Park City Jazz Festival

Carson had a wonderful opportunity to play in the Park City Jazz Festival this past weekend. He started playing around with the bass in 7th grade. In 8th grade his orchestra teacher needed an extra bass in one of his orchestra classes and asked him to officially play. (Carson's main instrument is the cello.) He played in two orchestra classes in 8th grade and three in 9th grade - jazz band playing the bass, advanced orchestra playing the bass, and elite orchestra playing the cello. He seems to pick it up naturally and really enjoys playing.

He was asked at the end of this last school year to play the bass for a local music school that had lost their bass player just before a major gig down in California. So, he spent the summer playing with the "Little Big Band" which consists of kids from ages 11 to 15 years of age. The name of the group is "Little Big Band" because they are teenage kids that play big band era jazz music. They also wear Zuit Suits for their performances to keep with the big band era feel. They played at main Disneyland and California Adventure Parks during June. He was also able to perform in Alpine and at Thanksgiving Point. His summer ended with this last weekends Park City Jazz Festival.

There has never been a band this young to perform in the Park City Jazz Fesitval playing on the main stage. The kids attended a jazz music clinic at a Park City middle school in the morning and then rushed over to Deer Valley Resort to prepare to perform in the outdoor ampitheater. They performed the best I have ever heard them!

I got a few pics. Most the pictures we got were taken of Carson on the jumbotron. It was kind of hard to get pictures or video because they had reserved seating in the middle of the ampitheater for those who paided humungo buckaroos or donated lots of money to the jazz festival. One of the ladies seating people told me the going rate for the center front seats were anywhere from $1,5oo.00 to $2,500.oo a seat. Those seats had the persons name embroidered on a cover for them. The upper center seats were less than that, but not by much. We had to sit to the side on the grass. As a result, people with reserved seating were walking in front of my video camera the entire time. I can't believe they didn't get there on time to see the teenage group perform. It's as though they didn't have a kid in it or something. Boy did they miss out getting there late!

The Little Big Band played 8 songs. I uploaded the last one they performed called "In the Mood." I suggest watching the entire video because Carson twirls his bass. Cool. If I get other copied onto my computer I might upload more.

Carson will not be playing with the Little Big Band anymore. He is too old to play with them this year and does not want to try out for the Super Band because he wants to consentrate on cello. I am so proud of what he has accomplished and have enjoyed all of his performances in all of his jazz playing. Way to go Carson!