Sass -WOW
Well, it's the morning after the Jon Sass workshop and concert at UNI. It was a HUGE success leaving everyone a bit drained, but with recharged creative batteries.
Tuba and Euphonium students from UNI as well as 5 students and Professor John Manning of the University of Iowa took part on Thursday evening’s workshop/rehearsal. Additionally, there was a Pianist (UNI Faculty Genadi Zagor) and a vocalist (UNI’s Celeste Bembry) and a drummer (UNI student Matt Allain). For more than 5 hours Sass worked with musicians in a variety of settings, crafting a program for the next evening as well as sharing experiences and insights based on his almost 3 decades of innovative work around the world.
This was a workshop that is unprecedented in my experience. The energy and knowledge that Sass brings to the project are unparalleled and his deep humanity connected immediately with all participants. He made people feel respected, valued and empowered to greater creativity. It was HOT!
Later that night, Jon and I had a GREAT HANG!! (until about 4 am) I always feel very ‘connected’ to Jon. He’s honest and forthright. I can’t think of a nicer person. The evening – both in the workshop and hang – were a treat of unparalleled significance for me personally.
Friday began with a 9 am live radio interview at the KHKE studios here on the UNI Campus. Host Jacqueline Holbloom, as always, was well prepared and made the time interesting for everyone. Jon
brought along his tuba and gave radio listeners a nice live treat of a bluesy selection and introduced his solo CD, Sassified through a number of aired cuts.
Unfortunately, after a late breakfast, the day was somewhat marred by a visit to the Emergency Room. Luckily, Jon’s fine….just caused some schedule modifications and a good reminder to keep drinking those fluids when you travel!!! ( In this case I am referring to water!)
Jon’s presentation to the Wind and Percussion students involved a lot of guided listening through a wide variety of creative combinations. By the reaction of the students, you could tell that he hit a chord with most of them. Jon encouraged them to branch out and let their creativity have freer reign – don’t be limited by established norms.
A good house was in attendance for the evening concert. The program was non-stop from the opening 
UNITUBA performance of Peter Rauch’s TUBAFUNK, directly into a solo by Jon ‘Sassaphonic’ and then ‘F 2’ with Jon, John Manning and myself. For F2 we surrounded the audience with one player on the 3rd floor catwalk, one at the back of the second floor and one at center stage. A quartet of students from UNI and Iowa presented Howard Johnson’s arrangement of So Fine. Then Jon played his well known ‘Meltdown’ with a UNI student sextet. An intimate setting of ‘In Memorium’ with Jon, piano and an U of IA euphonium student followed which went directly into the hard hitting ‘Wetbottom’ (combined UNI/U IA group). ‘Right of Way’ with vocalist Celeste Bembry lead to the final presentation of ‘La Tuba’ with all participants.
The Webcast went off well and had viewers from as far away as Austria. In the coming weeks, the WebCast will be archived and made available through the UNITUBA Website as well as through Jon Sass’ Website.
This was an amazing event – special beyond belief!!!
