News Staff Reporter
Tuesday, October 24, students of Choate Rosemary Hall attended their second special program of the year. Hayes Greenfield, renowned jazz saxophonist and Choate graduate of 1975 gave a presentation on jazz, scat, and improvisation.
Hayes said he loved his time at Choate, and told the students that he “experienced a lot of firsts” during his four years. One of the most rewarding aspects of his time at Choate was his “amazing teachers”. They were “really wonderful” and positively affected his life. He added that “Choate was going through major transitions… in the time after Vietnam”. Both Mr. Ventre and the PMAC had an astounding impact on Hayes. “This building is truly amazing,” he says: “I basically lived here”.
Mr. Greenfield took up the saxophone in his sophomore year at Choate. A good friend of his, Jesse, turned him on to the instrument by giving him a tenor sax. He fooled around on it for a little while, and Jesse told him he was a natural. Hayes remembers when he was a fourth former, and he couldn’t play in the big band yet. Jesse had a solo, and one of his favorite teachers, Mr. David Webb, commented on the amazing passion that he demonstrated on the instrument. So began his jazz career.
After Choate, Hayes briefly attended the Berkeley College of Music, but then left to drive taxi cabs in Boston. After a short time, he moved into New York City where he studied saxophone with the famed Jackie Byard. At one of his gigs in the city, Mr. Greenfield met Sonny Jain, a percussionist who joined his band and helped him with the presentation last week. Sonny then brought Mr. Adam Roberts, a bassist, to join their group, and the three played together in the program.
In addition to composing, teaching, producing, and practicing, Hayes’ main job is his show “Jazzamatazz”. “Jazzamatazz” is an educational, interactive program that he puts on for schools and in concerts. He works with children of all ages and types: kids who are incarcerated, in special education, who have unstable home environments, and then simply general youth. He plays music for the children to teach them to take risks and improvise. When talking about scat-singing, Hayes comments, “It’s all about being open and taking risks.” As a jazz musician Greenfield says, “We spend a lot of our time learning to take risks.”
Hayes has found the whole “Jazzamatazz” experience very rewarding. When asked about how he likes working with a younger audience Hayes comments, “…their spirit is affecting my life… it pushes me to be the best I can… to obtain my goals.” He especially enjoys working with and learning from the kids of special education.
During the presentation Hayes played pieces that he had composed, as well as other pieces for which Choate students joined him. Cellist Hyeon-Ju Ryoo ’07 and flutist Elizabeth Stern ‘08 were two of many Choate musicians who joined the band onstage. It was the first time either of them had had improvisational solos, and they seemed both enthusiastic and able in the face of the challenge.
During one of the first pieces, Hayes noticed a third form boy, Evan Grotevant ’10, dancing in his chair, and he invited him onstage to “boogie” to the music. He was then briefly joined by freshman, Matt Herrald ’10, and the two worked their way around the band, “grooving”. Choate students thoroughly enjoyed watching Evan and Matt dance around the stage, and it really added affect to the music.
In an interactive song, Hayes encouraged the audience to sing along with him, saying things like “I wanna beebop!”, and “I love beebop!” Students clapped enthusiastically and sang along as his band played.
Greenfield closed the presentation by encouraging singers to join him onstage to scat. At first, only sixth formers Elijah Dabney ’07 and Eliza Robie ’07 were courageous enough to go onstage, but in a matter of minutes, more than thirty singers were waiting for the microphone. As the band played and students clapped, it was passed around the stage, and each person got a chance to scat sing for the audience. The crowd went wild as more people jumped onstage, and started dancing and singing.
As the vocalists returned to their seats, Hayes and his band played the “Flinstones” melody. The program ended at around 9:00 pm, and Choate students were very excited about it. When asked about his opinion of the program, third former Henry Davidge ’10 exclaimed, “It was great! Hayes forged an excellent connection with the audience. And Ariel Duffy’s scat was crazy cool!” Additionally, third form girl Geetanjali Talpade ’10 commented on the program, “It was a lot of fun! I liked the music and the dancing…I thought it was great!”
Mr. Greenfield was glad he could be back at Choate again, and thanked everyone in the audience for being so great. He encourages everyone to visit his website, www.jazzamatazz.com.
