The 2016 Reno Jazz Festival

The Reno Jazz Festival offers various jazz students educational experience to better their knowledge and passion for jazz.

“The educational aspect of the festival is the most important part,” Christopher Money said, the new director of the festival for 2016.

The festival was held April 28 to 30 this year. The festival is one of the most established jazz competitions in the nation. Jazz groups from middle schools, high schools, and colleges attend.

“All the best groups in the western region come here because it is known the best groups come to compete,” Engstrom said. “If they win here, that is like winning the world-series for jazz in a way.”

There were about 7,000 students who competed this year Money said. Some of these students came from beyond the western region. These students traveled long distances just to be at the festival.

“We even have a group from Canada this year, and we have had some from Australia in the past,” Money said.

Students are able to watch competing groups perform. Judges critique students on their performances. These judges are well-known musicians in the jazz industry such as Mark Ferber, Hailey Niswanger, and Adam Benjamin. All three of these judges have music on iTunes.

“There are big faces in jazz who attend,” Ev Semenchuk said, the Program Coordinator for University of Nevada. “Students are able to be face to face with them so they can be inspired to be the best they can be.”

Winners of the competition received awards during the last night of the festival in a showcase. The top groups also perform for their peers every year in the showcase Semenchuk said.

The festival offers clinics every year alongside competition. Clinics offer educational opportunity as well. The clinics are workshops that cover topics such as vocal and instrumental performance, composition, and improvisation for students.

“As a jazz educator, I have been going to other festivals around the country serving as an adjudicator,” Larry Engstrom said, the director of the festival for the past 25 years excluding this year. “We hire 50 to 60 of them every year from other festivals to come to our campus.”

The festival includes performances by well-known artists as well. Students are able to see some of their favorite jazz artists live. Snarky Puppy was the band playing this year.

Snarky Puppy is an instrumental jazz band that includes about 40 musicians. The band won a Grammy for “Best R&B Performance” in 2014.

“Snarky Puppy is bringing in crowds,” Money said. “It wasn’t the hardest booking I’ve done. I just had to try and convince them to kick off their tour with a festival.”

Lage Lund, a solo guitarist from New York, was the other performer for 2016. He appeared with the Collective, the faculty ensemble of the University of Nevada.

Lage Lund won first place at the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition, the world’s most prestigious jazz competition.

“As a guitarist, he has already been validated; his compositional ambitions are considerable, if not quite incredibly profound,” The New York Times reported.

Angelo Monroy, a jazz major at the University of Nevada, attended the festival’s performances the past two years. The performances this year received much excitement Monroy said.

“Being able to watch such high level musicians perform here has been life-changing,” Monroy said. “And that’s the best part, seeing others make music.”

The festival requires three long days of jazz education and performance due to all the events.

“They wake us up at six in the morning and the days usually go until 10 at night,” Monroy said.

The festival receives new students as well as past attendees every year. There were 60 school groups that attended in 1991 said Engstrom. The festival had about 300 groups this year.

The festival began in 1962. The jazz community has supported the festival for 54 years.

“Being able to communicate and watch fellow musicians doing the same craft as you is really awesome,” Monroy said. “The fact the festival has become as big as it has is amazing, especially by jazz standards.”

The festival will occur for future years Money said. The dates for next year are April 27 to 29, 2017.