The city’s biggest party kicks off spring, attracting fans from all over the country
he Grammy Award-winning band Brave Combo steps onto the stage for the final night of the Denton Arts & Jazz Festival. On the lawn, thousands of music lovers have settled in, spreading quilts on the grass and positioning lawn chairs under trees. They don’t stay seated long, however. As soon as Brave Combo launches into its wacky mix of nuclear polka and world music, the crowd in Quakertown Park explodes with cheering and dancing. The sounds of salsa, rock, polka, classical music, the cha cha, the blues – what founder Carl Finch calls the band’s “musical joke” – reverberate across the park, to be heard miles away. It’s official, Denton. Spring is here.
With over 2,500 musicians on seven stages, 280 arts and vendor booths, and six food courts, free admission might sound too good to be true. But the Denton Festival Foundation, Inc. makes it happen every April, welcoming visitors and vendors for two and a half days of art, music, and food. The Arts & Jazz Festival is the city’s largest party all year, attracting 200,000 for a celebration of the arts in a community that nurtures music, dance, choral, drama, and the visual arts. “The festival represents the phenomenal cultural environment of our community,” says Carol Short, executive director of the Festival Foundation. Now a major regional event, the festival started out in the ’80s as an arts celebration known as Spring Fling.
JazzFest, a separate event, capitalized on Denton’s reputation as a national incubator of jazz talent coming out of the University of North Texas. In 1990, Spring Fling and JazzFest merged the arts and music to create one event that caters to every taste – from fine arts to pottery and jewelry, rhythm and blues and jazz to cross-cultural music. Nationally recognized musicians now appear alongside amateur and community groups in what Carol calls “Denton’s beautiful Central Park” – the 20-acre Quakertown Park. To make the event a success, it takes 18 months of planning, 350 volunteers and 250 sponsors, and the commitment of an active Board of Trustees.
Kicking off the festival on Friday, April 23, is the Chick Corea Trio. Chick, introduced to the piano at age 4 by his father, has racked up 50 Grammy nominations and 14 Grammy wins over his four decades as a pianist, keyboardist, drummer and composer. He’s played with the jazz greats: Miles Davis, Herbie Mann, and Stan Getz among others. His 1968 album “Now He Sings, Now He Sobs,” is considered a jazz classic. (His most popular song, however, remains “Spain,” which appeared on the 1972 Return to Forever’s album “Light as a Feather.”) Chick’s latest and greatest work includes his acoustic and electric tone poem “Ultimate Adventure,” which won a Grammy for best jazz instrumental album in 2007, and “The New Crystal Silence” with Gary Burton, which won in 2008 for best jazz instrumental album.
Saturday night’s headliner is Dallas blues guitarist and singer Jimmie Vaughan, a three-time Grammy winner appearing with roadhouse blues singer Lou Ann Barton from Austin. Both Jimmie and Lou Ann were founding members of The Fabulous Thunderbirds, the Texas artists credited with spearheading the blues revival nationwide. Guitar Player Magazine calls Jimmie “a virtual deity – a living legend” on the guitar. Before emerging as an artist in his own right, he opened for Eric Clapton and played with B.B. King, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Carlos Santana and Don Henley. His last album “Do You Get The Blues?” has been hailed as a 21st century masterpiece of blues music. Lou Ann, a longtime Jimmie Vaughan friend and veteran of dance halls and club shows across the state, belts out the blues in her vintage Texas twang.
Brave Combo, a regular to close the festival on Sunday night, never misses the annual event. “It’s a family reunion. When we’re out of town performing, we are always quick to claim we are ambassadors of Denton. There’s a certain energy here,” says Carl, who started up the band 30 years ago at UNT. An art student, he would play polka (yes, polka) for ballet classes while a buddy played cha cha and tango for modern dance classes. During breaks, they would mesh their styles of music, creating a musical feast that defies easy classification to this day. You might hear the waltz or the mambo, the two-step or the hora, a bit of ska mixed with Muzak, bubblegum and bossa nova. And of course, always, rock. “We are drawn to the absurd,” admits Carl.
The band has won two Grammy Awards and been nominated seven times for their work. They can be heard in movies, such as the Academy Award-winning “The Personals,” as well as on TV. In 2004, an animated version of Brave Combo showed up in an episode of “The Simpsons” and their music has been featured on ABC’s hit series “Ugly Betty” among other shows. And that’s not including their TV theme song on ESPN, music for Olympics skaters, and wedding appearances for the likes of Talking Heads’ lead man David Byrne. Festival crowds have come to expect the unexpected from Brave Combo. The band, now with six members, often pulls out an accordion or some woodwinds to accompany their guitars and keyboards.
Besides three main stages for the professional musicians, three stages are set aside each year for schools, universities, orchestras, bands and dance companies to perform. This year, a new venue, the UNT Showcase Stage, will host many performance groups from the UNT School of Music. “As founder of the Denton Arts & Jazz Festival, I have watched the event grow and improve through the past 19 years,” says Carol. “Every year, I am amazed at the talent on all of our stages, from 3 years old to 85 years old. Everyone is smiling, enjoying themselves, and having fun.”
Artists and craftsmen come from all over the country to exhibit and sell their creations at the festival, whether it’s wood and bronze sculptures, metal art, acrylics, wood inlay, oil and watercolor paintings, fused glass, ceramics and pottery, or photography. Seas of people walk in and out of booths, both outdoors and indoors at the Denton Civic Center. Vendors come not only from nearby New Mexico, Louisiana and Oklahoma, but from as far away as Maine and Oregon.
Six different food courts sell everything from popcorn, cotton candy and funnel cakes to BBQ and freshly squeezed lemonade. Ed Rebrovich, a returning food vendor for several years from Luck, Wisconsin, serves Greek food. “I love to interact with people and tease them a little bit,” Ed says with a laugh. “The people are wonderful to us and we have a great time.” For those who have a sweet tooth, he serves up baklava, a flaky sweet pastry favored in Turkey and central Asia. The usual street fair food – Asian, Cajun, Mexican, and Italian – is also on sale.
The Children’s Art Tent gives the young crowd a creative outlet during the festival, with 75 volunteers on hand at 15 different workstations to help them broaden their artistic horizons. “Children are the future and the Denton Festival Foundation wants to recognize our responsibility with the influences of art and music,” Carol says. While some line up to get their faces painted with glittering butterflies and red stitched baseballs, others run through obstacle courses and other fun filled activities. This is not just a festival; it’s the Disneyland of North Texas.
The festival is a place to both nurture and enjoy great music and art. It’s for young and old, the artsy types and the shoppers, amateur performers and professionals. Carl gets downright nostalgic thinking about everyone showing up and enjoying themselves, particularly in these economic times. “I see people being lead through a time of ‘We’re all in this together,’” he says. But don’t worry. That won’t stop Brave Combo’s genre-crushing playfulness on closing night. Expect people dancing and laughing. Expect just another crazy night at the Denton Arts & Jazz Festival.
by Cary eaves