Sacramento-area saxophonist John Tchicai plays free-form jazz, music that starts in one place and ends up somewhere else. His progressive style bears little resemblance to Louis Armstrong’s traditional New Orleans-style jazz. Yet, Tchicai loves the legendary trumpeter.
"Louis Armstrong was one of the first people I heard when I was young. His trumpet style is unique–his tone, rhythm, and elegant, swinging phrasing," says Tchicai, who teaches UC Davis students to improvise. "Even if you’re playing more modern music, it doesn’t mean you can’t hear the qualities of his music. They’re the same qualities we’re striving for: swing, jazzy phrasing, energy."
In this centennial year of Armstrong’s birth, fans like Tchicai are celebrating the Satchmo legacy both locally and nationwide. Every episode of documentary maker Ken Burns’ new 10-part PBS "Jazz" series will feature Armstrong. National Public Radio has featured Armstrong this year in its jazz profiles series. And, on Sept. 15, trumpeter Nicholas Payton and his big band will perform at Freeborn Hall in the "Louis Armstrong Centennial Celebration," sponsored by UC Davis Presents.
Grammy Award-winning Payton and his 11-piece band will perform Armstrong’s blues, jazz and Tin Pan Alley songs. The performance is part of an effort to pay critical attention to Armstrong’s important contributions, which are not always remembered as the trumpeter died nearly 30 years ago and his greatest artistic triumphs occurred in the 1920s and ’30s, say campus presenters.
Payton "is such a great choice. He looks a bit like Louis Armstrong, he sounds like Louis Armstrong in his playing and he’s from New Orleans himself," says Brian McCurdy, director of University Cultural Programs and UC Davis Presents.
Because of ambiguity about Armstrong’s birthdate (he claimed July 4, 1900; however, baptismal records reflect an Aug. 4, 1901 date), "the centennial will likely be celebrated for a year and a half," McCurdy says.
The Payton concert kicks off UC Davis Presents’ new "Improvisations" jazz series of six concerts, including the Mingus Big Band, Danilo Perez Trio, Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, Regina Carter Quintet and Wycliffe Gorden Quartet.
"In the past we’ve presented one to two jazz concerts a year. We wanted to elevate the visibility of jazz presentations and increase the number of performances to recognize the major role of jazz within the arts," McCurdy says, adding that the focus will be on contemporary and mainstream jazz.
Each artist in the jazz series will conduct master classes at area high schools and on the UC Davis campus, McCurdy says. Payton and his band, for example, will go to Sacramento High School to work with students.
Just as Payton may influence young people today, Armstrong impressed Tchicai and other local jazz musicians.
Tchicai remembers that when he was young, one of the first records he bought was by Louis Armstrong. Today, looking back, Tchicai says it was Armstrong's improvisations that really set the trumpeter apart. "Based on a simple melody, he could create totally new, fresh melodies on an old song and that's what people liked so much in his music," Tchicai says.
Mike McMullen, also a saxophonist, and conductor of UC Davis’ jazz band, calls Armstrong "No. 1."
"He influenced everything we do today: he was influential in having a band stop to let a soloist play; he improvised choruses; he began improvisation that departed from the melody. And he sang, inspiring a lot of people to sing. His rough vocal sound was criticized early on, but he came across as a stylist, not as a singer. He had style and character. He first recorded scat vocals, and his style and character were the inspiration for countless singers who followed."