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Published April 5, 2004; Category: ARTS AND SCIENCES
Fifth JazzToons album is all original compositions
Fred Haas doesn't consider himself a good storyteller in the conventional sense, but put a saxophone in his hands or a piano in front of him, and it's a different matter entirely. In a new album titled Telling Stories, Haas narrates some of his personal stories through a dozen original songs he composed over the course of his 35-year career as a professional musician.
 Fred Haas in 2002. His new CD, on his own JazzToons label, is called Telling Stories. (photo by Joseph Mehling '69)
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Although Haas has four earlier releases on his JazzToons label, Telling Stories is the first to feature his own compositions. In the liner notes, he hints at some of the people and events that inspired his work, ranging from balmy Caribbean days at the beach to smoky jazz clubs and autumn days picking apples with his family and friends. Joining him on the CD are jazz luminaries Gene Bertoncini on guitar and Michael Moore on bass.
"Taken together, the compositions provide a window into who I am," Haas said.
A 1973 Dartmouth graduate and a long-time instructor in the music department, Fred Haas and his father, Lowell Haas '35, are part of Dartmouth's jazz legacy. Lowell Haas was a member and leader of the Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble when he was a senior in 1935. The younger Haas grew up in a Chicago household filled with the music of jazz legends of like Count Basie, Coleman Hawkins, Benny Goodman and more. Occasionally the elder Haas would invite friends over for jam sessions - a ritual in which young Fred eventually was invited to participate.
By the time he entered Dartmouth as a freshman in 1969, Haas knew music would be his life's work. He said the decision to attend a liberal arts school rather than study in a conservatory environment had a large impact on his music.
"I got a lot of personal attention from the faculty, and it gave me an opportunity to develop as a musician in a way that I wouldn't have been able to if I'd been at a large music school," he said. His senior year in 1973, Haas led both the Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble and a jazz quintet called Mole, and was one of the College's first senior fellows in music.
Another formative experience for the young musician in his college years was learning about transcendental meditation. Haas realized early in his study of meditation and yoga that these practices helped his musical performance by promoting relaxation, better posture and breathing, and helped to clear away the mental cobwebs that can inhibit creative expression. He came to believe that meditation and similar practices could provide a healthy way for musicians to access their creativity without resorting to drugs and alcohol, which had prematurely stolen the lives of a disproportionate number of jazz musicians in just a few generations.
"Taken together, the compositions provide a window into who I am."
- Fred Haas
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"Music is an outgrowth of what's happening inside you, so if your thoughts are all jumbled, it's difficult to express yourself clearly, whether it's through music or any other way," Haas said. Meditation and other practices help the musician "open yourself up to wherever you think the music comes from," he said. "When you try too hard, it doesn't happen. You just have to be able to let go of what the outcome is and go with the flow of the music."
Haas said the last track on Telling Stories, titled "Prayer of Peace," is a good example of how this creative process works for him. On the evening of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Haas was asked to play piano for an interdenominational church service in Woodstock, Vt. In addition to practicing the requested hymn before the service, Haas also played around with some improvised music that could accompany quiet meditation time.
At the service, "I closed my eyes and the piece just came out," he said. "What was supposed to be the introduction to the hymn essentially stretched into 'Prayer for Peace.' The next day, it was still so vivid in my mind that I just wrote it down."
Haas shares his insights about the uses of meditation with Dartmouth students and with the people who participate in the Interplay Jazz Camp he leads each summer in Beverly, Mass. The camp, which last year had students ranging in age from 11 to 71, integrates yoga, tai chi, meditation and breathing techniques with the daily combo rehearsals, master classes, jam sessions and other jazz-related classes. At first, some students, particularly the teenagers and young adults, can be skeptical of the unusual methodology.
"When they make that effort, they see and hear an immediate difference in how they play music. When they see that having their mind clear and focused and being able to concentrate can affect their music that way, they want to do it more," he said.
Telling Stories is available at the Dartmouth and Norwich bookstores, as well as at Borders and through Haas's website www.interplayjazz.com.
By TAMARA STEINERT
LIVE PERFORMANCES
For a schedule of Fred Haas's upcoming performances, see http://www.interplayjazz.com/schedule.cfm
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