Street Eats at the Downtown Event Center have become a Friday night staple for Fremont residents. But on May 8, for the Spring Jazz Fest, youth jazz groups from across the Tri-City area hope to add a touch of jazz magic and promote jazz music.
Willard Tsai, an 8th grader at Horner Middle School, plays trumpet with the Jazzinators, a community youth jazz band hosted by the East Bay Traditional Jazz Society. He hopes to spread his love of jazz to others, which he discovered through joining the group.
“I feel like we’re giving them an opportunity to listen to an older style of music they haven’t heard before,” Tsai said. “Maybe they’ll go home and research this music, listen to it and learn to love it like I did.”
The event will also feature performances from jazz groups at Irvington and American High School. Tsai says getting to perform alongside other students for an audience helps build a community and connection around jazz.
“I feel like music is a really good way to connect people together, form communities and form stronger bonds,” Tsai said.
The Jazzinators specifically focus on performing traditional jazz, a genre of jazz that originated from musical traditions of enslaved Africans, eventually taking hold as a genre in 1930s New Orleans with figures like Louis Armstrong. “It’s a really powerful way to express your emotions,” Tsai said. “You can put so much of yourself into your music and make it your own.”
The East Bay Traditional Jazz Society is dedicated to promoting jazz, hosting camps, school presentations and supporting bands like the Jazzinators. Tsai says, “Joining the East Bay Traditional Jazzinators really opened my eyes.”
Spring School Jazz Festival
Friday, May 8
5-8:30pm
Downtown Event Center
3500 Capitol Ave., Fremont
sites.google.com/view/east-bay-trad-jazz-society
