Good Medicine

Acclaimed jazz guitarist Pat Metheny will kick off the third season of Onondaga Community College’s Legends of Jazz Series on Wednesday, Oct. 10. The program has previously hosted greats including Allen Toussaint, Ron Carter and Bela Fleck and the original Flecktones at the college’s cozy 350-seat Storer Auditorium. This year the star power continues with the aforementioned Metheny and his Unity Band, as well as Joey DeFrancesco, James Carter and Jose Feliciano on the bill. 

Ticket prices will face a change, however. The series was free for the first two seasons, but will now cost from $15 to $35 per show, or $100 for a four-concert season ticket. 

It’s a move made as a result of reality, admits series producer Frank Malfitano, as sponsorship dollars that once supported arts programs become scarcer by the day. Ticket fees will be used to help defray the total cost of the series, but will still only put a small dent in the season’s $100,000-plus final tab. 

“If we max out and sell every seat in the house that we’re making available to the public,” Malfitano says, “we’re only gonna bring in about $30,000. So it really remains an academic program {aided by OCC}. But like anything, in the absence of sponsorship, you need to get some support for what you’re doing.” 

The model also provides room for substantial growth. Storer Auditorium’s seating will be divvied up according to how tickets are purchased: a season-ticket area, single-show seats and a student section. 

Tickets go on sale at Armory Square’s Sound Garden, 310 W. Jefferson St. (473-4343), on Saturday, Sept. 8, at 10 a.m., with separate customer lines based on single- or season-ticket buyers. All tickets must be purchased with cash only and are limited to two per customer. 

Because all tickets will be purchased in advance of the shows, Malfitano has hopes in the future that as one show date sells out for an act, more concerts could be added. In this way, everyone wins. Audiences will still get the intimate experience that the Legends of Jazz Series is noted for. More people will have the opportunity to attend the shows. And the touring artists will stay longer in the area, thus allowing more time for in-store and media appearances, as well as offering workshops and master classes for budding music students. 

“Ideally, where this can go is we’ll sell one, two, three or four nights out in subscription,” Malfitano says. “You get the same seats for every show and exchange privileges, just like the big boys do it. I think the potential of this growing into multiple nights sold out in subscription is that artists will be able to be here in residency, to do more stuff. I think that’s gonna be great and it’s exciting, down the road, where this could go.” 

Nor does Malfitano, who received an honorary doctorate from OCC last May, foresee the series moving from the Onondaga Hill campus at any point. Dr. Malf loves the setting and the academic goals of the production. 

“The series is the bridge between festivals {Syracuse Jazz Fest, which Malfitano also produces} and the festival is sort of like the finale and the series is like the prelude,” he says. “The festival generates interest in the series and the series generates interest in the festival. It all works together. 

“And there’s a huge educational component in that,” Malfitano continues. “It’s really a classroom without walls and we’re making it available to students and trying to select artists that will have greater appeal for students. But at the same time, we’re maintaining and respecting the traditions. We simply want to turn people on to their music so they get interested and want to discover more about their heritage music and their musical history.”

During Bela Fleck and the Flecktones’ November 2011 stopover at OCC, percussionist Roy “Futureman” Wooten gave a wildly successful master class that had students in direct contact with the engaging speaker. “Kids went home and talked to their band directors and that’s all they talked about,” Malfitano gushes about the workshop. “He touched their souls, reached their minds and ears. It was incredible. That’s what you do: create a situation where there’s no barrier between artist and audience, student and musician, so they come together and exchange ideas and ask questions and learn from the masters.”

Malfitano was adamant about continuing that educational facet for the 2012-2013 series. He will soon announce times for this season’s master classes that will be open to the public. 

The third season’s lineup reflects that student-centric focus by presenting artists that are relatively young legends. While previous Legends performers Toussaint and Ron Carter are in their 70s, the upcoming slate of artists range in age from 41 to 66, and prove to students that there is indeed an emerging generation of jazz greats. 

Difficult to describe, but easy to recognize, guitarist Pat Metheny will be joined by the Unity Band, consisting of saxophonist Chris Potter, bassist Ben Williams and drummer Antonio Sanchez, on Wednesday, Oct. 10 at 9 p.m. Joey DeFrancesco, dubbed “the top {Hammond} B3 player in the world,” according to Malfitano, will visit on Friday, Dec. 14, 7 p.m. The prominent and prolific baritone saxophonist James Carter will perform on Friday, March 8, 7 p.m. And nine-time Grammy Award-winner Jose Feliciano will cap the Legends of Jazz schedule on Friday, April 5, 7 p.m. 

“They’re legends, they’re amazing, they’re the best of the best,” Malfitano emphasizes. “I mean, Pat Metheny has 19 Grammys in 10 different categories!”

The impressive lineup is reflective of the series’ mission: to bring quality jazz programming to college students and the public in a low-barrier venue. Malfitano explains that while he was growing up and becoming exposed to artists like Stan Kenton, Maynard Ferguson, Chuck and Gap Mangione, Steve Gadd and more on college campuses, students today would be more prone to bring Lady Gaga than an accomplished jazz musician. 

“I think the college concert boards present stuff that reflects the taste of the students that have been involved,” he says. “I think students present what they know. I love Gaga, but. . .  

“In the 1960s when this happened for me at {SUNY} Fredonia and Syracuse {University} there was an openness,” Malfitano reflects. “People were into experiencing music of all kinds. We got to see it all because the menu, the palette, was broad, and there were a lot of colors. It wasn’t deliberate. It is now. We’re deliberate at OCC presenting the Legends of Jazz Series. We want to teach people about their musical heritage.”