Jazz Sudbury - 2010 Online Talent Search

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Mark Mancini - Blog #2

Published on July 18, 2011 Mark Mancini

Hey everyone, and welcome to my 2nd blog on the website of the Sudbury Jazz Festival! Last week, I talked about the importance of jazz, and particularly our Jazz Festival, to the development of young  musicians and young people in general.

This week, I want to talk about my own experience with the Online Talent Search of the Sudbury Jazz Festival, and how I started with a submission of my own.

At the time, I was a student at Lockerby Composite School, going into Grade 12. I had heard about the Online Talent Search from my sax teacher, Al Walsh. So, I went ahead and put together a group of students who would form the Viking 5 jazz combo; Jacob Schmidt on bass, Chad Williamson on guitar, myself on sax, Basilio Bagnato on keys, and Dustin Campbell on drums.

It’s worth noting that many of the group’s members, upon our maiden voyage in jazz, had never engaged in the art form. I remember one particular discussion with Basilio, where I explained to him how to play jazz, how chords worked, and the basics---right before we recorded our video for the contest! We were all excited---but nervous, as I remember---about the project.

The other challenge was the fact that we had to record our video for the Online Talent Search in the summer. I remember it being a warm July evening. Our solution; break into the school! Our teacher, Mike Jensen, opened the doors of Lockerby, and we ventured through the school in the pitch black to the music room. Anyone’s who’s ever been in a school in the summer knows it’s an odd and unexplainable phenomenon, a crime, one might say.

So, after we got into the school, we set up an old, grainy, digital camera and went ahead to jam. We recorded a version of Stanley Turrentine’s “Sugar.” For a group of guys who had never played jazz, this was a great start. We were proud of our video, and we went ahead and submitted it.

Those seminal moments in jazz, I would say, defined the high school experiences of a lot of these students. Our group went forward in the next two years to play at many functions around the city, on an almost weekly basis. Basilio now leads the jazz group at Lockerby.

It was in that twilight-zone of Lockerby in the summer where we learned the beauty of jazz; how chords worked, how we needed to blend as a group, how to play jazz.

I would say, very clearly, that our Online Talent Search video that year started our group’s love affair with jazz!

Looking forward to seeing your submission in the festival!