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Jazz musician Ed Littlefield describes his idea of combining traditional Tlingit lullabies and jazz in a way that sounds a bit like a Native legend in itself.
"The idea started a couple years ago when I had a dream," said Littlefield, who will perform here with the Native Jazz Quartet 8 p.m. Sept. 17 at the Performing Arts Center.
In the dream, he was singing a Tlingit lullaby known as the "Hook Song" and started playing percussion along to it, but in an Afro-Cuban style.
After thinking about it for a while, he decided the concept was worth trying out and put together an arrangement performed last summer at the Sitka Fine Arts Camp, where he has at various times been a camper, counselor and instructor.
"We tested it there, and got a great response," Littlefield said. It was enough to convince him of the appeal of the melding of Tlingit melodies with more modern beats. He added four more songs and recorded an album with the newly formed quartet in October.
"Walking Between Worlds" is a collection of five lullabies, or "dleigu" in Tlingit, with different jazz rhythms, plus the lullabies in their traditional forms sung by Littlefield. Two other jazz numbers on the CD are by fellow quartet member and bassist Christian Fabian.
The Native Jazz Quartet — featuring Littlefield, Fabian, Jason Marsalis on vibraphone and Reuel Lubag on piano — are touring Washington and Alaska, finishing in Sitka where Littlefield's idea debuted on the SFAC stage.
The event is billed as a dual CD release tour. The program will include selections from Littlefield's CD, as well as one by Fabian with the same quartet, called "West Coast Session." The Sept. 17 event is sponsored by the Sitka Fine Arts Camp.
"We're really excited to have them come and make this big jazz show," said Cassi Olson, SFAC development director. "Christian and Ed have their ties to Sitka, they met at Sitka Fine Art Camp and started collaborating at the camp, and starting their projects here."
She said one of the roles of the SFAC is to provide that opportunity for collaboration, between students and faculty, between students and between faculty members. The combination of the two styles of music — Tlingit and jazz — comes through on the album, she said.
"It's exciting to hear his idea taking shape and you can hear that in the music," Olson said.
Littlefield, 31, grew up in Sitka singing Tlingit songs, and dancing in the Gajaa Heen Dancers and Noow Tlein Dancers. He learned songs from Charlie Joseph Sr., and from recordings made by his mother, Roby Littlefield. "We would play and sing them," he said.
Littlefield graduated from Sitka High and earned a bachelor's degree in music education, with a vocal minor, in 2003, from the University of Idaho. He now lives in Seattle. For the past five or six years he has been touring the country with various groups, including Dallas Brass, but more recently felt it was time to "return to my roots a little bit," he said.
"I have both of these worlds to choose from, and combining them would be the next step for me as a musician," Littlefield said. "I was trying to find a way to live in both worlds. It's respecting the culture and heritage but doing new artistic things in the world we live in now. It's a fine line to be both cultural and contemporary. It's respecting your history while looking forward."
He chose songs that are in the public domain, sung in every town in Southeast Alaska. He said the original lullabies are simple and fit into a pentatonic scale, which means they can be sung easily.
"I would love it if people could learn these songs and sing it to their children," Littlefield said.
Fabian's album, "West Coast Session," features the same quartet. Fabian lives in New York City but has a residence here, and teaches and performs at SFAC and Sitka Jazz Fest. He said the recording session Littlefield scheduled for the Native Jazz Quartet in Seattle turned out to be a good opportunity for him to record the 11 jazz tunes for his CD the following day.
He said he's also looking forward to continue working with the Native Jazz Quartet, building on the concept introduced by Littlefield about combining traditional "Native" music with jazz. The four come from different backgrounds: Filipino, Tlingit, European and African American, so the variety of combinations should be endless, Fabian said.
"We really bring all different styles to the table," Fabian said.
"The vision of the project is to integrate Native and traditional jazz to produce brand new work," Littlefield said. "This creative fusion for new music and art will be ongoing, continuing in a weeklong workshop in 2012 at the Sitka Fine Arts Camp's new home on the Sheldon Jackson campus."
"In the future," Fabian said, "we'd like to invite nationally known composers, jazz musicians and work with musicians from all walks of life."
Olson said SFAC is also excited to be welcoming pianist Lubag as well as Jason Marsalis, who is a member of the famous Marsalis family of jazz artists. His brothers are Wynton and Branford, and his father, Ellis, is a legendary jazz pianist in New Orleans.
The group will also be offering clinics during the day on Sept. 17 to Mt. Edgecumbe High School and music students in the Sitka School District.
Information from: Daily Sitka Sentinel, http://www.sitkasentinel.com/
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/entertainment/2011/09/jazz-quartet-weaves-tlingit-lullabies-music#ixzz1Y6t3wAg3
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