ARLINGTON A renowned north county blues harmonica player, Jeff Nicely, recommended AHS 2006 graduate John Tezak as the young musician who should open the Wintertime Blues Concert in the first of three Wintertime Concerts celebrating the talent of Arlington.
A fund- raiser for the Arts Alive!s effort to raise the last bit of its goal to finish the Performing Arts Center at Arlington High School , the concerts are presented by the Arlington Arts Council in collaboration with the community.
I like to encourage people to hear live music whenever possible, said Sean Denton, whose band, The Gryffyn Band, is the featured blues group, taking the stage after John Tezak and James Waggoner.
Were really glad to help raise money for the PAC.
As manager of the old high school building, the Arlington Boys and Girls Club is covering all costs of the venue so that the ticket proceeds will go to the PAC and Kyle Blevins is offering his Superior Sound sound system at a 75 percent discount. The Rotary Club of Arlington is covering his costs.
Tezak and James Waggoner will open the show with their bluesy alternative sorta stuff on both electric and acoustic guitars at the opening night of the Winter Concert Series.
Tezak graduated from Arlington High School in 2006 after winning a soloist award at the Bellevue Jazz Festival last February. He won a years tuition at Bellevue Community College, where he is currently enjoying studying with AHS graduate Tom Almli, the jazz choir teacher there.
Tezak has been accepted into the Berklee School of Music in Boston and will start there in fall 2007.
Hell be accompanied by fellow former Jazzmine musician James Waggoner, whos family has a long history of music and Jazzmine success. Sadly, Waggoner is not in Jazzmine this, his senior year.
I need money for school next year and so I decided to find a job instead, said Waggoner who is working as a handyman at a farm. When hes not chain-sawing trees at the farm, he spends his free time strumming up some new tunes to try out on Tezak.
We bounce off each other, Tezak said. I strike up some core progression that I like and then James comes up with lyrics.
Waggoner plans to attend Shoreline Community College this fall.
They have created four or five new tunes for the concert this Friday and each one will do a solo.
Were really excited to be involved with this fundraiser for the PAC, Tezak said.
Its really cool to play for an excited crowd, Waggoner said.
The Arlington community is really supportive of music and we hope a lot of people will come so we can raise a lot of money for Arts Alive! they both agreed.
Tezaks mother, Rita Tezak said she is very glad that Jazzmine helped her son find his niche in music.
If it werent for Lyle [Forde] John wouldnt have found this talent.
Both young musicians have fond memories of their time with Jazzmine.
I like exploring all kinds of music, but I think I will focus on blues in the future, Tezak said.
Tezak jammed with Jeff Nicely when Blues Therapy played at the former Chrome Cafe.
It will be really exciting to see the growth of Arlington music students in the future, when they have the new performing arts center to perform in, Waggoner said he looks forward to attend future productions at the new PAC.