JAZZING IT UP AT MT. HOOD

Never say you don’t like something if you have never tried it.

I have never been one to listen to jazz, but on May 5 I attended the opening night of the Mt. Hood Jazz Festival, staged right here on the MHCC campus through the weekend.

I must admit I was not expecting much because in my past, in grade school when they would have showcases, it was not great, I recall. But as I was walking up to the College Theatre, I immediately knew this was going to be different.

I arrived and saw the first act playing, the Mt. Hood Jazz Collective with guest saxophone player Mark Zaleski. These guys were amazing! They had so much enthusiasm for the art of jazz, the immense joy they all emitted to the audience was very contagious – and to think, the Jazz Festival has been doing that for decades.

It is insane to think that since the 1980s, Mt. Hood has hosted hundreds of thousands of people and kept jazz alive. Everything I saw that night, I knew, took so much hard work and dedication to bring to life. So, a big thank you to all those who had a hand in this amazing festival.

The Ignacio Berroa Trio was amazing, too. Its members made you feel what they were playing. Their sound was not too loud, but not too quiet – it was perfect. They were very professional in the way they delivered their music. Watching them practice before their show was super-cool because I got to see them all work as a team figuring things out about the music, and it goes to show how hard and how intense it is to play jazz even though they are professionals.

I am grateful that I got to go the Festival and now I can say I do like jazz, and I plan to listen to it a lot more than I did. And I’m so happy that MHCC has this opportunity for the community to come together in a shared interest. It is amazing what music can inspire us to do.