JazzNIC Festival returns next week; concert on Feb. 1
Participants in the 2016 JazzNIC Festival practice during the annual event's public concert. The 2022 festival will be held Feb. 1 and 2 at North Idaho College, and the concert will be at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 1 at the Boswell Hall Schuler Performing Arts Center.
The annual JazzNIC Festival is back at North Idaho College with more than 200 middle and high school students participating in jazz clinics on Feb. 1 and 2 on NIC’s main campus in Coeur d’Alene.
The festival includes a concert at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 1 at the Boswell Hall Schuler Performing Arts Center. Cardinal Voices - NIC’s new commercial and popular music ensemble – and the NIC Jazz Ensemble will perform at the concert, which is free and open to the public.
The two-day educational festival features hourly clinics for vocal jazz and instrumental jazz groups. Festival clinicians Davis Hill, Christopher Parkin and Max Mendez give local students specific feedback on how to improve their performances.
NIC Jazz Piano Instructor Davis Hill is a piano teacher, performer, composer and music director in the greater North Idaho and Eastern Washington region. He enjoys a varied and active musical career on and off the stage and has been working with children and young adults professionally since 2009. Hill is a teaching member of the Spokane and North Idaho Music Teachers Associations.
Whitworth University Saxophone Instructor and Director of Jazz Ensemble II Christopher Parkin studied saxophone performance at Whitworth University and at the University of Southern Mississippi. As a student, he received distinction in honor bands and solo competitions, and won numerous awards at the Lionel Hampton and North Texas Jazz Festivals. Parkin is an active clinician and adjudicator and regularly attends and presents at regional and national conferences such as Jazz Educators Network and the North American Saxophone Alliance.
NIC Director of Choirs and Professor of Music Max Mendez, who has been at NIC for 17 years, has been an active part of the Inland Northwest music community for the last 20 years. He divides his time between conducting, teaching and performing. He currently conducts and directs NIC’s Cardinal Chorale, Chamber Singers and Cardinal Voices.
At the Tuesday concert, Cardinal Voices will perform an eclectic mix of songs by various songwriters, including “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” “Kansas City” and “No Roots.” The performance will provide an ensemble atmosphere with an emphasis on small-group dynamics, ensemble singing and performance, solo performance, songwriting and arranging.
The NIC Jazz Ensemble - directed by NIC Director of Bands Bryan Hannaford - will perform with two guest clinicians at the Tuesday concert. Hill will perform on piano with the Jazz Ensemble during a few blues charts, and Parkin will accompany the ensemble on saxophone on “Ernie’s Romp” by Bill Sears and “Soul Proprietor” by Ellen Rowe.
For more information about the JazzNIC Festival, call NIC Director of Bands Bryan Hannaford at (208) 769-3258 or email
bryan.hannaford@nic.edu; or call Cardinal Voices Director Max Mendez at (208) 769-3275 or email
mjmendez@nic.edu.
Posted: Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022
