Letting the music speak for them
Secondary Sense band member Oliver Walter plays his saxophone “sans gene” (French for: without embarrassment or constraint), letting it flow like an extension of himself. Walter, 18, is comfortable behind his instrument and is dedicated to the craft.
Shawn Towry, 18, plays the upright bass, which lends a deep beat, and Thomas Holman, 18, plays the drums.
The fourth member the jazz band is 17-year-old Andrew Craig who plays the piano/keyboard. The four met through the jazz scene and began playing together two years ago.
Craig will be a senior at Central Valley High School in September, while the other members will be heading off to college with scholarships. Walter and Towry will go to Whitworth and Holman will travel to New York to attend the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music.
They all will study music to fine-tune their instruments of choice. They are still young and for now just to play is enough. Dedicated, passionate and hard working, they are well on their way to their ultimate goals.
“My goal is to simply do what I love, and that’s music,” said Holman, “I don’t think any talent has been bestowed upon me by God. What God has given me is a work ethic. So, I practice a lot … more than I sleep almost every day, because I have been gripped by this insane desire to attain excellence.”
In New York, he will be studying with some of the best students and teachers in the world. “It’s quite humbling. I am humble. I feel that, as Wynton Marsalis said, ‘The humble improve.’ “
The others are humble as well, not giving themselves credit but giving credit to the music. Towry, who faltered a bit as a freshman at Mt. Spokane High School, said, “Music motivated me. I wanted to be in band.”
They stuck to their guns, listening to jazz while others their age stuck to the mainstream. “We keep it real,” said Walter. They are mature and well spoken. “The study of music develops a certain maturity and focus,” said Gabriele Walter, Oliver Walter’s mother. “Many of their mentors are adults.”
They have all been touched and moved by jazz. While rap and heavy metal tend to tell others how to feel with explicit lyrics, jazz gives way to individual interpretations. “Jazz is the one genre that incorporates the art of improvisation … like listening to one tell a story,” said Walter, “It’s amazing to listen to a musician play melodious passages effortlessly, captivating all of his listeners for the next mind-blowing lick or heart-wrenching blue note. I can’t find a better form of music that clearly reflects the person inside.”
What needs to change in order to expose others to jazz is the misconception that jazz is mature music.
“It’s all-encompassing,” said Holman. “No other genre can do that.”
Close your eyes and feel the groove. You might like it.