Yuma Jazz Company celebrates another season in its desert oasis

The members of the Yuma Jazz Company don't have to travel far to find an audience. A jazz haven already exists in the middle of the desert, they say.

They're happy playing to local jazz enthusiasts rather than going on the road.

Despite not having toured outside the city, Brian Carlson, alto and tenor saxophonist, says the Jazz Company has cultivated something of a hardcore following in town with certain individuals attending every other performance.

On being local, Steven Hennig, trumpet and flugelhorn player as well as the band's leader and promoter, says, "We don't have to travel to play. It's not like in the old days when that was necessary if you were a jazz musician."

Whether hardcore fans or jazz neophytes, Hennig, who is also the business manager for Ballet Yuma, says audiences in Yuma are surprisingly diverse.

He says that the band often plays for both older individuals interested in jazz standards as well as younger musicians who appreciate the music for the complexity involved in producing it.

Hennig says those can include high school kids and even some middle schoolers.

Brandon Coz, the band's drummer and a teacher, says he gives his students at Cibola High School extra credit if they attend one of Yuma Jazz Company's shows.

He says he wants them to come away with a "better understanding of a jazz group's dynamics and how we communicate on stage."

Carlson, a middle school band director and Coz's one-time teacher, agreed that there is a lot more jazz exposure now in schools as well as on public radio and the Internet.

He wants to take the interest that generates and develop it into an "appreciation of the different styles of jazz" for those who might not know a lot about it.

"Music is my life," Carlson says. "I've been lucky enough to teach it and play it."

Jon Knudtson, bass player and employee at Yuma Regional Medical Center, said he and his bandmates are "always waiting for the musical moment" and look forward to growing musically this season.

And they have other reasons to be optimistic.

The quintet, which formed in 2002 and finalized its current membership with the addition of Coz in the summer of 2003, has released two original score CDs and is in the process of recording a third album.

The band's upcoming season has them performing at Lutes Casino, the Yuma Palms Regional Center's Village Jazz Series and Julieanna's Patio Cafe.

Hennig says of Julieanna's, "They have never made a deal with a group to play that much in one winter season."

He says that Yuma Jazz Company will be playing at Julieanna's for 14 nights - every other Friday starting in October.

Hennig also says that their CDs have received favorable comments in national publications such as Jazz Review and Jazz Now.

The band members originally met minus drummer Coz after playing in the Arizona Western College Big Jazz Band, according to Knudtson.

Fifth member Carl Posch was not available for comment.

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UPCOMING PERFORMANCES

- At Lutes at 7 p.m. Sept. 12

- At Julieanna's at 7 p.m. Oct. 3, Oct. 17, Nov. 7, Nov. 21, Dec. 5, Dec. 19, Jan. 9, Jan. 23, Feb. 6, Feb. 20, March 6, March 20, April 3, April 17

- At Julieanna's for New Year's Eve at 9 p.m. Dec. 31

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Erin Orozco can be reached at eorozco@yumasun.com or 539-6849.