Quintet hoping to inspire others by Tony Sauro
Jeff Scott remembers his classmates laughing at "this beat-up, ugly old thing."
Now, his French horn helps symbolize chamber music's soul, spirit and future among young people more familiar with french fries.
When he was in junior high school, Scott chose the odd-looking instrument because no one else did.
"Everybody else was playing melodies," Scott said with a hearty laugh. "I was still trying to make a note come out. It was very frustrating."
For most of his life it's been very satisfying, especially during his 14 years with the Imani Winds Quintet, which includes clarinetist Mariam Adam, a University of the Pacific graduate.
They've wafted breezes of hope and inspiration through "under-represented" communities, helped generate fresh new music by young composers and sustained their own spirits as the country's only African-American chamber group.
Also the country's only full-time ensemble of its kind, Imani Winds performs Sunday at University of the Pacific's Faye Spanos Concert Hall. The New York-based group also makes a contractual commitment to its mission. So, there'll be a Friday performance by Sphinx Virtuosi in conjunction with the Stockton Symphony's free after-school education program (see accompanying story).
The Winds' 90-minute program includes the West Coast premiere of "Tsigane," by Valerie Coleman, the group's flute player, and a re-arrangement of Igor Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring." It's all part of their plan to keep the music moving forward.
"Chamber music has grown much more affordable," said Scott, 44. "It gets to under-represented neighborhoods in a much cheaper fashion. Children, in general, really get quite a jolt. It re-ignites excitement in young musicians."
Scott's a classic role model. Born in The Bronx, N.Y., as the only child of a factory worker (Beryl Walker) and legal secretary (Jennifer Scott), he started playing the recorder in grade school. He rose from a rough neighborhood by taking a "completely new direction than anyone in my family."
Though he'd "never heard" of a French horn prior to sixth grade - he preferred drawing cartoons - his teacher realized Scott's initial frustration and switched him to a more-manageable mellophone.
She also paid - anonymously - for three months of Saturday lessons at Brooklyn College: "It was a real break with my whole existence."
At Beach Channel High School in Far Rockaway, Queens, he was "known as the artist of the class," creating comic books and "sketching people."
Scott chose to draw his future with a French horn at the Manhattan School of Music: "I have no idea where I would have gone as a cartoonist."
The Imani Winds were shaped there by Coleman, 42, a native of Louisville, Ky., who studied composition at the University of Louisville, Boston University and Mannes College. She was "not the kind to wait on things," Scott said.
Choosing the Swahili word for "faith," she formed Imani Winds with Scott, who also studied at the State University of New York, Stonybrook; Adam, 36, who's from Monterey and went on from Pacific (1995) to the Manhattan School; Toyin Spellman-Diaz, 37, an oboe player from Washington, D.C., who studied at Oberlin (Ohio) College and Manhattan; and Monica Ellis, 37, a bassoonist from Pittsburgh, Pa., who earned degrees at Oberlin and New York's Juilliard School.
They've been together ever since.
Their Legacy Commissioning Project has generated 25 compositions they've performed and "dozens" of others, "some of them we haven't had a chance to read," said Scott, a composer like Campbell.
They've worked with musicians such as jazzman Dave Brubeck's sons, classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Paquito D'Rivera, a Cuban saxophone player, and jazz saxman Wayne Shorter.
Like other forward-looking chamber groups, the Winds play just about "every possible place": bars, lawns, stadiums. Even jail.
"The inmates had to be frisked," Scott said of their experience in Maine. "They were extremely appreciative. The Q&A was intelligent and thought-provoking. We don't dumb it down."
The numbers have gone up at their summer chamber music sessions for young people at Juilliard: from 55 quintets in 2010 to 85 varied alignments in July. They immerse students in the "whole industry, from every angle."
They also have a contractual "rider" mandating outreach or underwritten admission to their concerts for young people from minority neighborhoods.
Imani Winds, who've released five recordings and are working on a re-imagining of "Rite of Spring" by San Francisco's Jonathan Russell for No. 6, take advantage of an unconventional alignment to attract composers and sustain a busy schedule.
On Sunday, they got really "adventurous" at the Columbia University's Sonic Sounds of a New Millennium, performing "Five Chairs and a Table" by Daniel Bernard Roumain, a Haitian-American violin player and composer.
"We hit a table with our hands," Scott said of a composition evoking the African-American struggle. "In sort of a hip, funk rhythm.
"In music, there are three legs to the stool: fans, musicians, promoters. If they all aren't there strongly, it's not gonna work. Venues come and go. Everyone recognizes it's necessary to make it happen, keep it fresh and keep the music moving in some direction."