2008 KAC winner Gold Coast Jazz Society recently hit the big time as one of their regular First Friday Jazz Jams performers, Dillard High School student Partrick Bartley, took the stage at the 2010 Grammy Awards afterparty. Board member and freelance journalist Buzz Lamb reports on the event…

Coral Springs resident Patrick Bartley, 17, started playing the saxophone in the sixth grade.  His middle-school band director at Parkway Middle School, Melton Mustafa, Jr. (son of jazz great extraordinaire, Melton Mustafa) noticed Patrick had some developing skills playing the clarinet.  Patrick’s mother, Marilyn Tarver, 46, said she sensed it as well. Mustafa wanted to start a jazz program at the school. Trouble was, he didn’t have a sax player available so he had Patrick play the saxophone parts on his clarinet.  According to Patrick, Mustafa eventually said to him “it’s time you learned to play saxophone.”  Patrick agreed.

At Mustafa’s urging, Patrick switched from clarinet to baritone sax.  “I would sit home and practice daily…hourly…every chance I got,” Patrick said.  “I could do things on the saxophone I could not do on the clarinet.”  Patrick learned by himself.  No formal training.  No private lessons…his family couldn’t afford it.  A week before his birthday in 2005 he went to see his first jazz concert.  “It was David Sanborn…he plays the alto sax…I was immediately fascinated with the alto sax,” he said.  “So, for my birthday my parents got me an alto saxophone…it was rented, but it felt like it was mine.”  Once he started playing lead alto, a very demanding component, it forced him to learn to play the alto proficiently.  “Mr. Mustafa had me playing different etudes and learning different practice methods,” he said.  Things began to springboard once he became adept on the alto sax.  But he still had no formal training.

Little did they know that five years later Patrick would be one of 28 students from across the United States to be selected from about 1,000 applicants to participate in the prestigious GRAMMY® Jazz Ensemble program.  Just like the pros, Patrick had to send in a recording of his music and then wait it out.  They called him the day before Thanksgiving to give him the good news. The students, representing 26 cities and 12 states, traveled to Los Angeles for a week-long musical adventure.  Their selection launched them into the spotlight surrounding the 52^nd Annual GRAMMY Awards and provided them with unparalleled opportunities to perform in front of some of music’s biggest names. As a grand finale to the event-filled week, the students in the ensembles attended the 52^nd Annual GRAMMY awards on Jan. 31, 2010 as guests of the Recording Academy® and performed at the GRAMMY Celebration® after party.

When Patrick graduated middle school he elected to attend high school at Dillard High School of the Arts because of the music program at the school.  Patrick said Christopher Dorsey, the band director at Dillard, had made several trips to Parkway to recruit students.  Mustafa told Patrick it would be a great place to study jazz.  That clinched it for Patrick. Once at Dillard, he said he was thrust into an atmosphere where older students knew what they were doing as far as jazz was concerned.  “Once I got into that environment I realized, ‘wow, I’m not as good as I think I am’,” he said with a chuckle.  Chris Dorsey told him that if he wanted to be recognized as a proficient jazz saxophone player he needed to develop new skills.  Mr. Dorsey said, “You can have all the soul you want, but people are looking for cleanliness in technique.”  That comment led Patrick to the realization that he needed to focus more on playing jazz.  “Now, my biggest influence is John Coltrane,” he said with a smile. Mr. Dorsey also told Patrick that if he couldn’t afford private lessons, the best teacher he could have is a jazz recording.  He suggested that Patrick listen to different techniques and try to imitate them.  “Through trial and error, it really hit me,” Patrick said.