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Photo by Devin Courtright/The Advocate
From left, Andrew Burns, Dylan Sundstrom and Taryn Zickefoose practice for an upcoming performance at Parkrose High School
Genesis to begin 2009-10 performances
The Advocate
Genesis, the MHCC vocal jazz ensemble, will perform Tuesday in a class visitation at Parkrose High School as it begins its 2009-2010 performances.
On Wednesday, they will go to Astoria High School as the guest group for the school’s fundraiser.
The first on-campus concert for Genesis is 5 p.m., Nov. 11, as part of an all-day festival in the Visual Arts Theater. Guest artist will be Louise Rose from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
“She is a gospel jazz pianist and has been a mentor to the group for many years,” said Dave Barduhn, director of the jazz group. “We have nine high school groups coming to perform all day long. They will perform, and then Louise will do a workshop with them. Then Louise will do a concert of her own which is just amazing. She is very interactive with the audience. She has been doing concerts here since 1991.”
On Nov. 17, the group has a festival in Cottage Grove. “We are going to do workshops with three high schools there: South Eugene, Cottage Grove and Pleasant Hill,” said Barduhn.
During Thanksgiving week, they will perform at night, Nov. 22, at Olympic High School in Bremerton, Wash., after daytime concerts at Kentwood High School in Covington, Wash., and Garfield High School in Seattle.
On Nov. 23, they will perform at Roosevelt High School in Seattle. “Their group, Genesis, and a professional jazz choir called The Seattle Jazz Singers will perform,” said Barduhn.
In the evening on Nov. 24, Genesis will perform at Bellevue Community College with the school’s group and a professional group called The Blue Street Singers.
“Another fun thing is we are going into the recording studio Oct. 31,” Barduhn said. “We have been doing a holiday album so we will have it to sell at our Nov. 11 festival. It’s the release event for our new holiday CD.
“Going to the recording studio is a marvelous experience for the students. They get to see how the process works: mixing, editing, and wearing headphones.”
Genesis is in its 43rd year of jazz performances and will do between 20 and 30 performances a year.
“We were the first school to do this any place,” said Barduhn. “This is why the title Genesis exists.”
Barduhn said, “I try to use 16 singers, four in the rhythm section and two live sound technicians, all students.”
The group performs different kinds of music from straight jazz to traditional jazz, gospel and Latin jazz.
“We do a variety of music,” said Barduhn. “Initially, it’s built around singing tunes that ordinarily a big jazz band would do, like Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Harry Connick’s band or something like that.
“We do lots of tunes that are influenced by great jazz soloists, like Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Rosemary Clooney, to contemporary jazz singers like Jamie Caldwell or Michael Buble. We are influenced by lots of different people and current vocal groups like the New York Voices.”
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