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What a difference thirty years has made here in the Santa Clarita Valley. When I first moved here way back in 1980, McBean Parkway ended at the I-5 freeway and there was no Stevenson Ranch or Westridge, just rolling hills with cattle grazing. The Town Center mall was just a large expansive onion field and much of the valley was still engaged in agriculture.

What existed of an arts community back then was limited to the occasional community festival replete with the requisite local garage band covering Beatles and Led Zeppelin tunes. Of course there was CalArts, but back in the 70’s and 80’s most locals didn’t venture onto the valley’s only world class art school campus because they thought it was “too weird.” The choices in SCV were slim at best when it came to the performing arts, especially performances that were free.

That’s why this coming Saturday, April 23, 2011, will be such an amazing day under the late afternoon sky when Jazz Crossings takes the stage for The Wild Beast concert series at CalArts. The performance is described as; “Stirring salsa music and stories about passing through frontiers with CalArts’ Latin Jazz Ensemble, led by composer-pianist David Roitstein and actress-director Marissa Chibas, ring out from The Wild Beast in a live, transcontinental TeleConcert, connecting audience and performers in Valencia with those at Yamaha Artists Salon in New York. Distinguished composer-pianists David Rosenboom and J.B. Floyd play instruments linked across the continent, and celebrated jazz musicians Scott Colley, bass, and Ralph Alessi, trumpet, transmit from the Big Apple.”

A concert where performers are participating in New York and right here in the Santa Clarita Valley; a bi-coastal concert! And it’s all for free to anyone who wants to tote a blanket or beach chair to the S. Mark Taper Foundation Courtyard in front of The Wild Beast Music Pavilion on the CalArts campus.

This Saturday’s Jazz performance at CalArts is a major local cultural event which would have been unimaginable thirty years ago where the biggest thing on a Saturday night in SCV was the stock car races at the now defunct Saugus Speedway. Don’t get me wrong, I attended a few of those stock car races and they were sure a lot of fun but it is nice to see our valley expanding the entertainment choices that are available to our residents.

This upcoming performance on Saturday is a feather in the cap for our local arts scene and it will raise the bar of our valley’s collective cultural IQ. It will be quite interesting to see who from the local leadership attends this groundbreaking event as it will speak volumes in regards to our overall local arts community.

There is no question that this will be an inspiring, uplifting and thoroughly enjoyable concert outdoors. The concert will showcase some of the best and brightest musicians at CalArts as well as the technological prowess of linking up with a venue in New York City. All for the enjoyment of anyone that wishes to attend as the event is free thanks to the folks at CalArts and the Levitt Pavilions. (Full disclosure, I am the immediate past President of the CalArts Alumni Association, a Trustee of California Institute of the Arts, an ardent supporter of CalArts and the West Ranch Beacon is a media sponsor.)

I would urge you to consider attending this free concert and see what an outdoor concert can truly be for those that wish to experience a more wondrous musical event. It is completely free and all you need to do is show up with a blanket or folding chair, sit back, relax and enjoy the music.

I hope to see you there on Saturday when the concert begins at 5:30 PM. For more information click here: Jazz Crossings

Dave Bossert- Commentary

Dave Bossert is a community volunteer who serves on a number of boards and councils. His commentaries represent his own opinions and not necessarily the views of any organization he may be affiliated with or those of the West Ranch Beacon.