I attended the Jazz Education Network Conference in May, and was very VERY excited by the good energy, music, and dialogues. Here's my JEN "journal": These are just a few stories of chance, meaningful, and enriching encounters at JEN.

Jazz Lives; Mary Jo Papich, along with Lou Fisher, and Jim Widner intend something very authentically grassroots, in impetus and action. At this first annual conference I think their vision of grassroots was manifesting. I was honored to receive an email from Ms. Papich, due to some comments I made in follow-up. She invited me back to participate this winter, and contribute in New Orleans; I will definitely DEFinately propose a voice clinic and performance, and hope to be more involved. There are going to be so many extraordinary players at JEN this winter, there were about 1,700 in St. Louis! - I will certainly be attending JEN in New Orleans in January where it looks like those numbers will increase!

I hope to connect that winter trip to some volunteer participation in the BP Oil disaster along the Gulf, as the only thing to do with disaster is help out, and take some needed action. The winter conference takes place just after the new year; a good way to manifest resolutions for growth and peace. I wonder if any other musicians attending would like to do any environmental volunteering too?

While at JEN the first person I met and befriended was at the airport! While awaiting the hotel shuttle in the fragrantly baking St. Louis sun, I found myself beside radio journalist and jazz writer Bob Bernotas (of WNTI-FM 91.9. Note his program is simulcast at wnti.org). Bob is a walking encyclopedia of historical knowledge, and fresh "current ears". I really don't think you can get a better combination of traits to encounter in an interviewer, because the experience becomes a real and engaging conversation. I did a UM-St. Louis radio interview with him on Day 2 of the Conference; the interview was broadcast (and joined) by D.J. Stephen Francis Engelmeyer on UM-St Louis radio. Stephen is a totally open minded and fun music listener to hang with! The interview, along with all other JEN interviews from the Conference, is now in the JEN archive, available for listening.

HIGHLIGHTS> I heard a beautiful BEautiful bass clinic by Master Rufus Reid in which he encouraged players to "know the whole song" including the lyrics vs. just the changes on your chart. At first, what he had to say seemed very obvious to me as a jazz singer, however my friend the tenor saxophonist and composer Marcelo Coelho from Brazil was also attending, and he explained that this is a relatively new way of looking at charts for some players, and in particular, the role of the bassist within a rhythm section, & the bassist as a soloist. Of course Mr. Reid’s playing was divine, like a rich fine wine that calls to the palate so many undertones and layers.

I spent a lot of time with Marcelo catching up; I haven't seen him since last year's La Plata Jazz Festival. This artist is a very beloved friend, and Conferences and Festivals – JEN felt like a festival to me - are great for crossing paths with beloved musician friends! In fact, these evets build inter-state and inter-national community. He is a tenor player and composer with a soulful simplicity and a rhythmic complexity that is textured, intelligent and passionate; utterly his own. You can find our more about his projects, including an international percussion summit with Dave Liebman, on his website www.coelho-music.com. He is the Assistant Director of the International Network and on faculty at Souza Lima in Sao Paulo. I met him three years ago at Edu Emu, La Plata, Argentina, where we will both return to teach and play this November at the La Plata Jazz Festival.

There were many other daytime performances; for example, we caught some great synergy with the high energy saxophonist John Wojciechowski's Quintet . I love vocal a cappella ensembles, and the Sixth Wave was a notable feature in particular - I caught them in a vocal a cappella clinic "Arranging for the Jazz Vocal Ensemble" led by Larry Lapin . I loved how their separate voices became "One" in a seamlessly rich, synchronized vocal chord. That ensemble a cappella sound is something I learned to love early on when I was in High School, when I sang with an a cappella group called the Triple Trio. It was so beautiful to hear the many voices singing in that swinging lush vocal thickness, some notes composed from/and all notes generating the same harmoics that exist in a solitary voice at the naturally occurring harmonic overtone points!!!! (BTW My favorite a cappella group right now, is Baird Hersey’s ensemble PRANA. They literally sing overtones, and it’s beyond beautiful; their sound is from nature yet otherworldly, healing, and haunting, to hear.)

The JEN nighttime concert line-ups at the University looked very exciting too with many many maaaannnyy performers. I didn't go to the evening performances at the University - the hotel was a bit of a distance, and some of us encoutered a few shuttle difficulties now and then –but mostly it was because there was so much music to hear in the day, and so many ideas to digest, with very early panels to catch. I heard from others, that the concerts at the University, at night, were tremendous, and so this winter I will be sure to get a room near The Ballroom!

There were other things going on at night, at JEN, too: The jazz jam session at the "Airport Hilton" lounge seemed to go on all night.... I noticed many musicians and teachers going into downtown St. Louis at night to hear local music, or connecting-up with friends in from other states, or countries, which is what I opted for - Marcelo was introducing me to his rhythm notation methods, and the sounds of Elis Regina, and Hermeto Pasquale (with whom he played on June 9th in Brazil!).

I just returned from a different event, The Voice Foundation Symposium in Philadelphia, and it should be noted that there were a predominance of Brazilian's presenting research findings and discussing the singing and speaking voice at that event! The voices of Latin America are so specific and gorgeous in their unmistakable sonorous qualities. While at TVF Symposium a researcher showed us all a clip of Brazilian singer Georgia Brown doing some Whistle Singing. OMG. If you have never heard Ms. Brown sing in the highest register on earth, Youtube that!

In the panels I heard a number of jazz media and marketing dialogues, including Cheryl Hughey Promotions talk on new uses of media, "The Future of Online Media Technology in Jazz"; "Management for the Self Managed Emerging Artist" with Karen Kennedy, Orbert Davis, and Gail Boyd moderating; Dawn DeBlaze also participated! And a very fascinating study has commenced, that is in it's early stages, "New Knowledge for Engaging Jazz Audiences" sponsored by the Jazz Arts Group of Columbus,and funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Go to www.jazzartsgroup.org for more details on how you can participate in this study! I walked away feeling confirmed in what has seemed increasingly obvious trend, yet somewhat still surreal - that the inter-net is “it” in more ways than we could have imagined even just a few years ago. Record labels are less and less, festivals are cutting back days, clubs are reporting less attendance, and self producing indie inter-net releases are Here to Stay, ie. not a fad. So, more and more use of technology as primary, for getting out the music is “now; and most likely the future.

In one panel the idea of Self Management was addressed. Self Management is key apparently, in partnership with a "team" that one can form on one's own, including a “street team” . Good managers and booking agents do exist – however, they work in partnership with an artist's team, and expect the artist to engage with technology fully. Websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Reverbnation are key. MySpace seems to be on the wane, according to those who were presenting, as does Sonicbids acording to those speaking. I never caught either of those waves; I’m on FB, ReverbNation, and Twitter. The whole technology phenomena has seemed like quicksand to me – but I am noticing that some evolution predicted even just a few years ago, is Here in full force.

Here’s what I took away: the idea that the navigation of the new technology is an ever present job and a core process for any artist attempting to build an audience, or get the music out there, seemed very universally agreed upon. At the end of the day, it seemed no coincidence that my new booking agent contacted me about some of the very same sites I was hearing about all day long. I also walked away with validation of choices made to self produce on my own indie label (Corn Hill Indie) for my first albums; I feel I was given a very clear message at JEN to continue on that path, or to work with labels where there can be a partnership towards inter-net releasing in conjunction with more limited CD production. I was informed that traditional distributors are less key now, as the inter-net is selling the music for the most part. I feel lucky that one of my students recently asked for an administrative internship to barter for voice coaching; I can’t keep up with the technology and make the music, in proper balance! It often seems one over takes the other. But I found a good balance in St. Louis – in contrast to the business panels, and for balance, I also attended many panels with performances, to be with the art form itself. Amen.

Bassist Don Braden and pianist Gerald Clayton spoke eloquently about Jazz "evolution" in the 21st Century; the panel became focused on one member's strong view that there is " no need for jazz students to listen to the dead players." I appreciated the panel member's emphasis on empowering students to "be themselves, honestly" and "not be copies of other players" - and I also hear him when he says we can suffocate students with our emphasis on "the greats". But my heart hurt to hear someone suggest that some of the most beautiful recorded sonic inventions aren't helpful to young listeners. "Louis Armstrong is dead, why do I need to listen to Louis Armstrong?" > that statement view felt like "trampling on graves" and all I could think was – woah, the furies will be coming.

Braden and Clayton mediated that view, not negating the need for students to connect to the music in their own ways, and even supporting the core of the impetus which is very well intended - to let young musicians have their own unique paths and discoveries. Braden and Clayton were suggesting ways of cultivating connections that new students have to more current popular culture music, by letting them see how all these branches are part of a tree (Clayton's approach). The tree has many maannnyyy branches, and is now intertwined with many root systems past and present.

After that panel, I crossed paths with bassist Steve Kirby, Director of Jazz Studies at University of Manitoba, Canada. We spoke for an hour and he recorded an interview to capture some thoughts on something he plans to write in print in the magazine he edits, "dig!" (Winnipeg's Bi-monthly Jazz Magazine). We discussed how it could be possible to honor roots, and simultaneously let new sounds and new directions and new root systems emerge, with all the contemporary influences that exist in the culture today, everything right there side by side. Respect for the roots of swing, be bop, or the blues, - really any art art form - to my mind, is not mutually exclusive of living in the "Now". And I was asking Steve - What is the "Now"? What is Time anyway? The Past and the Now, and the Future, are perhaps simultaneous within a curved space and time field, as some physicists suggest. There are cutting edge mainstream physicists, asking the question "Is time real, or have we invented it?" (See Discovery magazine, Spring '10!).

So, what does it actually mean to say someone is "dead” ? And does being "dead" therefore render one irrelevant? A body may be gone, but a sonic resonance and an energy is Timeless. And if we are all "one," then are we not also "one" with the "dead"? I think there’s some spiritual philosophy from East and West that chimes in on that question, including Buddhist philosophy, which the panel member who said he didn’t want to listen to dead players mentioned as an interest of his, more than once. Witnessing the art of dead painters. Looking at the methods of past architects like Frank Loyd Wright. Watching footage of the dancer, Martha Graham when she was young. Reading a Langston Hughes poem. All ways to realize why it’s helplful and relevant in the next generation, to “listen” to the dead. I guess this could all go without saying. OR maybe I’m just being over-sensitive. I could just let it go. Letting go is a good skill for an improvisor, and, as Sonny Rollins said a few years ago, when he spoke of the problems with defining jazz – improvisation is a key element in jazz “if there’s no improvisation, there’s no jazz”. I guess we can listen to him, cuz he’s not dead.

Speaking of the next generation, there were numerous student jazz bands, all tightly connected, and too many to list; I will note the Capital Focus Band, from Washington, DC, with the 9 year old cornetist Geoff Gallante (jaw dropping); the Sperring Middle School Band from St. Louis (tight!); and the Jazz St Louis All Stars (top high school players combined into one ensemble, sounded like they'd played together for ever!!!) all of whom I heard in the Main Floor dining area where I enjoyed a salad bar. I also purchased the energy bars and bags of peanuts. There was pizza, as Marcelo seemed to notice, as well as various other options of light or grilled continental cuisine. The dining area was also a fantastic place to meet people. I want to highlight a few encounters I had: Jamie Cosnowsky of JazzTimes was in the dining area full of her signature energy, and spoke in many of the ways I was feeling, about jazz education. She sort of defies definition, because, although her official title is Sales Director of Advertising for Jazz Times, she's about more than the advertising - she's invested in some deep questions about the art and it's evolution, and is seems she's charged with a sense of stewardship. We were talking about how one can talk about or not talk about what "jazz" is - and I was saying it seems easier to use metaphors; that poetry seems closer to truth, when describing "jazz". Her response was to metaphoric-alize my music - "Katie Bull's music goes down the rabbit hole" . Tea anyone? ?

I also sat down next to one of the film score arranger Roy Philippe who wrote the groundbreaking book about Michel LeGrand's process: A Case History of a Film Score!!! I just started talking to this stranger about jazz film scores, without knowing his role in film score history! I crossed paths with pianist, composer, and educator Dave Adams, founder of "The Young Jazz Razzcals Project". He called the other day to say he's friends with an arranger for the current Count Basie Orchestra, and is having his song arranged by the Basie arranger in my key. I grew up loving big bands.

Marcelo, Steve, and Jamie & I got to take in the Ella Fitzgerald film archive viewings later that day; very VERY moving. She was the singer I listened to the most, growing up. I felt I knew her, as I think many singers’ felt. I loved her very much, and I still love her. I was reminded, in the compiled footage, of how very young she was when she started out, which reminded me of my gratitude for the teenagers who were at the conference. I work with performers in their late teens and early twenties too, along with older working professionals, when I coach, and it's a really magic feeling to be with the next generation, like being surrounded by fireflies, all these new sparks of light in the jazz night-garden.

JEN is a "keeper of the flame" - and it's all about the music.