UA News

Sylvan Street will perform tomorrow night at Centennial Hall.

When Jay Rees set out to form a "dream team" of musical talent about a year and a half ago, he asked himself "What would happen if I brought together my favorite musicians that I've ever played with?"

The result was Sylvan Street, a "nu-jazz" ensemble that will perform tomorrow night at Centennial Hall in celebration of its debut CD release.

A composer, jazz artist and professor of music at The University of Arizona, Rees is perhaps best known as the ponytailed director of the UA's Pride of Arizona marching band, often referred to as the "the world's first alternative music marching band."

However, his music career took many twists and turns before he landed at the UA, and his latest independent venture brought together musicians from his past and present to create Sylvan Street's debut CD, "The Perfect Leaf," recorded in the School of Music's recording studio and released by Summit Records in July.

Rees, who started playing piano in kindergarten and keeps a lamp made from his fifth-grade trumpet on his desk, plays bass and composes music for the seven-member Sylvan Street. The ensemble performs what's known as nu-jazz, an eclectic style of music that fuses traditional jazz sounds with other musical influences, such as Latin, rock and funk.

"This whole project was just born of a love for music. It's just a real passion project," Rees said. "As a musician you're constantly looking for new outlets and ways to create. I made my dream team list and contacted everybody and everyone said yes."

Members of Sylvan Street represent various stages of Rees' musical life and hail from locations across the country, from Tucson to Orlando. Guitarist Frank Brown Rees met in college, while a music student at the University of Miami. Drummer Andrew Hix he met while working as a professional musician in Los Angeles. Saxophonist Kelland Thomas, a UA associate professor, has an office across the hall from Rees in the School of Music. Chad Snoopman, a trumpet player who works for Disney, was one of Rees' students at the UA. Percussionist Michael Faltin runs Tucson's Instrumental Music Center, which offers music lessons and instrumental sale, rental and repair. Finally, 16-year-old Evan Rees, the group's keyboard player, is Rees' own son, called "amazing" and "crazy talented" by his proud papa.

"If he wasn't good enough I wouldn't have asked him because, as a dad, that would be a really terrible thing to do to your kid," Rees said.

Sylvan Street is named for the Los Angeles street where Rees lived in a beat-up two-story home with a living room he converted into a rehearsal space/recording studio.

"It all started on Sylvan Street," Rees said.

With band members living in various parts of the country, group rehearsals are few and far between, but it doesn't take long for the skilled musicians to get a feel for the musical arrangements Rees sends them in advance, he said.

And while some musicians like to channel the "three B's" – Bach, Beethoven and Brahms – Rees said he's often influenced in his composing by the "three M's" - Mozart, Miles Davis and Paul McCartney.

Sylvan Street made its debut at the UA last year as part of the UA Faculty Artist Series, performing a sold-out show at the School of Music's Crowder Hall.

This year's concert starts at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at Centennial Hall. Tickets are $9 for adults, $7 for UA employees and seniors 55 and older, and $5 for students. They are available in advance at the Fine Arts Box Office, 621-1162, or the night of the concert at Centennial Hall.

UA faculty guest artists Jeff Haskell, piano, Robin Horn, drums, and Moises Paiewonsky, trombone, will join the ensemble for the performance.

The concert coincides with the UA Day of Jazz, which takes place tomorrow afternoon. About 300 high school musicians will gather on campus for jazz workshops and classes with members of Sylvan Street and other guest artists.

"We look forward to working with young artists and inspiring the next generation of jazz innovators," said Rees, who has performed jazz throughout the United States, Canada and Japan and toured with the international recording act "The Lettermen."  

To learn more about Sylvan Street and listen to samples of the ensemble's music, visit the Sylvan Street Web site.

The CD can be purchased from the ensemble's Web site or through Amazon, iTunes or Barnes & Noble.