Skagit Valley Chorale attracts local talents

The Skagit Valley Chorale celebrates in song May 4 and 5 in a cross-genre collaboration led by Artistic Director Yvette Burdick showcasing the talents of nearly 100 local musicians, including 11 Chorale singers hailing from La Conner.

La Conner bandleader/trombonist Vince Fejeran has been instrumental gathering talented local jazz musicians for a big band backing the Chorale's singers as they present music performed long ago and far away by Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians.

A music educator and leader in the valley for decades, Fejeran has long been appreciated for his gift for connecting musicians together and welcoming new arrivals into the local music community.

La Conner guitarist Jamie Findlay recalled that when he and his wife returned to the valley in 2015 after 30 years in Los Angeles, Ferajan drew him into the local music scene after Findlay's neighbor saw him walking by and said, "Vince, you gotta come meet the guy across the street!"

"If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be teaching at Skagit Valley College, I wouldn't be in the A'Town Big Band, I wouldn't be in the Herding Cats Band," Findlay said. "It's just kind of snowballed from there. I'm very thankful; I didn't think I'd be this busy after leaving L.A."

Findlay doesn't miss L.A. (except for the sun). He marvels at living in a place where on a short drive home from Mount Vernon he and his wife can see daffodils and tulips, eagles, herons and hundreds of snow geese. "Wow! Where do you see that? You don't see that in L.A."

Drummer Marty Tuttle also credits Fejeran with helping him get involved in music when he retired here, though his jazz and music roots in Seattle go back to his professional musician dad. A self-taught trombonist and percussionist, Dave Tuttle had turned down offers to tour in bands backing Jimmy Dorsey and Benny Goodman, preferring instead to stay home with his family in Seattle.

The elder Tuttle and his musician friends would gather after shows and play together, often with young Marty listening in.

"They'd come to each other's houses sometimes to unwind after, and I would sit on the stairs – like, 2 o'clock in the morning I'd hear this really fun music and kinda tap my feet ... . They were playing Latin – mambos and cha-cha-chas," Tuttle said.

In first grade, Tuttle's parents bought him a guitar. He tried it for 20 minutes, then asked for bongos instead. Tuttle's dad taught him to play, and they played together for nearly five decades.

Tuttle will bring his bongos to add tropical flair to the Chorale's expressive performance of Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine."

In addition to the 17 players in the big band, Fejeran found an unusual instrumentalist for the Chorale show. As part of the celebration of 1950s technology, Burdick and scriptwriter David Schroeder included the classic Leroy Anderson piece, "The Typewriter," which requires a skilled musician who can "play" percussion on a manual typewriter. Fejeran found one in Charles Stevens, a long-time local musician who collects vintage typewriters – and can play one, too.

A professor of mathematics at Skagit Valley College, Stevens is another musician Fejeran inspired to pick up his horn again and join the community band. Now Stevens looks forward to joining the Chorale and band as "typewriter soloist."

Findlay and Tuttle now regularly play gigs in the area: for just a sample, both will appear at North Bend's Jazz Walk on April 27 and at the Anacortes Rockfish Grill (Tuttle with his combo April 24, Findlay with the Whistle Lake Jazz Quartet May 1).

To see them with Charles Stevens and the Skagit Valley Chorale, visit McIntyre Hall for ticket information.