Pearl Django performs July 22 for Great Bend's 'Sound Scholars'

Fans of music, fine dining and supporting early childhood education can partake of all three at 6:30 p.m. on July 22, at the Union City Marina when the Pearl Django ensemble demonstrates its three decades of hot club jazz artistry to help generate support for the Great Bend Center for Music's collaboration with Sound Scholars.

Great Bend General Director Matthew Melendez noted that this year marks Pearl Django's third year of performing at the Hood Canal to help raise money for his music center's efforts, with the Hook and Fork hosting a four-course chef's dinner, courtesy of the Alderbrook Resort culinary team, while the acoustic band performs canalside.

"As our audiences have found, the band members are as charming as their music," Melendez said of Pearl Django. "Their signature style is marked by pristine and dexterous string work, the colors of Bal Musette backed by the steady pulse of rhythm guitar, and an unmistakable swing that delights audiences of all musical sensibilities."

Michael Gray, the ensemble's violinist and one of its longest-running members, first performed in the Northwest in the 1970s, traveling from Seattle to Alaska and back again by 1987.

As part of Pearl Django, Gray and his bandmates have performed at enough dances, festivals and hot spots through the United States and abroad, including the Festival Django Reinhardt in Samois-sur-Seine, France, for them to be featured on NPR's "All Things Considered."

When Melendez contacted Gray three years ago, Gray appreciated that Great Bend's mission was to make music as accessible to as many young people as possible.

"Music should be able to be part of everyone's everyday lives, no matter who they are," Gray said. "Whether you're able to pursue a career in music, or you use music to express or even just enjoy yourself, a life without music would simply be awful."

According to Gray, Pearl Django's style of music - hot club jazz - owes to both American swing music and Paris in the 1930s, and to the early 20th century Belgian jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt in particular, all of which has sustained the ensemble into the current production of its 17th album. They've recently performed at arts centers, theaters and more intimate venues throughout Whidbey and the San Juan islands.

"And we always look forward to performing for Great Bend in Union," Gray said. "It's a joy to perform for such musically educated audiences. We've played at some fundraisers where the crowds start dwindling down after dinner, but the folks who turn out for Great Bend at the Hood Canal really appreciate live music, and stay to the very end."

It's precisely that sort of music appreciation that Melendez hopes to bolster among younger generations, by providing music-driven early learning programs that are designed to build kindergarten readiness for 400 local preschoolers in the English, Spanish, Mam and Q'anjob'al languages.

Melendez laughed as he recalled how the upcoming version of his goals began as a planned collaboration with the local YMCA, just prior to the pandemic. While COVID shut down the implementation of the curriculum Melendez had developed for the Y, the integration of virtual attendance into early childhood education programs helped Great Bend expand its reach far beyond what he'd initially imagined it could achieve.

"In its current iteration, our program has already served nearly 1,000 kids from 36 states and seven countries," Melendez said. "This fall is when we'll be partnering with the Shelton schools."

Sound Scholars' daily 30-minute sessions will be targeted toward pre-kindergarten through third-grade students, to foster not only their musical literacy and proficiency, but also their listening, social-emotional and arts-driven STEM skills, as well as leadership and teamwork abilities.

"We're able to do this as a pilot program, funded in part by a budget proviso secured by state Rep. Travis Couture and Sen. Drew MacEwen," Melendez said. "By building kindergarten readiness in our community, we hope to yield all of the many downstream benefits that can provide to the community, both academically and socially."

While the pilot program is only funded for a year, Melendez hopes that year will also yield compelling enough data to draw further funding opportunities.

For more information on the July 22 concert, go to http://www.greatbendmusic.org/go/pearldjango.

For more information on the Sound Scholars program, visit http://www.greatbendmusic.org/soundscholars.

Author Bio

Kirk Boxleitner, Reporter

Shelton-Mason County Journal & Belfair Herald
[email protected]