Santa Clara University SCU Presents is wrapping up the 2024-25 season with a pair of jazz concerts, Wednesday and Saturday of this week, with something for almost every jazz lover.
The performance on the 28th features a full jazz orchestra performing classic jazz pieces and a modern composition by Annie Booth — commissioned for the Reno Jazz Festival in 2022. On the 31st, three small jazz combos play modern jazz and original compositions.
One reason these concerts are special, says SCU Professor of music Carl Schultz, is that they’re more accessible than performances in other jazz venues, and provide opportunities to hear music that’s not played much in jazz clubs today.
“Wednesday’s performance is a rare occasion to see a live jazz orchestra,” says Schultz. “Hosting and paying 20 musicians is not something that many venues can do these days.”
Santa Clara University’s jazz program is distinctive among college music programs, says Schultz.
“Many of the students that I interact with are pursuing more than just music,” he said. “I have a student who’s the lead alto [saxophone] player in the jazz orchestra who is getting a music degree and a business degree. One of our pianists is in aerospace engineering and music.
“These students are doing so many different things,” Schultz continued. “I think that brings something different to the table. You have students who are interacting with lots of different facets of life and different ways of thinking. The program caters to that type of student, as opposed to the more traditional conservatory model, where you’re expecting that they’re only going to be studying music in a very specific way.”
Schultz has been expanding SCU’s jazz program since he joined the faculty in 2019. He immediately confronted the challenge of running a live music program during the COVID pandemic.
“We put on online performances, and did music videos, being creative and continuing the work even during the lockdown,” he said.
He’s also renovated the university’s jazz practice and recording spaces, giving students hands-on opportunities to make their own recordings.
Schultz encourages students to find their own way into the music.
“In jazz, the performers themselves make decisions about the music,” he said. “When we get a new group of students together, we’ll play music from the standard jazz canon. But then the question becomes, what do you want to play?
“I encourage students to learn the tradition,” he continued, “learn how to function in different kinds of ensembles, that’s very important. But [it is] also to write original music and play modern compositions as well.”
Schultz is also a composer and an accomplished performer, although he’s not one to broadcast his own accomplishments. As a saxophonist, he toured internationally for several years with the Glenn Miller Orchestra.
He describes his composition style as jazz-electronic fusion.
“My work is driven by whatever I’m passionate about. My most recent work — not released yet — is an eight movement suite based on themes from the work of the author Isaac Asimov,” he said
You can hear Schultz’s album ACT reACT on Spotify. The jazz concerts are May 28 and May 31, 7 pm, at the SCU Recital Hall on the corner of Franklin and Lafayette streets in Santa Clara. There is paid parking in the SCU North garage on Alviso Street. Admission is free.
