Threefold Standard brings cool to school
Feet were tapping in Brass Taps on Friday, Sept. 7, as swinging and upbeat jazz music, performed by local Guelph band Threefold Standard for the 20th annual Guelph Jazz Festival, filled the air.
Amongst the friendly atmosphere, the band performed three sets, where they played from a variable repertoire of standard songs such as “Fly Me to the Moon” by Frank Sinatra, “Straight, No Chaser” by Thelonious Monk, and even a playful “Happy Birthday” to some friends in the crowd.
The three band members, Ann Westbere on the alto sax, Guy Johnson on the upright bass, and Ryan Turner on the drums, have been playing together for almost three years now, although Guy and Ann have played together before in previous ensembles.
“I think we are all sort of products of the Guelph music program,” comments Turner, when asked how they came together to perform and why they chose jazz music. “We kind of approach standards in a very, for lack of a better word, standard-ish way, which no one really does.”
Their approach to performing, Westbere notes, is unique, and takes into account their various backgrounds in different genres and schooling.
“We all have an appreciation and love of jazz, right, but we also have other genres that we play. I think that really comes into your approach to playing and how to take a jazz standard,” Westbere commented.
However, jazz music is not exactly the most popular music listened to today. When asked about the biggest obstacle Turner faces as a musician playing in a jazz band, he spoke of the difficulties of finding the right place and people for a successful concert.
“Jazz hasn’t been in the top 40 for a very long time. It sometimes hard to not get a little bit frustrated with people’s attention spans,” Turner lamented.
Johnson also noted the trouble with sparse audiences and apt venues.
“[Turner] is right about the management and playing jazz. It’s hard to get your name out. There are not a lot of places that want to hear jazz,” Johnson concluded.
Westbere, however, is not discouraged. She mentioned that in past venues, such as the Bullring, an appreciation for their music was created with their performance.
“[There were] people who have never really heard jazz tunes, and they liked them because we are bringing a fresh sound to jazz,” Westbere said.
This is not without its own challenges, of course. Johnson noted that, for him, keeping it fresh is one of the trials of being a jazz musician.
“It’s really hard, I think, to really keep your solos and bass lines, or even your take on the song, so it’s not the same thing over and over and over again,” Johnson commented
Threefold Standard, though perhaps a little stiff in the first set, started up again in their second set brimming with confident and smooth sounds and noteworthy drum solos by Turner. Their performance could have been improved with better stage lighting and a microphone for the audience to hear Westbere announcing the names of the songs. Nevertheless, the music’s upbeat tunes had a family’s young daughter up dancing among the chairs and audience members bobbing their heads along to the rich sounds of jazz.
As for the future, the band plans to continuing playing, practicing, and performing jazz, mastering even more songs and challenging themselves to play notoriously difficult songs. Their advice for aspiring jazz musicians? Practice hard, listen hard, and find what your sound is.