A McDonald’s filet of fish sandwich seems an odd metaphor for jazz life, though a recent Friday afternoon in a crowded band room at St. Charles High School might suggest otherwise.
This is the day Ron Modell, leader of the renowned Northern Illinois University Jazz Ensemble, rolls in for his annual concert and round of band clinics, and the band kids are juiced. Modell’s group has toured northern Europe. Last July they backed Quincy Jones at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. This Modell is the real McCoy for sure, and this day he has legendary jazz trumpeter Clark Terry in tow, along with a fellow named Leon Breeden, who once led the North Texas State University Jazz Band in a command performance for Lyndon Johnson. (They were backing some cat named Ellington–maybe you’ve heard of him?)
Imagine then, if you will, three veteran hipsters. About 150 years of hard road dates among them. All ravenous, all perched on folding chairs, wolfing down cold fish sandwiches, attention riveted on the ensembles they’ve come to critique.
The room is warm, almost too warm, and the first casualty of the afternoon is a trumpet soloist who, sadly, feels ill. St. Charles 11th grader Heather Schaeffer is pressed into service without warning, and she looks petrified.
“It was kinda scary,” Schaeffer said later. “I had, like, 30 seconds of advance notice, and I didn’t know the solo too well. I hadn’t played it in three weeks, but Mr. Terry was nice. He said I did a good job.”
A good job.
All of the St. Charles kids are doing a good job this day, but Modell, who has conducted these sessions for 21 years at St. Charles and other Chicago-area high schools including Oak Park/River Forest, Dundee-Crown, Oak Lawn, Sandburg (Orland Park), Andrews (Tinley Park) and Rich Central (Richton Park), sees room for improvement. On the tune “Lionelville,” he singles out 9th-grade drummer Greg Linder, who plays, at points, with, perhaps, a little too much gusto?
“Being a horn man I hate to admit this,” Modell says to Linder, “but the drummer is the most important player in the band. You need to play with feeling, but you also need to come down and play softly without losing your intensity. On that last one, you wiped the others out. Now, let’s try it again.”
Let’s try it again.
Modell will repeat variations of let’s try it again throughout the afternoon, in band sessions sandwiched around an all-school assembly performance by his NIU Jazz Ensemble in the Norris Cultural Arts Center adjacent to the school. The show, featuring solos by Terry on trumpet and Breeden on clarinet, is a rollicking tuneup for their black-tie date later in the evening, when a capacity crowd at the Norris Center will recognize Modell on the occasion of his final performance there with his ensemble.
Mark Bettcher, a former NIU Jazz Ensemble member and current band director at Dundee-Crown High School and Elgin Community College, is one who’ll be sad to see his old mentor hang it up.
“Ron Modell is a genius at dealing with the packaging of jazz,” Bettcher says. “You won’t see his type again. He’s a planner. His shows are so slick, so well thought out. Ron is always thinking two years down the road. At these high school clinics, he’s constantly appraising talent, tucking names of players away in his head for future recruitment. Ron always thinks ahead.”
Modell, in response, explains: “I have to think ahead, and let me give an example why. I lost 10 of 17 players who accompanied me to Montreux last summer, which means I had only a few weeks to get a new band up to the level of the old band, or better, if possible. You always shoot for better.”
Except there will be no more new bands, because Modell is retiring Thursday after 28 years at the helm in DeKalb, though you’d never know he’ll be stepping down from his manner with the St. Charles students. This guy still has it in spades. In the assembly performance, Modell’s right there, on top of his sax section, riding them hard, head cocked, leading with the energy of a man 30 years younger. There is no announcement to the student body of his impending retirement. (Modell and his wife, Kathy, plan to travel and spend more time with their six grown children.)
During the assembly, Clark Terry strolls out for a rendition of his signature tune, “Mumbles,” a scat-singing tour de force he charged through dozens of times as a member of Doc Severinsen’s “Tonight Show” band. Modell, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Robert Prosky of the old “Hill Street Blues” TV series, takes a straight man role in “Mumbles,” listening intently, nodding along as Terry rambles through his nonsense scat, pinballing from Yiddish intonations to African-American inflections in the same breath.
Just a pair of old jazzmen in total performance bliss.
And if Modell seems entirely at home on stage, it certainly comes as no accident. The Bronx native has performed professionally since 1952, when, at 17, he found himself on the road, blowing first trumpet in the pit orchestra of “Paris 90,” a stage show starring the late Cornelia Otis Skinner. A versatile stylist, Modell has interpreted classics with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and backed casino crooners Vic Damone and Buddy Greco. Modell even worked with Henry Mancini and Senor Wences!
(Yes, the Senor Wences, the old “Ed Sullivan Show” ventriloquist who painted faces on his hand and talked to the head in a box. “S’all right? S’all right!” In fact, Wences once caught Modell fiddling with his stage props. When Modell opened the box for a look-see, Wences threw him a terse, “Close de box!”)
Through it all, Modell maintained a practical edge by continuing his studies, obtaining bachelor’s and master’s of music degrees from the University of Tulsa. He urges all serious music students to also get a degree.
“I tell my kids to get the education degree in addition to a performance degree,” he said. “Then go out on the road and have your fun. But if, God forbid, you walk into a door or have an auto accident, you’ll still have something to fall back on in music. You won’t be forced to sell shoes or pump gas. You can teach and remain involved with your music.”
Jim Kull, like Bettcher, is not looking forward to Modell’s retirement. Kull has taught band at St. Charles High School for the last three years, continuing the Modell clinics originally established by Kull’s predecessor, Jeff Childs. Says Kull: “Ron has been such a friend to this program. With Ron, you get an entire day of undivided attention. The clinics, the performance. He’s giving us a master class, and our students are very appreciative.
“Ron has a direct approach. He understands these students are at a level where they must perform and perform well in concert band. And he has a feel for balancing the positives and negatives, which is rare. I know I’m sorry and sad to see him go, but I do plan to ask him back for clinics. Of course, I haven’t told him that yet.”
Greg Linder, the enthusiastic freshman drummer, was happy to have Modell’s critique: “The general idea is to recognize our faults and improve, isn’t it? If Modell can take a moron like me and make my performance better, that’s what it’s all about. You can’t take it personally. We’re still malleable at this stage, still able to learn the nuances.
“What I noticed most is Modell’s air of confidence. He pinpoints in a second what we’re doing wrong and tells us exactly how to fix the problem.”
Back in the band room, Modell is lecturing on eighth notes and dynamic contrasts, and the band students are hanging on to every word.
“The one thing that makes jazz jazz is the way we play eighth notes,” he explains. “We have to sway the eighth notes. Sing them like this: ya-da-ya-da (in a perfect Louis Armstrong voice).
“We need to think better in terms of dynamic contrasts. You guys were good, but you started on one level and stayed there through two pieces. Now, you wouldn’t want to eat the same food or wear the same clothes every day, would you? The same goes for this music. You had no mezzo-forte, no contrast. Now, let’s try it again.”
Let’s try it again.
In performance with his NIU Jazz Ensemble, Modell seems to communicate that concept by telepathy. The players understand exactly where he wants to go with a song and seem happy to follow.
Modell leading the ensemble is himself a study in dynamic contrasts. A chunky, grandfatherly sort, he leads with the right hand as his left arm hangs at his side, flopping back and forth, keeping a loose, easy time. This afternoon, resplendent in black sweater vest and black slacks, he calls to mind the late Cab Calloway, with perhaps a dash of Captain Kangaroo thrown in for good measure.
Leon Breeden steps out with the old licorice stick for a solo on Duke Ellington’s “Satin Doll,” as Modell steps aside. Breeden, perhaps showing off a bit, unleashes a flurry of notes, more than necessary, but each perfectly formed. Great tone, not too much air. He’s an old pro cracking one off for an old friend. In 10 minutes, Breeden will return to the band room for more clinics with Terry and Modell.
The fish sandwich wrappers are wadded up on the lip of a music stand, and these fellas look hungry again.
Is there some kid around we can send out for more?
