With its 30th anniversary, the Jazz in the Pines Festival is ending. The
festival has brought mainstream jazz and crossover artists, as well as
regional jazz greats, to audiences who came up the hill for the day or
weekend and has been the major fundraiser for scholarships to the
Idyllwild Arts Academy. The festival has, in recent years, turned its
focus to students of the Academy’s Summer Jazz Clinic, with visiting
artists leading classes, and performances showcasing students, alumni,
and faculty. This year the concerts will be spread across two weeks,
from June 30 to July 13.

The festival will be a homecoming of sorts, featuring artists that have
been a part of the festival since the beginning; Yves Evans, Sherry
Williams, Harry Pickens, the Euphoria Brass Band, and of course Marshall
Hawkins. The headliner will be John Daversa, a festival veteran and
three-time Grammy award winner who will perform, with his big band,
their new album, Kaleidoscope Eyes: Music of the Beatles.

This year’s Festival will mark two events, one sad, one joyful. The
unexpected passing of guitarist Bob Boss this February, after performing
in the Academy’s Black History Concert, was a shock to the community. He
was an essential part of the festival since its inception. Dr. Marshall
Hawkin’s big band, Seahawk Modern Jazz Orchestra, will dedicate their
Friday, July 12 concert to Boss’ memory. On the joyful side, the
festival will celebrate Hawkins, founder of the festival and the driving
force behind the Academy’s Jazz program, as he marks his 85th birthday.

Although Jazz In the Pines started in 1994, Hawkins dates its inception
over a decade before, Father’s Day 1983, with a concert by Richie Cole
with Jeff Tower and the Hemet High Jazz Ensemble. This predates IAA
(Idyllwild Arts Academy), “When it was still ISOMATA…Dwight Buzz Holmes
was the facilitator and made it happen. It's important to give
recognition to Buzz.” Hawkins was working with a local nonprofit, the
Idyllwild International Jazz Institute, with Sandy Olinghouse and Bill
Plummer.

Dr Hawkins credits two members of the Associates of Idyllwild Arts in
the launch of the festival as we know it. “Barbara Wood is the founder.
Lin Carlson is the one that asked me to do it, but Barbara is the
founder.” What began with a single day of concerts grew to one of
Idyllwild’s biggest draws. At its peak, the Associates coordinated over
300 volunteers from the community and welcomed over 2,000 fans. . In
2018, the Associates handed leadership back to the Academy and its
Summer Program. 2019 was a hiatus year, and 2020 was shaped by the
pandemic. The festival returned in 2021 with a new format, integrated
with the Jazz in the Pines Student Clinic. 2023 saw the culmination of
Hawkin’s idea of many small venues on campus and throughout the
community.

Hawkins underlines that the mission was always “focusing on students and
integrating into the curriculum.” He says that “when the school took
over from the associates is when it really got started.” He lays out his
priorities: “the music, supporting professional musicians, and then the
students and of course the Academy.” The mission starts with the music.
“Jazz is American heritage, America’s music. The professional musicians
have not been recognized in over 100 years.” He pointed to the 1987
declaration of Congress calling jazz a National Treasure. “That’s a
fact, but it's still an ongoing process even as we speak.”

Academy President Pamela Jordan issued a statement spotlighting Hawkin’s
contribution to his art and community: "The life and career of Dr.
Marshall Hawkins has served as the foundation of jazz in Idyllwild. From
founding the Jazz Program at Idyllwild Arts Academy in 1986 to curating
performances that attracted thousands of music lovers to our mountain
for Jazz in the Pines, we are forever indebted to Dr. Hawkins for his
vision, his love for his students, and his generosity to our community.
We hope the community will join us to celebrate Marshall’s contributions
over the decades.”

Jordan spoke to the Crier about the history of the festival and the
decision to end it. “When it started, the Idyllwild Arts Academy was
only 8 years old. There were no students on the campus, either the
summer program or the Academy. I think they thought people would learn
something about our Academy, but they didn’t. It was a very successful
festival on its own, but it didn’t have any connection to the school
other than the Associates’ fundraising for scholarships.”

“Marshall Hawkins really expressed to me, around 2019 when we were
planning to take a hiatus, what his original vision was. He wanted to
bring those musicians to our students. He wanted the student-teacher
relationship. Also, at the time we were thinking ‘How do we involve the
town?’ One of the things that I heard, even when I came here 10 years
ago, was that the festival would happen on our campus, but people would
leave without patronizing any businesses in the town. They would park
everywhere in town. We wanted to mitigate that as well. That was the
reason we wanted to take a hiatus and reimagine it, but I think we all
understand that Covid came along and really changed things, in education
and everywhere.”

Marshall sidesteps the issue of his 85th Birthday, saying the festival
is really about Bob Boss, noting their 40 years of music together, and
saying “Bob Boss was instrumental in the first master class at the
Idyllwild Arts Academy, in 1998, along with Jimmy and Jeannie Cheatham
and the Sweet Baby Blues Band, in Rush Hall.” Although there will be a
special concert with his Seahawk Mojo dedicated to Boss “the whole
entire two weeks is really going to be in his honor.” Marshall downplays
his own accomplishments, “I’m not finished, there’s a heck of a lot more
to do.”

For schedule and tickets, visit idyllwildarts.org/jazz-in-the-pines.