The following program is a production of KHET in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi Public Television.

The following program has been funded in part by grants from the Hawaiʻi State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, the people of Chevron in Hawaii and the Hawaiʻi Committee for the Humanities, a public program or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

(saxaphone playing) (singing) It’s always swingtime in Honolulu, in Honolulu.

In the 1930s, mainland musicians brought pure jazz to Hawaiʻi.

The territory was on the brink of great change as Honolulu grew from a town to a city.

(singing) Oh, islands that sing through the day Oh, islands where all lovers play Oh, islands that swing with a sway With a wiki whacky hula and aloha i ka pua Those beaches with sands snowy white Those Natives that love, live and write Those babies that live, love and write Meets the yellow moon that's mellow like a cello It's always swingtime in Honolulu Jazz was, was heard in the islands, by the means of shortwave radio as far as anybody that wanted to, to listen to jazz.

There was no other way.

We used to tune in to, to the orchestras of Les Height, also to Earl Hines band coming from Chicago.

That's why all of us guys bought shortwave radios.

That was our only exposure to jazz since we had left the mainland.

So, so that’s how we kept up with it.

We do have to conclude this program of dance music over the air featuring Andy Blakeney and he's got the rhythm from the Casino Ballroom at the corner of Nuʻuanu and Beretania Street.

One day, I was told that it would be a good idea if I took on the Casino, because they had shown an interest in broadcasting their music, would I check it out, which I did.

And although I enjoyed the remotes, at the Royal and so forth, and dance music that I used to like to dance when I got to the Casino and got into the brown cats rhythm.

This was something else.

That our progressive people didn't care for jazz because it was it was too syncopated.

And it was, was nervous to them, you know, and it was, instead of on your beat like this, it was in between the beats and in between die in between and all.

This was syncopation, and he couldn't separate it.

And I was about 16,17 years old.

I was already interested in playing jazz.

So, we used to go to different Texas dance halls and took out our horns and played a little bit.

Then, I came one night, I came across the Casino Dance hall.

So I went upstairs and I was fascinated.

I actually fascinated by the by especially the alto man named Curly Bradford.

The music was entirely new to the islands at the time that this was this was happening in early 35, 36.

I stayed in the band from 36 to 40.

And I was forced to leave on a count of what they called island fever or something.

I don't know why I had this but that caused me to have to go back to the mainland which was fortunate enough for me because I ended up going with the Jimmy Lunceford orchestra.

Landed here, May 6, 1941.

The second day I was here I went to the union to deposit by transfer card.

I was told it was unnecessary.

I didn't have to deposit a transfer card here.

So, I had quite an argument with the secretary of the Union at that time.

And he finally called the President in the union and he came down and they told me the same thing that they didn't have any colored musicians in the Union.

I got in touch with Jimmy Petrella, who was had just assumed the presidency of the Federation in New York, and I was accepted in the union.

The owner of the Casino Ballroom, I found that the wage scale was way out of line there and got the union to intercede and to raise the wage scale to the owner of the Casino Ballroom didn't speak to me for about six months after that.

When the attack on Pearl Harbor forced the United States into World War Two, Honolulu became a large military pole.

Jazz was a joyful sound for the troops.

(singing) It don’t mean a thing, all you got to do is sing.

During World War Two, it was kind of a blessing for the local musician who all they knew about music was what they read in their Downbeat magazine or the Metronome magazine.

But the war actually brought a whole bunch of very fine musicians out here.

Artie Shaw was here for a while.

Sam Donahue, Claude Thornhill, who was practically unknown but after he left he became very famous and Ray Anthony lead one of the Navy bands out here.

A lot of the young musicians got to study with these servicemen and I think that upgraded the music and I know it made us feel good that we were over here next to all the very, very fine top musicians.

(singing) I got a little girl, she’s got eyes like radar.

I got a little girl, she’s got eyes like radar.

She sees everything Jack and you can go too far.

She got a life.. and she’s always on the go.

She got a life... and she’s always on the go.

But she does her loving by remote control.

She’s got a double fuselage and she’s built like a 38.

She’s got a double fuselage and she’s built like a 38.

We had a whole bunch of clubs that was strictly in this area.

Everybody worked.

We had the Brown Derby, Casino they had the you remember this one man that was Roland you worked there right?

Yeah, that Casino they had the Blue Note.

They had Two Jacks.

You guys remember Two Jacks?

Right?

At that time, they had, because Casinos was near Smith Street is a predominantly black community area.

So there's a lot of black people dancing up there in that dance hall so jazz was very predominant in the Casino Dancehall.

There’s more jazz going than any dance hall around the Hotel Street.

And then my father took Kirk's place, right, and when Kirk went with Jimmy Lunceford, and my dad came in 1941.

And I remember that later on in mid 40s I used to go down and sit in for for tata.

I called him tata, it was father you know?

I used to sit in for tata and all those guys were there Eddie Amelie, Al Bang used to play there.

Ruben you haven't got the Coscos family because we brought a Toto over here, Bobby.

Bill Winston was there, all those guys was there.

Of course Buddy Banks, came in later.

I remember Buddy came in in the service during the Korean War, but Buddy came the later part.

And then Archie, Archie’s father and Morgan Grants.

The grandfather was also playing in this area.

Trummy Young went to the Brown Derby.

Now watch this before he went to the Brown Derby he had no job because over here the union says that you got to stay several months.

He played every kind of small job there is and when the Trummy got stranded here with a group from California, and we gave him a job playing trombone at the with the band at the Casino Ballroom.

It was a, Trummy Young that told me about Hawaiʻi.

I met Trummy Young in Paris 1951 when he was with Louis Armstrong.

When I came over here, I men Q Martin and Ramp Davis, all over at the Blue Note and the Brown Derby.

On a dare, that’s how I met Trummy.

The girls were asking for autograph.

And they say, oh, just give her any kind of paper so that I can get his autograph.

I said, “No, I will not mess up my ID cards.

If any autograph it’s going to be on my lips.” So the girl said, “I dare you.” So, I did.

I got the kiss.

And that was it.

I think first he was playing at the Casino.

It was a very famous Texas Dancehall.

But all the great musicians used to play there.

They were in the service.

And then I think after that, he went into the Brown Derby.

So, during every break, we would dash or like a block and a half to go to the Brown Derby.

And the only reason why we could get in is because we were musicians working in the area, and the people and the management let us come in, though we were black.

Because then you would be working in around the corner.

But it was a black joint with black musicians that didn't allow black people to come in.

And the only reason why they let Trummy in because he was Trummy Young.

I guess once a caption went to the Korean war, I think he was crippled, and he was black.

And they wouldn't let him in.

So, we needed the money but Trummy quit the job.

So, I said why did you guys well, here's a captain when they broke his leg and got shot up and they wouldn't let him in.

So he said he says he didn't want to work there anymore.

And then Louis Armstrong came to town.

And he went up to catch Trummy at the Gibson Bar.

And right away, he wanted Trummy, so Trummy left Hawaiʻi to join Louie Armstrong.

That was the 52.

It was a swinging years, in the 50s.

Those were my years when I first got started.

The 1950s was a decade of stepping out.

A time of prosperity as Hawaiʻi moved towards statehood.

Jazz makers traveled to new places and tried new styles.

(singing) You can stay all night and play with my TV TV is the thing to share this year TV is the thing to share In my opinion, but after World War Two, and towards the early 50s and 60s, there were less servicemen here.

So consequently, all the jazz clubs in like the Brown Derby and the clubs on Hotel Street like the Swing Club, lack of revenue, lack of revenue that that used to pack them in during the war.

And after the war, a little bit was gone.

So, the most populated place was a tourist place like Waikīkī.

So, they started to have small little jazz clubs opened up around Waikīkī.

And that's how I think that the transition started from leaving this area to go down to Waikīkī where the money was where there were tourists.

Now Waikīkī was starting to jump as far as jazz is concerned, the dance halls are still going on.

So, there was a lot of work there.

Everybody was working piano players, saxophone players, dramas, bass players, singers, everybody was working.

There was plenty of work at that time.

At the Orchid Room it was mainly dancing.

But then we were free enough to play jazz whenever we can.

In fact, most of the time we were playing jazz, but we were playing it at the temple where they could dance.

That's the secretive thing.

You can play all the jazz you want as long as you take the temple where the people could dance to.

you know?

We had jam sessions every Saturday and Sunday in, right across the street over here called Orchid Room and anybody who sat in got paid.

People like even like off the linemen came in and played jazz just before he got into the exotic thing.

And Rene Paolo before he went into the flourishing play, he was playing jazz music come down and play.

Of course, when exotica when Arthur Lyman and Martin Denny came along the two great Hawaiian artists that made it big, It was us jazz or swing oriented music with a very exotic percussive background.

We did play as Hawaiian music in a jazz feel, and I think we really had a good time swinging some old Hawaiian songs.

Hawaiians would turn over in their graves, but at least we're offering the tourist, the people with the money, something similar that they hear on the mainland, except with Hawaiian music instead.

Richard Kauhi was one of the finest musicians arrive during my lifetime, because he was always thinking about getting some ideas and incorporating a lot of ideas from many different bands from the mainland that he heard, and trying to incorporate that kind of style and our, into the local music, the Hawaiian music.

And he did a wonderful job with that.

I think what Richard did was add the jazz flavor in there and in a more sophisticated beat to his music.

He loved jazz music and with his Hawaiian heritage, he adapted to the jazz thing, and this is why you had that the new sound to Richie.

He had all that influence with the local kids, which Akali because he had 78’s coming out with Leahi, you know, and kids look up.

Wow, what a new harmony that was, beautiful.

But he couldn't make a living because they didn’t except his music.

The people didn't accept him.

So, he had to go somewhere, he had to go to the west coast to make a living, you know, and that's where he paid most of his dues, you know, sad to say, you know, one of our native sons that had something to say, you know, wasn't accepted.

The Hawaiian music had a certain kind of a beat, and it influenced our lives, in the music of Hawaiian, the chanting and all that.

Then also the Philippine people had their culture was influenced by a lot of Latin American type music, and minor mode and then a Japanese songs today, I like very minor mode type of thing, which you know, where people like Miles Davis and all that is utilized the old modal style and Japanese music fit right, right into that type of thing.

So, when you when we hear all this kind of modes, it's, it was not strange when Miles did those things back in early 60s.

In the 60s and 70s, the entire culture was in conflict.

For jazz in Honolulu, it was a time of great talent and mixed success.

The Clouds 1960s that was the place.

The Clouds was a jazz club.

But it was a strange jazz club because they had entertainers that would come in weren't necessarily jazz entertainers all of them.

But the intermission music that we played, was straight ahead, as they call it.

I got out of the service in 1960 and then I started working with Ernie Washington later in that year.

And he was constantly teaching everybody the listeners, the players, the performers.

We have performers that came over here and they look at Ernie and guys say, you ever heard of Ernie and the guys say no I've never heard him.

When they finished a walk out of the place top wow.

He was, he was an institution.

You hear these people on records, this is before tapes.

You can be influenced by them, but it's something as to hear them in person and to actually play with him.

It kind of rubs off on you.

Even like Ernie.

If Ernie and Joe Castro never came to Hawaiʻi I don't know how our local piano players will be playing like?

But because of Ernie’s presence and Joe Castro's presence they brought the New York or whatever, the mainland style of playing to Hawaiʻi, and they lived here long enough to really make a big dent in the piano plays in town.

Ethel Azama is so special.

Her contribution to jazz in Hawaiʻi is very deep.

I really was able to see her blossom from just singing songs to interpreting them and then innovating, you know and really getting that relax, jazz feel into, you know into her singing.

Ethel was out of time.

She was almost younger than the music she sang.

And yet she carried it with her so purely that it was a joy to watch.

Well, aloha jazz fans and welcome to another evening of jazz.

Jazz to carry your on into the middle of the night.

start things off with Mr. Milt Jackson.

I remember back in the 1970s it was a time when the audience was really ripe for something new.

And the jazz clubs in town began to open began to flourish was a time when you could go out and hear a dozen different jazz acts playing every night in Honolulu.

Gabe Baltazar, Jimmy Borges, Azure McCall, Ethel Azama, were all drawing the crowds in the jazz clubs.

I got back home in 1970, I was I started everything up in a mainland.

And I didn't think there was a market here.

When I first came into Waikīkī, I went into the place called a tiki broiler.

It was you get $1.95 steak and jazz from San Francisco.

I brought in a whole bunch of jazz players from the Hungry Eye, which had just gone defunct.

And sometimes we had more people on stage that we had in the audience.

And then I want to Keone’s, which was probably my all-time favorite club.

And we had three years there, and I had some of the greatest jazz artists in the world.

When they came to Hawaiʻi, they came in and sat in with us.

Hawaiʻi is the place where you you have these annual regulars, music lovers come here, because it's a crossroads of the of the world really.

And so, musicians and music lovers come through here from every place.

So, it becomes a kind of a family that's built up around the music.

They come here and expect to see the same people they saw last year.

And it's just just beautiful.

It's more than just the music that there it's a it's a community that's built up around it.

(music) I don't think dad was always able to play what he, you know, wanted to.

He had to temper it a lot of times, you know, according to his audience.

A lot of jazz musicians used to come up and I think a lot of times they didn't understand that.

And they would get a little bit huffy.

You know, Trummy, why aren't you playing more jazz, you should be playing jazz all night.

But I think he had the right idea.

He still played the jazz.

He would never stop playing that.

But he was an entertainer.

And that was the key.

He was there, not just to please himself, but to please others.

And that's why he was always working.

That's why a lot of jazz musicians weren't always working.

It's like a political bomb to ask somebody to describe jazz.

It's right up there with politics and God.

Everybody's got their debate.

There are probably 3,000 people in Hawaiʻi who are jazz enthusiasts.

Everyone I've ever heard has said, the percent is the same across the country.

Record sales are always the same whether it's on the air and on the air, whether they're in the clubs or they're not in the clubs, or music is to be had.

The interest level is about the same as it's always been and it's that kind of enduring music.

There's a cognescenti, there's a there's a group of people out there if you present good jazz in the right environment, they'll come out.

Hawaiʻi jazz musicians are unique in a certain way because they have a certain particular sound and feel of their own but yet it's still American jazz.

People of all races, like I see in Orchid Room, you see a guy up there he's Hawaiian, this guy a Japanese guy, Filipino guy or mix Haole guy all playing together.

(singing) It's always swingtime in Honolulu It's always swingtime Natives are humming, guitars are strumming It's always swingtime in Honolulu Oh, islands that sing through the day Oh, islands where all lovers play Oh, islands that swing with a sway With a wiki whacky hula and aloha i ka pua Those beaches with sand snowy white Those natives who love living right Those babies that live, love and write And the menehune swinging with the cello It's always swingtime in Honolulu In Honolulu, it's always swingtime And a flat-foot floozy with flar flar Flar-doy-hoy-doy-floy-doy It's always swingtime in Honolulu It's always swingtime in Honolulu (music) Come upstairs and I’ll show you the place.

This house was built about 75 years ago by Scotish sea captain, and it used to be down the street, and his family died out.

But that second owners I think moved the house back here.

And then we bought it in 67.

So, it has an old history.

The family itself was built, they built in a funny style, the sea captain wanted it to be safe from the waves.

So, he built this deck slopes.

So, it slopes up in case the waves come over.

It won't accumulate it'll fall back to the ocean.

This is the old widow's walk.

And we have this wonderful view, wonderful ocean view.

So come on inside.

(music) I’m Jackie Ward, and lucky me I live here in this wonderful place.

And we’re calling it Ward's Rafters because we're naming it after her board my husband passed away last year, he was the music director for the Hawaii Chamber Orchestra.

And he put this upstairs attic into form and shape so we could bring people in to enjoy the music.

We specialize in true ensemble improvisation here, which means the musicians have to have that right chemistry.

So, whatever the configuration is, that keeps changing.

It's always good for them.

They play with whom they want to play with.

And I think this is the only venue in town that permits that.

I love this, this this the fringe benefit of all this activity is I stay put I don't have to go anywhere.

And everybody comes here.

I've made so many good friends, among the performers and among the guests.

It's been a wonderful enrichment of my own life.

And people thank me and I feel guilty accepting the thanks because I feel I should thank them.

I'm having a wonderful time here.

Unfortunately, their first performance at Ward's Rafters was the Dixieland funeral for Herb.

Because, you know, well that day he was finished with this renovation so he came down and announced it to Jackie and and that afternoon he died of a heart attack.

What we had was this dark, hot place with just the bare rafters.

That's why the name has stuck.

There was no no lining or whatever you call it between the roof and the interior of the room.

So, the heat radiated and it was dark.

And it was full of theater costumes and theater sets.

And we always pushed everything away, mobilized every fan in the house so we could rehearse in not drop-dead perspiration and fatigue.

But it was uncomfortable, but a jolly happy place, because so many good things were mounted here.

They really wanted people to know what quality of musicians we have here, and to come to enjoy that level of quality in their own lives.

So as time went on, it became harder and harder to find a venue that was acceptable.

And meanwhile, every weekend, they were up here doing it.

And it was even open to the public.

You know, people could come in and watch the rehearsals if they wanted to, you know, sit among the hanging clothes, hanging costumes.

And finally, Herb and Jackie's thought, well, you know, why don't we just fix this place up, Hey, this looks like we could do something here, you know.

And so, Herb did a lot of the work himself.

The day that he collapsed, that afternoon, he stood on the on the deck out here, I was down on the garden, and he called down to me, Well, honey, I it's finished, I'm done.

I've done it, it's all over now is already it's finished.

And I said, “Okay, that's fine,” and went about my gardening.

And that night he collapsed.

And it was almost like he had pulled himself together just to finish this job, and just trusted that everything would continue in the way that he imagined it.

It is really the combination of what the Wards, particularly and all of the musicians that have played with them over the years have wanted to do which is to welcome people into their music and the experience of music.

And so now the Wards have invited everyone into their own home.

And so, you'll notice that in the atmosphere, it's very home like and you know, if you're if you're new, or if you haven't been here for a while, or if you just come you get a big hug from Jackie and and she's makes the place makes the atmosphere, Jackie kind of creates a feeling where you want to mingle and you feel like part about large extended family part of Jackie's family.

And it's just, it's great.

It's really wonderful.

Up here, this is a musician's place, they come to play the stuff that they love.

And that's when you begin to as an audience, really see what music is about, you know, the joy that it can bring.

And that's art.

I don't care how why they come as long as when they come, we get a chance to do something fine for them.

(music) My name is Abe Weinstein and among other things, I play jazz.

I think in every person's life, you reach a point where after you keep doing the same thing over and over again, you begin to look for a meaning to your life and you begin to look for, you know, an explanation.

Why am I here?

What can I do that will help make the world a better place?

And I found as I've grown older that a sense of need or responsibility to give back to the world, in terms of my own talents has become stronger and stronger.

I mean, every day I wake up and I think to myself, what can I get done today that'll make the world a better place?

You know, what can I contribute?

Is there somebody I can speak to?

Is there an audience I can play for?

Is there a group of kids I can reach?

How can I get the music out?

The best way to make people feel better and to make the world a better place.

It almost seems like it was written in a book in heaven.

I was approached by Duane Yee, who is a great guy and a marvelous administrator over here, his son was playing in my band when my select high school band, which performed at the first Hawaii International Jazz Festival.

Tony Yee was a tenor saxophone soloist in that band.

I didn't know who he was, but I appreciated his talent.

Anyway, his dad called me after the festival, and said, a thank you very much for everything you've done for the kids be can you help us out because we have no jazz department at Punahou and my son, the apple of my eye doesn't have an outlet for the stuff you've taught him.

So, I said, “Okay, look, you're breaking my heart.” If you can get me 15 kids, that will show up to all the rehearsals, because that's the first requirement.

Whether they're brilliant or not brilliant, doesn't matter.

What matters is they have to be there.

If they are willing to circumvent their other activities once a week or twice a week or whatever, I will appropriately change my schedule to be there as well.

Well, in about a week, Duane called me back and he says, “We've got them, please come in, and let's start.” And he came in and met with 15 of the most marvelous kids I've ever known.

Punahou didn't have a jazz band.

And they did, probably, what a decade ago, but since then, they've only had like a wind ensemble of different concert bands.

He turned us like from scratch, he made us into a band.

(music) The class itself is very elastic.

I never know when I come into class exactly what's going to happen.

I mean, I have my own ideas about what I want to rehearse and what I'd like them to work on and on and so forth.

But because it's a living organism, it changes all the time.

I mean, one student came to me and said, I play the tuba.

I know there's no tuba in your band, but I want to be in your band.

So, we created a way for him to play in the band.

He's one of our best students.

Another person came up to me and said, I'm a vocalist, and I want to sing jazz.

Please incorporate me.

I've had other kids that have come and said, Well I know you already have seven saxophones, but I play too, and I want to get involved.

And so, I never know, who's going to show up, which way things are going to go.

But the main thing is who however we do it, we have to make it a sharing experience.

We have to be again, just democracy of music, we have to be able to share the love of the music, we have to be able to share the enthusiasm and see where it goes.

You know?

We chatted about it and he said, Yeah, I think I could do this.

I'd love to work with your kids just just for the sake of working with them.

Just to prove a point that it could be done with kids who really loved music.

The average person is gonna say you're crazy.

Why are you doing this?

What are you getting out of this?

You know, what I get out of it is the kind of enrichment of money can't buy.

When I see somebody stand up and take a solo for the first time in their life and get applause that's my payoff.

When you're 15, 16, 17 years old.

Being part of a group is really important part of a group that's really accomplishing something special, unique.

When a kid learns like that expands his horizons has incredible, incredibly varied and incredible experiences.

Yeah.

gladdens the parents heart.

You can't beat that.

(music) The festival actually got started in my head.

Several years ago when friends of mine came to me who traveled all over the world, local people, they go all over the world.

They're retired and they visit festivals.

And they came to me and he said, Abe, you know, you're an organizer.

Have you ever thought about putting a jazz festival together for us here and for tourists coming in?

Because we don't have anything like that, at least nothing equivalent to what's on the mainland.

The first generation of the togetherness of people and jazz has been always, I mean, jazz, since the very inception has been there were no barriers.

The music was what made people together.

Most people think of, you know, Kenny G, or, or the light jazz as jazz, but you know, there's a whole more, there's much more depth to jazz than that, you know, there was a whole era called the Bebop era.

And before that, and Duke Ellington, you know, that that really paved the way for jazz artists.

And it's, it's not music that you can really just sit back and you know, kind of lightly enjoy it.

It's intense, difficult, challenging music.

It's so broad now.

It's become so broad, like, people, for example, say, well, it doesn't mean a thing, or a don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.

Okay?

How do you define swing, people swing in different ways.

(music) Defining jazz, anyone that tells you that they can define jazz, I would have a little problem with them.

And I'd have probably a problem with their definition.

To define jazz, I would have to pass on that I would only say that jazz is a creative music that's ever changing, and ever developing.

And that's what makes this so interesting is the fact that you can't pin it down.

All the styles are valid.

You can go all the way back to the beginning with pops all with would be above avant garde.

When you listen to the music at the highest level in each of those categories, everything is valid.

But you say to yourself was, did that person sincerely enter into their souls and come out but they fail is really, truly improvisation, and expresses their view of the world.

We were lucky to get him.

He's probably one of the top half a dozen jazz educators in the world.

And number one, he has a winning way.

So, so people love him.

So that's great.

But the other thing is, the, his insight into all the benefits that this creates for the students.

It's really about these kids, if we want this music to be moved on to keep this music alive, we need to teach it to the kids.

And basically, we need to teach the appreciation of this music and what it means to study and, and to be able to play solo, to stand on your own and have that freedom of creation, creating that like the young saxophone player here.

He just did a marvelous job I felt.

Let's have another round of applause.

Tony.

That was great.

You really don't have to go through a formal curriculum.

You know Charlie Parker, Ted Newsom, the greatest in the world.

I guess John Coltrane didn't either I don't know that Miles Davis.

They heard that Miles Davis went to Julliard but I don't know how much Julliard did for Miles Davis.

I think the all the elements were already in place.

So no, you don't have to go to school to be a wonderful musician.

What it might do is help you to cut to the chase, so to speak.

I don't believe and we might as well get into this.

I don't personal, personal believe that we, as teachers teach this music.

I believe we expose students to the music, and the right experiences and those that have will, with, with or without you.

They will come through as fine players and major voices.

But maybe you can help them to reach their goal faster.

And maybe you can help them musically, to get a little more in terms of the broader picture of music All over the nation there is a resurgence of jazz and the young people who are taken very seriously, as you can hear the practice they, they play their instruments, and they know what they're doing.

So, it's a very good promising thing for the future of this music, which is the art form of the 20th century, We have been able to in our short life within two years create what's probably the most supportive educational component of any jazz festival in the world.

Last year, we gave away $68,000, to local kids to continue their studies.

The fact that we're able every day in the morning to have a three-hour class workshop seminar, where great names participate.

This, all of the students participate from all of the bands.

And then after that, they can, the same day the kids can go sit in a jam-sessions around the festival, we feature them at night, they perform backing up big names.

The amount of learning that takes place in those four days is just incredible.

And although frankly, our, our late-night concerts, I mean, our jam sessions, and the evening concerts are equal to those anywhere else.

To me, it's the kids that really turns me on because, well, for one thing, it's part of my ongoing movement to, to support jazz education, but it also, it also gives you a telescope of what's to come in their lives.

This group is made up of students from high schools from across the island.

And what they did was the auditioned in March and they gave a concert in May of last year.

And they were invited to this festival for this summer.

So, what we did was we got together about two weeks ago, and we started rehearsing this group again, and we wanted to feature some of the more talented students.

(music) OBDA select high school jazz band.

These kids are our future you know?

If we want to keep everything going we need to invest in them you know?

(music) Spectrum Hawaii has been funded in part by the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts and by the people of Chevron, celebrating a century of service to Hawaiʻi.