TCH News

Issue date: 12/3/07 Section: Entertainment

A Grammy award winner, a former member of a very popular jazz band, and also a man I can proudly say is my uncle, Chris Vadala is a man who knows jazz all too well.

Chris, now a professor at the University of Maryland, was once in the ever popular Chuck Mangione Quartet, primarily as saxophonist but also playing the flute and clarinet.

Many youngsters may not know this great talent, or even Chuck Mangione for that matter, but as Chris said "The trend of jazz studies has definitely increased and now that there are more programs in the educational system, as well as even receiving a doctorate in jazz which used to be non existent, it is making the study if jazz way more intriguing."

He went on to state that the rest of the jazz world is less accepting, and musicians must struggle. Fortunately, he gets great pleasure from having the opportunity to teach, along with playing jazz for pleasure.

Chris's artistic contributions to other musicians' works are endless. He's even been mentioned in books such as "The History of the Top 40 Sax Solo from 1955-1998." He has authored articles for many magazines, particularly for the Saxophone Journal, for the past 10 years.

"I was fortunate to get to be integrated into a band right out of college, and an already successful one. Winning a Grammy and other awards, appearing on music awards shows, guest starring on late night shows, and performing with great jazz performers such as Chick Corea, Quincy Jones, B.B. King, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, Placido Domingo, Sarah Vaughn, Natalie Cole, Ray Charles, were my most memorable, and favorite moments."

Chris feels that today's jazz music "depends on the group or the individual, but the older jazz music which is still replicated today is called 'Throw Back Jazz.' There is also a more modern way of playing jazz and that is called 'Smooth Jazz.'"

He personally likes both, and revealed to me that as long as the tones, sounds, and songs themselves are good, it makes for good jazz music. The problem with today's jazz, according to Chris, is that there are so few outlets for it to be appreciated in. "The access to jazz is so minimal with only select radio such as XM and Sirius."

Along with that, the only real way that people have been getting the music is downloading it off the Internet. Unfortunately, this is a problem with the whole music industry, and the musicians are not getting the royalties from their compositions.

"There aren't enough opportunities to play live, and if there were more fun jazz hot spots, it would give recognition and livelihood to the art again," Chris said. "I know many younger people as well as older could definitely appreciate more swanky, bluesy, jazz atmospheres."

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