Royal Purple

Issue date: 11/14/07 Section: WEB EXTRAS

Media Credit: Brad McAllister Chase Sanborn performs in the Light Recital Hall.

On Nov. 6, the swinging sounds of Jazz filled UW-Whitewater as the Light Recital Hall was host to Canadian-based Jazz trumpeter Chase Sanborn. Sanborn is originally from the New York area, and he is an alumnus of the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Chase has been interested in music since the fourth grade.

"Music has been my driving focus and the passion of my life," Sanborn said.

Sanborn claims that playing a brass instrument is a fulltime job for him, as he only plays instruments related to the trumpet.

Chase said growing up he was the only professional musician in the family.

"There was a family orchestra every Christmas, organized by my grandmother, Ruth Sanborn," he said. "In later years, I was the only one who played my instrument during the 364 days leading up to Christmas. The orchestra played badly but enthusiastically."

Sanborn spent his three days in Whitewater performing and teaching clinics on marketing yourself as a musician. Chase offers many other clinics, such as tactics for various instruments to vocals to music business.

Chase decided to come to Whitewater to play through Frank Hanson, a music professor at UW-Whitewater.

Both Sanborn and Hanson attended many conferences together. Later, Hanson visited Sanborn in Toronto to study jazz improvisation. During that time, Hanson invited Sanborn to appear as a guest artist.

"I'm glad he did," Sanborn said. "I had the honor of appearing as guest soloist with the UW-Whitewater big band, led by Matt Sintchak. There is fantastic talent here among both the faculty and the students."

On Tuesday night, the main event occurred. Many students attended the performance in the Light Recital Hall. The band and Chase worked together excellently.

"It was awesome; he's very talented," Dillon Frick, a freshman at UW-Whitewater, said. "He played mostly jazz, which was cool because it was very upbeat. He's incredible to watch."

Chase is currently a member of the jazz faculty of the University of Toronto, but he still makes time on the side to record as he has just released his new CD, "Perking Up." Sanborn says that on this CD, listeners can expect "softly swinging jazz standards, duo and trio settings."

If you would like to learn more about Chase, visit his Web site at Chasesanborn.com.

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