THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 6, 1994 TAG: 9411040122
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICKEY WRIGHT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
THE STUDENT PLAYERS filing into a rehearsal room in ODU's Fine and Performing Arts Building don't fit the sleek, well-tailored image of jazz musicians popularized by the likes of Miles Davis and Wynton Marsalis.
There's an electric bassist in a faded, Frank Zappa ``FREAK OUT!'' T-shirt, and a guitarist in his own T and pony tail.
But when the group, meeting for John Toomey's jazz improvisation class, gets down to business, they sure sound like jazzers. That, Toomey will tell you, is the important thing.
The pianist, a native of New York state and veteran of Maynard Ferguson's band, has a long history in music education. He holds a master's in jazz performance from Eastman School of Music, and taught at Central State University in Ohio for almost four years. As part of a program sponsored by the United States Information Agency, he took the music to Botswana in 1992. He'd like to make a similar gig in Singapore, where his brother is principal trombonist with the Singapore Symphony.
And he's still playing. Toomey, ODU professor of jazz studies and music technology, will appear with his quintet Monday night at the school's Chandler Recital Hall in an evening of original music by group members and other local composers.
On this fall afternoon, Toomey is listening to his students learn. Assigned to write solos for the jazz waltz ``Some Time Ago,'' the small band is now playing the tune through; as the arrangement unfolds, the teacher tosses out suggestions, and stops the music once or twice.
``Hold up! That's a D7. I'm hearin' somebody play a D minor 7 with an F in it. I distinctly heard an F!''
After they play the song twice - the second go-round noticeably more assured - the sextet form a rough semi-circle around Toomey as he takes over at the keyboard. Gently pointing out jarring notes in chords, stressing solo shapes and dynamics, and giving quick object lessons in blues playing and the standard ``Inchworm,'' he's almost casual in his dispensing of knowledge.
He's serious, though.
``That's a good solo,'' he notes of one effort. ``But you should play it a little better than you did. Lean into it a little more.'' He repeats a couple of bars. ``That's for everybody to keep in mind.''
Before the allotted 50 minutes are up, Toomey has also put in a plug for eclecticism - ``Music is music, whether it's jazz or classical or whatever'' - and encouraged his pupils not to shy away from more emotive instrumental statements.
Toomey doesn't exempt himself from such wisdom.
``The important thing, more than the writing, is looking for new things to say while you're playing,'' he says in his arts-center office the day before. ``It's easy to get into playing the same tunes. Or `Here's another standard with the same chord structure.' ''
Similarly, he believes in this mission: To ``stretch the ears of the audience,'' which he expects Monday's program to do.
And of the jazz-appreciation class he offers at night: ``I try to take the mystery away from it.''
As young musicians continue to pour out of music schools such as ODU's, Toomey hopes they'll take away as much about reading and technique as about blowing. Part of the future lies with those students, after all.
``I was lucky that I had a good ear from the beginning,'' he says. ``I kind of wonder, if I didn't have a good ear, would I have gotten the chance to develop it?''
John Toomey's endless development will continue Monday night. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
John Toomey is a jazz pianist and Old Dominion University
professor.
by CNB