Jazz Is Taken Seriously at CSUEB by Dinah deSpenza

March 12, 2012

The room was full and the music was swinging as New York trumpeter Marvin Stamm performed with CSU East Bay jazz ensembles at the 13th Annual “Night of Jazz” fundraiser Monday night.

This event has become one of the best regular jazz events held annually at Yoshi’s Jazz Club in Jack London Square, Oakland. Each year, prominent performers and composers perform with CSUEB jazz students, benefiting the Music Department Scholarship and Special Events Funds.

“I come every year. The students are excellent up-and-coming players,” says Ruth Major.
Major is a CSUEB alumna, who graduated in the late 1980s.

All proceeds go to the CSUEB Music Scholarship and Special Events Funds.

Here, students get to pursue the more academic and experimental aspects of their art and perform at world-class Yoshi’s, while developing professional connections and honing their improvisational skills.

This performance is just one of Marvin Stamm’s contributions to the jazz culture in the U.S.

“I’m not the important one on stage – these students are the important ones here,” said Stamm.

CSUEB Jazz Studies consist of several groups. This year there was the East Bay Electric Jazz Ensemble, the East Bay Contemporary Jazz Ensemble and the East Bay Jazz Orchestra.
“Every year they step it up more,” said Johannes Wallman, Director of Jazz Studies.

In a repertory of tough pieces like “Caravan” and Thad Jones’s “Cherry Juice,” the East Bay Jazz Orchestra rose to the occasion in an explosion of virtuosity.

For guitarist Leo Shulman and tenor saxophonist Chris Almada, the highlight of the evening was getting to work with a musician as experienced as Stamm.

According to Jan Attard, “This performance was very passionate.” Attard’s son, Alex Attard, plays alto sax with the Jazz Ensemble and the Jazz Orchestra.

The legendary trumpeter Stamm pulled it all together as he delivered high level improvisations with astonishing harmonic acuity and a uniquely liquid, even sound like only a veteran musician could.
Stamm’s high-energy performance forced the orchestra to swing like true professionals.
“I have to hit a high note every once in a while to show the young how it’s done,” Stamm said jokingly.

Stamm brought humorous microphone breaks between songs but concentrated all his efforts on his love of jazz and the need to keep it alive and strong.

“We are living in a cultural wasteland in this country,” said Stamm. “Our one contribution is very underappreciated. My message to you is if you appreciate jazz, think of one or two people who have never been to a concert like this and bring them into the fold.”

An excellent bop-based trumpeter, Stamm is a high-demand session player throughout much of his career and has been a trumpet soloist with the Stan Kenton Orchestra.

Having toured with Woody Herman, Stamm gained considerable recognition playing with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra and the Duke Pearson Big Band as well as performing with Frank Sinatra, the Benny Goodman Sextet and performing in the NYC recording studios.


German-born Wallman grew up on Canada’s Vancouver Island studying piano and guitar before attending Boston’s Berklee College of Music and earning a Ph.D. in Jazz Studies at New York University.

The two-time Canada Council artist grant recipient has toured extensively throughout North America, Europe and Asia.

Wallman has performed with the Dennis Mitcheltree Quartet, the Harlem Spiritual Ensemble and the American Music Group. Other noted musicians he’s performed with are jazz tubaist Howard Johnson and drummers Jeff Hirshfield, Danny Gottlieb, Tim Horner, bassists Jeff Andrews and Martin Wind and many more.

As an educator, Wallman taught at New York University and the New School for Jazz before his appointment to Director of Jazz Studies at CSUEB.