordinator for the City of East Lansing.

Glenn, who performed at the festival for the first time Saturday, said she was excited to be included in such an event and was impressed with the turnout.

“It’s pretty cool,” she said. “There’s a lot of people out.”

Repeat performers
Members of the Neil Gordon Trio, who have performed at the festival before, kicked off the final night of the event with an hourlong set consisting of both original and arranged numbers.

Neil Gordon, the group’s guitarist and composer, said members of the trio always try to make the music they perform their own, even if they are using someone else’s work.

“It’s all got our own original twist on it one way or another,” he said. “(We) make (our songs) somehow fresh and original, and then our own stuff has got its own original vibe to it.”

Gordon said the group mostly performs at small, local venues, such as Gracie’s Place in Williamston, Mich., and the larger audience at Saturday’s show was a nice alternative to what they’re used to.

“The fact that we get a chance to play in front of such an appreciative crowd, it feels really good,” he said. “We enjoy it. It’s not all the time you get a chance to play at a 500-seat venue.”

As the band’s members made their way through their setlist Saturday afternoon, Fred Warren sat back in his chair and enjoyed the sounds of the guitar, bass and drums.

“They played a good program,” the South Bend, Ind., resident said. “The personality and the professionalism shined.”

Warren said he has attended the event since it first began nearly two decades ago. He said one of his favorite parts is returning every year to watch the musicians who went to school with his son — an MSU alumnus who studied jazz — perform.

“I know all the young players, so it’s a joy for me,” Warren said. “The professional talent that (event organizers) bring in to expose the community to … it’s just a real delight.”

Festival fun
Cole, a New York City-based singer, made her first-ever appearance at this year’s Summer Solstice Jazz Festival.

Cole said her summer schedule typically is packed with larger festivals throughout the country, but she was happy to make time to visit and perform in East Lansing at the weekend’s smaller, community-oriented event.

“It’s so, so wonderful because it’s not corporately sponsored,” she said. “It’s really all about the music, and the people come here because they want to be a part of the music.”

Emaline Lapinski, a sophomore at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Mich., said Cole’s performance was an enjoyable one.

“I really like how her voice sounds and her tonality,” she said. “She seems like she has a really nice stage presence and a lot of confidence.”

Cole said she tried to make her performance more suitable for the laid-back atmosphere of the festival by mixing some lighthearted songs, such as “Summer Nights” from the musical “Grease,” into her setlist.

“At a festival, you can’t take yourself too seriously because everybody’s hanging out, (and) kids are running around,” she said. “It’s chaotic and fun.”

—Britteny Dee, SN

Artistic duo impresses jazz crowd
As Lansing resident Julian Van Dyke tugged on his paint-splattered overalls and observed the scene of East Lansing’s 16th Annual Summer Solstice Jazz Festival Saturday afternoon, he sighed and uttered a simple phrase: “East Lansing — city of the arts.”

Van Dyke and fellow artist James McFarland spent hours in front of a large easel at the jazz festival Friday and Saturday painting for a live audience. Throughout the day, the amiable pair greeted members of the East Lansing community as they approached to take a look at their bright, abstract pieces that stood for display around them as they worked.

Van Dyke said while the duo usually paints in a studio, they approached East Lansing officials for permission to show the community what they can do.

“We’re just now been putting bigger effort into showing art,” he said.

Van Dyke said they sold five pieces on Friday and hoped to sell more throughout Saturday.

McFarland, a longtime East Lansing resident and MSU alumnus, said his interdisciplinary studies in social science degree gave him the freedom to dabble in different areas of study.

A jazz player himself, McFarland said he loves to experiment with improvisation on the piano, drums and guitar, and plans to continue to discover more styles of music.

“That’s what MSU taught me — we have to keep learning,” he said.

Lansing resident Robert Christian said although he doesn’t consider himself an art expert, he could appreciate the work Van Dyke and McFarland had up for display.

“The two different styles are kind of neat,” he said, pointing out the abstract and
representational pieces. “It’s nice stuff.”

—Kellie Rowe, SN

Jazz musician recognizes his teacher
When Carl Cafagna was five years old, his parents knew he would play jazz professionally one day.

A co-founder of the Detroit Tenors as a professional saxophonist, Cafagna has been in at least five or six bands throughout his life, played in the jazz band in middle school and high school in East Lansing, currently teaches at Oakland University and has been performing at the East Lansing Jazz Festival since it first began about 16 years ago, he said.

“I remember this festival the first time it started; it gets bigger and bigger every time,” he said. “It’s a good opportunity for me to come back and see (my family and friends) because I don’t get a chance to much.”

Cafagna’s parents, Beth and Albert Cafagna, always have planned the festival, and Beth Cafagna said she is so proud that her son has been able to perform there almost every year.

As musicians themselves, Beth and Albert Cafagna play big band songs from the 1950s, with Beth playing piano and Albert on the saxophone.

“My parents raised me to be a jazz musician, so actually the first music I remember consciously listening to is Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five” he said. “I fell in love at age 2.”

Carl Cafagna did not start playing the saxophone until he was in sixth grade, his mother said. Back then, he was in Jane Church’s jazz band.

Church, the recently retired band director of East Lansing High School, taught band for about 34 years, and said she’ll always remember the talented group of jazz students she had back when Carl Cafagna was her student.

During his set on Friday, Carl Cafagna introduced Church to the crowd, commenting that she put up with a lot of his trouble back when he was in school.

But Church said Carl wasn’t nearly as much of a troublemaker as he let on during his set.

“I’ve been his teacher for 7 years, from sixth to twelfth grade,” she said.

“There were some really hot saxophone players in that time.”

Carl Cafagna said he attended MSU for three years, but never got a degree, instead transferring to a university in Boston where he could study jazz. MSU students are lucky they have the chance to focus more on jazz here now, he said.

“Jazz music chooses you, you don’t choose it; it is a love affair that you can’t deny — you can’t help but execute,” he said.

“If I could have chosen a more sensible, lucrative path in life, I would have, but this path chose me.”

—Rebecca Ryan, SN