Get out there and have fun

(Editor's Note: This story first appeared in the Festivals 07 issue of Mammoth Monthly magazine. Subscribe here.)

Like a good jazz riff, the Mammoth Lakes Jazz Jubilee, which begins Wednesday July 11, isn't so solid that it can't be malleable, and not so tight that it can't be stretched out a bit.

Now in its nineteenth year, what started out as a four-hour concert for a few hundred friends has become a weeklong celebration of American music. The jubilee has its feet set in Dixieland, blues and zydeco, but also can accommodate modern jazz improvisation as played by the Kim Richmond and Bob Florence band.

Full schedule is here, printable in PDF.

As usual, leading the show this year are the tirelessly optimistic festival directors, Ken and Flossie Coulter, who lead their legion of local volunteers in managing the enthusiastic, young-at-heart audiences.

This is jazz, though, so it's not always what you expect.

For instance, there's Grammy-winning modern and improvisational musician and composer Richmond, who with veteran keyboardist and big band leader Florence each year brings a more up-to-date jazz sound to Mammoth.

"He is so knowledgeable in all the standards," Richmond said of Florence, with whom he sometimes performs in Los Angeles.

Richmond came to the Mammoth festival six years ago at the behest of a mutual friend of his and the Coulters. At first, audiences were "timid," Richmond said, when presented with less traditional jazz.

Now, the Kim Richmond Bob Florence ensemble has a loyal following at the event and is "well accepted," he added.

"We're a modern group but still straight ahead" musically, Richmond explained. The band likes to build a rapport with its Mammoth audience, giving insight to each song they play. And they don't play the same song twice all weekend.

Richmond, a jazz educator, has learned a few things over the years in Mammoth.

"Reeds act differently" in the arid, high-altitude of Mammoth, he said.

For a sax or clarinet player, that means switching to a softer reed -- or, by the end of the festival, even a plastic one. "I keep a few in reserve," Richmond said. "They're impervious to water and atmosphere."

Just as Richmond's music is a bit off the beaten track for Mammoth, so is the yearly encounter with thin air somewhat of a deviation from his norm. What keeps the band coming back is simple: "We love the area and the people here."