People hear traditional jazz and think it's stale, where there are so many ways it can be opened up. With New Orleans and old-time grooves, there's no limit in what can be done with that. I want to break the stereotype of what traditional jazz is.
From Bria Skonberg
I played in ska bands and like all kinds of music.
Jazz is pretty much the freest thing you can be a part of. It's the closest thing I can get to flying. It's fun, interactive. In its own way, it's a sport.
I was inspired by my dad; he played trumpet in high school.
If Harry Connick Jr. wants to call me and ask me to join his band, that would be fine with me. I'm happy, but if he calls, I would pick up.
I like mash-ups, taking contemporary songs and making them old... old songs, making them new.
My first love of jazz came from joining the Chilliwack Middle School band - it was like an 18-piece jazz band, and I wanted to join just because the older kids looked like they were having so much fun.
What I do is always hard for me to explain, but it's like a mixture of New Orleans jazz and world music, with a little bit of Spanish flavour. I just take all that and mix it with Chilliwack, and something comes out!
I really enjoy listening to players on the cusp of swing into bebop like Charlie Shavers, Clifford Brown and Clark Terry. They balance immense facility on their instrument with rhythm, melody, and more complex harmonies of the time.
Jazz was the pop music of its day, and all American popular music has stemmed from it one way or another.
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