Festival has fans, bands all jazzed up
Temecula festival draws worldwide entries
Saturday, July 8, 2006

By DIANE A. RHODES
Special to The Press-Enterprise

As a crowd of music lovers listened to the Latin jazz beat of David Mora's conga drums, artist Pam Benson captured the musicians and audience in a watercolor painting during the third annual Temecula Valley International Jazz Festival on Saturday.

One of four painters demonstrating their talent during the afternoon, Benson added flavor to the jazz blowing from the Main Street Art Faire Stage in Old Town Temecula.

Mora's band was the first of four that played in the Chuck Niles Jazz Music Award Competition. Thirty-five entries from as far away as Switzerland were narrowed down for the final competition. Piano player Tigran Hamasyan, 18, a USC student from Armenia, won the competition.

Judges included Niles' widow, Nancy; daughter Tracy; and KJAZZ disc jockey Paul James, who also served as master of ceremonies. Niles was a radio DJ in Los Angeles for fifty years. He was known as the voice of jazz.

Ryan Garigliano, a Vista Murrieta High School jazz musician, was drawn to the festival by alto sax player Richie Cole, who played with the Buddy Rich Orchestra and Lionel Hampton.

While waiting for Cole to perform on the Main Street stage at 8 p.m., the 16-year-old saxophonist went to a musicians clinic hosted by trumpeter John Worley in the Old Town Temecula Community Theater lobby.he informal workshop featured Worley talking about his 45 years as a professional musician, including session work with Judy Collins, Ella Fitzgerald and about 100 others. Worley, a Northern California trumpet player, appears on a T-Mobile television commercial.

"I have different topics for different groups," said Worley. "Some people want to know how to play and others want to hear stories."

Jon Laskin, coordinator of the event, expects about 7,000 visitors throughout the three-day festival. Five performances, taking place in the theater, required tickets. Other venues were free.

He said the festival, which benefits the nonprofit Musicians Workshop and the Temecula Valley Cultural Arts & Music Center building fund, is provided as a cultural awareness and education event.

"If it was a true fundraiser, I would have charged for people to hear some of the best professional, international talent they've heard here," said Laskin.

The festival featured outdoor performances at the Old Temecula Coffee House, and two stages on Front and Main streets to capture audiences within about a two-block radius of the event.

Laskin, a bass player and band leader for about 25 years, likens jazz to wine, explaining how different varieties appeal to different palettes.

"It's an art form that was invented to appeal to the masses," he said. "Jazz has its roots firmly in blues and gospel but now every country has embraced it in a different way -- blending it with their own original music and giving it so many interpretations."