New director has big shoes to fill
It’s difficult to follow in the footsteps of a legend – just ask Jon Gudmundson who, as director of jazz studies and assistant professor of saxophone at Utah State University, has the responsibility of replacing Larry Smith, the man behind the jazz for that last 38 years.
“This is the house that Larry built,” said Gudmundson during his opening concert Wednesday night. “The last thing I want to do is wreck the house. It’s a good house and a strong house with a good foundation. It ain’t broke. Sure, maybe I’ll redecorate the house, because everyone’s different. I’m different than Larry, and so we have some different tastes, but I won’t wreck it.”
With degrees from Western Washington University, Indiana University, and the University of Northern Colorado, make no mistake, Jon Gudmundson is fully qualified for the position.
And if his academic degrees weren’t enough, he’s had some informal training in the school of jazz, studying with excellent musicians such as David Baker, Jerry Coker, and Chuck Israels, and studying saxophone (his instrument of choice is a baritone sax) with William Wicker, Julia Nolan, and Roger Greenberg.
Gudmundson has also had a few jazz heroes along the way.
“Gerry Mulligan was one of the great baritone saxophones of jazz,” Gudmundson said. “I played his music so much and copied his solos and eventually everyone was saying, ‘you sound just like Mulligan.'”
Realizing that his education needed to include other jazz styles, Gudmundson also started studying people like Roni Hubert, one of the best bari sax players alive, as well as Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and John Coltrane.
“I’m a product of all those guys,” he said.
Gudmundson arrives at USU fresh from the ‘far east’: Brevard College in Brevard, N.C. Though he loved his previous position, he said he felt a little confined because none of his colleagues played jazz music.
“Where I was before we had a great program – it was fabulous,” Gudmundson said. “But I was the only jazz musician, and so in order to play with my fellow faculty members, I had to play classical. Here I’ve got a ton of guys who play jazz.”
Some of these guys are Todd Fallis, director of the USU Jazz Ensemble, and Larry Smith, who is staying this year to teach jazz piano.
The students in the jazz program are pleased with what the future holds. Keith Sorenson, a senior majoring in music education and percussion performance, said he saw the jazz program going onward and upward.
“For a lot of years under Dr. Smith it was getting good,” he said. “I see it just getting better every year.”
Sorenson also spoke of the differences in Smith and Gudmundson.
“Dr. Smith is pretty relaxed about it,” Sorenson said. “His whole philosophy was in order to learn the jazz, you just gotta play it. Dr. Gudmundson is a little more scientific, I’d say. He still has the same philosophy of you gotta play it to learn it, but he does give us a little more of the science behind it that kind of speeds the learning process.”
Mckay Culligan, a senior majoring in music education, though not a part of the jazz groups, was also excited for the future.
“Larry Smith was here for 38 years,” she said. “He has his own style. Having Jon Gudmundson here is great. It’s a different style, but it’s good. He’s the type to get more involved with the band while Larry would play with the band, but he’d stand off to the side and let the band do their own thing. Jon’s more into it. He has more of a big sound.”
For all those interested in sampling a little more of Gudmundson’s style, the Jazz Orchestra will be having another performance Oct. 19.
-mattgo@cc.usu.edu