There was a time when one didn’t equate Las Cruces with Jazz and Blues music. That is no longer true. The Mesilla Valley Jazz & Blues Society (MVJBS) has been working diligently for the past 24 years to bring the best in one of America’s most valued artforms to the area. A mission that has been responsible in part for the blossoming of those artforms throughout not only Las Cruces, but El Paso as well.
Begun in 2000 by local musician and scholar Bob Burns, the MVJBS started as a jam session for those who loved the music. It quickly evolved into something more. President of the MVJBS and former music professor at NMSU Pancho Romero remembers those days.
“Bob was very instrumental in putting the Mesilla Valley Jazz and Blues Society together,” he said. “He got a bunch of local jazz aficionados and musicians together in the early part of this century and formed a society that would encourage and promote jazz and blues education in the area.”
For several years now, the MVJBS has been continuing that mission by conducting clinics and workshops for school children, and giving out scholarships to young students eager to pursue study in jazz education. They have also partnered with NMSU and UTEP to match the scholarship for any student who wants to be a music major at the institutions.
“We feel it encourages students to come to school in the area,” Pancho said. “We’ve handed out over the last three years about $10,000 in scholarships. We also sponsor the NMSU Jazz Festival, and the Organ Mountain Jazz Festival, offering financial support and also helping with the education part of it.”
The result of all this effort has been a growth in appreciation of both jazz and blues music. It helps that Las Cruces has become a popular retirement area for people looking to escape the adverse weather and congestion of other parts of the country. Many of those are professional musicians who are drawn by the flourishing art scene.
“We do have world class musicians in this area,” Pancho said. “We have a bass player who came from the New York area that used to play with the Jazz Messengers. We have a saxophone player who used to play with Elvis, Wayne Newton and Frank Sinatra. We have musicians who have travelled the world playing with orchestras and bands, or who have attended some of the top music schools in the world. It’s a gold mine, really. So people will not be disappointed with any of the performances that we have scheduled.”
The 22nd annual Mesilla Valley Jazz & Blues Festival brings all that talent together for three days of music and merriment on the Plaza de Mesilla. Thirteen concerts will be performed by such notable bands and musicians as Roman Chip and the Border Jazz Quintet, David Rodriguez and the Havana Quintet, Lush Life, Derrick Harris Blues Band, The Mireles/Reyes Jazz Alliance Project, Ricky Malichi and Sam Barlow with True Blue, and many more.
The featured concert this year will take place at the Atkinson Recital Hall on the NMSU campus on Saturday evening. There Colin McCallister and the Latin Jazz Project will open for Pancho Romero and the Border Jazz Orchestra.
“It’s a 20 piece band, and that would take up the entire tent,” Pancho said, “so we decided to go ahead and have it at Atkinson where they are better prepared for this sort of thing.
In keeping with the education portion of their mission, the MVJBS will have an area set aside on the Plaza de Mesilla with LCPS elementary music teachers presenting hands on musical activities for children on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. In addition, because of both the intense heat and the storms that rolled through town last year, the MVJBS has rented a 30’ x 40’ tent to accommodate not only the bands, but the audience as well.
The Mesilla Valley Jazz & Blues Festival runs 5-11 p.m., Friday Oct. 4, and 12-4:30 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 5, at the Plaza de Mesilla. The featured concert will take place from 7-10 p.m., Saturday, at the Atkinson Recital Hall, 1075 N. Horseshoe St., on the NMSU campus. The final day of the festival runs 1-7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 6 at Plaza de Mesilla. All concerts are offered free of charge by MVJBS and festival sponsors.
