School of Jazz guest DJ Lance Taber is a senior guitarist with the jazz band at Mount Si High School in North Bend. An enthusiastic fan of fusion star Pat Metheny, Taber is proud of his vibrant jazz community on the Eastside.
With an award-winning jazz band directed by Bill Leather, Mount Si High School's musicians have become regular participants in Seattle's Hot Java Cool Jazz concerts and the prestigious Essentially Ellington competition in New York City.
Taber was in the band on a recent trip to the Big Apple and said this life-changing experience was more about making connections with fellow musicians than taking home a trophy. He does, however, take great pride in his award for Outstanding Rhythm Guitar in last year's event.
Jazz standards and original compositions make up Taber's playlist, and he noted in his show that the strength of classic tunes allow musicians to create their own music within a song structure that audiences will recognize.
Taber is also a fan of jazz samples in his favorite hip-hop songs. He notes that the use of samples by modern musicians is within the long tradition of jazz musicians borrowing from the past. Taber's show includes a pair of songs that have been sampled by modern musicians Eryka Badu and MF Doom.
Enjoy this modernistic selection of jazz from Guest DJ Lance Taber, a young musician who calls jazz "America's Classical Music."
Which instrument do you play and why?
I play the guitar. I've kinda bounced around instruments, going from piano, to trumpet, to alto sax, to bass, to guitar, and later French horn. Guitar just seemed to mesh with me the easiest. I know I definitely love the versatility of the guitar. You can pretty much play any genre, any tone, or anything. This shouldn't matter, but I definitely like how simple it is to maintain a guitar. I don't need to buy reeds, worry about oiling valves, and i f I need to tune it, I just turn a couple of knobs. All aside, I just feel this instrument clicks with me the best and that I'm able to synthesize my thoughts into music with a guitar the easiest.
What is your favorite jazz piece?
"Minuano (Six Eight)" by Pat Metheny Group
Who is your jazz hero?
Pat Martino. He suffered a brain aneurysm that caused a near fatal seizure in the midpoint of his career which completely reset his life. He already had an accomplished career as a musician and he forgot everything, how to play the guitar included. Step by step, going off of his own recordings, he taught himself how to play the guitar again, and importantly, how to play guitar the way he did. He kept releasing and playing music and stayed true to his craft until he sadly passed a couple years ago. I personally cannot imagine forgetting everything I know, and then getting back to where I was, especially with something as difficult as jazz and especially with how proficient he was and continued to be. To add on, I sort of bounced around his discography in non-chronological order and wasn't even aware of the trauma to his brain that he had suffered and had to overcome, his playing and style did not suffer, which I find beyond incredible.
Why jazz?
Jazz to me at least has always represented the ultimate musical rabbit hole. I remember joining my school's Jazz Band after I heard them play “Kansas City” and “Sandu” (I think), while I was in fifth grade. I don’t recall why but something about their concert and music just stuck with me. Jazz and its complexities have always fascinated me. To me, jazz always had more to offer, more layers to analyze, more to learn, and a living history to be a part of. Jazz has also been an integral part of American history and its effects and foundation are unmatched. As a young nation, we don't really have “Classical” or “Traditional” music in the same sense that somewhere like France or China may have, we’re much younger, and we have jazz and blues, the “American Classical Music.” The history of struggle, trauma, and protest that jazz is a part of I find fascinating and important to learn. I find it really interesting how something so beautiful and ear grabbing as jazz can come from the history that it does. I really like seeing how the genre has progressed from the days of Django Reinhardt and Louis Armstrong, to today with artists like Wyton Marsalis and Pat Metheny.
Lance's playlist:
- "Minuano (Six Eight)" Pat Metheny Group
- "Dream Lover" Tarika Blue ft. Ryo Kawasaki
- "Speak Low" Woody Shaw
- "Softly, As In a Morning Sunrise" Emily Remler
- "Huit Octobre 1971" Cortex
- "Zhivago" Kurt Rosenwinkle
