Yesterday was the conclusion of another successful Blaine Harbor Music Festival and Camp. For many years Blaine has put on an impressive jazz festival and camp teaching highshcool students jazz and showcasing those talents in free open air concerts at the H street and G street plazas.
The Vancouver jazz festival is nice but it's different. It's hosts many different jazz venues across the city but it doesn't provide opportunities for kids to learn jazz. That's the Blaine jazz festivals specialty. Talented musicians from across the US come and teach during the camp. Greg Hopskins is a famous trumpet player from Boston who comes every year as well as Greta Matassa who is a well known local jazz vocalist from Seattle. Both individuals as well as many others have dedicated years of their lives teaching kids jazz.
The camp also branches out into other forms of music as well. Charlie Porter has picked up the torch and is continuing on with the New Directions program that gets kids to remix hard core classical arrangements with modern pop songs. This year they did an impressive cello concerto remixing a traditional Bach piece with an Eminem tune. It was awesome. If you have kids and you want them to get involved in something positive, this is the place to send them.
