All That Jazz

When Ariel Alexander stands to play a solo on her saxophone, she's surprisingly small, both in stature and presence. She doesn't throw her head back when she plays, and her cheeks don't flush red or balloon out as the solo crescendos. Nonetheless, she plays with a fierce grace and subtle soul, commanding a powerful ownership of her smooth saxophone that resonates in the music practice room filled with members of David Baker's jazz ensemble.\nAlexander, a sophomore from St. Louis, is the only female member of the reputable 20-person jazz ensemble.\n"Honestly, music is music," Alexander said. "I don't think about it, and no one treats me differently. It really doesn't matter in this (academic) environment. No one points it out to me. It's no greater feat because I'm the only girl."\nAlexander began playing the saxophone in fifth grade, though her love affair with music began at the age of three.\n"I begged (my parents) to take me to my brother's piano lessons, so they finally let me have my own," she said, brushing her thick brown hair out of her face.\nShe acknowledges that being a female certainly makes her a minority in the jazz community, but she has never allowed that to hinder her involvement or discourage her improvement, she said.\n"People have stereotypes. If you look at me, you wouldn't necessarily be able to tell I can play the saxophone," Alexander said as she bit her lower right lip (a habitual behavior when she's thinking). "But people are generally becoming more accepting of women in jazz. Some of my favorite jazz musicians are women, but it's because they play well, not because they're women."\nJunior Jeff Suzda, who plays the baritone sax, agrees completely with Alexander, his friend and musical peer. The two met four years ago at a jazz summer camp. He said he was instantly surprised by her talent because she was younger than most campers.\n"But Ariel played with such maturity, beyond her years as it still is today," Suzda said. "She has an amazing grasp of harmonic vocabulary."\nSuzda's respect for Alexander is evident -- while she plays her solo, he looks to his left at her, the corners of his mouth curling up into a small smile.\n"Everytime she plays she surprises me with either some new rhythm or catches my ear and makes me listen a little harder," Suzda said, adding that her impressive musical talent has nothing to do with her gender. "It's not guy or girl, it's just musicians. She's the model to prove that. Just listen to her … good God." \nAlexander finishes her solo and sits back in her chair. She instinctively bobs her head to the swanky jazz beat and stretches out her mouth before joining the group again. The song ends and she bites her lip as she listens intently to Baker's comments about measure 106. You can tell she's processing his suggestions. He recommends moving onto another song, and then she flips through her sheet music to find the specific number. The pages are worn and frayed, as if they've been played a hundred times before.\nAlexander said she probably practices 25 hours a week outside of class.\n"She's got an understanding and is always thinking about music," Suzda confirmed. "She's so amazing -- she has a 101 fever now and still stayed up writing a song until 4 in the morning. Her drive and ambition to be a part of music is incredible."\nThis determination that Alexander exudes also impressed Tom Walsh, her saxophone instructor. Walsh, an assistant professor of saxophone and jazz studies, works with Alexander once a week for a on-on-one sax lesson and said Alexander is an outstanding student.\n"She is someone who is constantly exploring on her own, and she's very excited about jazz. She's eager to learn new things and regularly comes in with questions about things she's working on on her own," Walsh said. "It makes it a lot easier to teach someone who has that type of curiosity, who's really exploring and trying things and working things out on their own. She's a very self-motivated, very energetic, very enthusiastic person."\nIn addition to successfully channeling her energy toward playing the saxophone, Suzda said Alexander is also an outstanding writer.\n"Her compositions are very introspective and thoughtful and very, very deep," Suzda said. "They stand out in the group very colorfully. If everyone in the class is writing 'X' compositions, she's the one person who goes about it in a 'Y' manner. Few others come close to her originality."\nSuzda said although Alexander is an incredible musician, she is not singularly about music. The two worked together at a jazz summer camp last year, and he said campers loved her because she's so warm and friendly.\nWatching her play the saxophone, she seems completely at ease. Her playing seems effortless. And when she crinkles up her nose during practice because a note sounds slightly off, it is evident she is committed to perfecting her music and really thrives off the energy bouncing around the practice room.\n"It's a feeling of spontaneity and oneness with the other performers with whom you're playing," she said. "It's just a zone. You practice and you naturally put everything else aside and you just play. It's beautiful. You can be in a moment. It's a separate language. You can get out your own feelings and communicate with others."\nAlexander said she hopes her music will eventually allow her to communicate with children (her second love) by creating a jazz education method for teaching music to inner-city kids.\n"Performance by itself is very self-fulfilling," she said. "My purpose won't be fulfilled until I go out and help people enjoy what I enjoy."\nAlexander's musical philosophies extend further. In addition to believing her talent should inspire and help people, she disagrees with the creation of all-female jazz groups, she said.\n"There's a surge now and I don't agree with that. You should play with the best musicians you can," she said. "All-female groups are just finding another way to separate themselves. It's cyclical -- they're working against themselves."\nWalsh said although jazz is still heavily dominated by men, respect for women in the jazz community is increasing. He pauses and begins to rattle off a list of influential female jazz musicians -- Louis Armstrong's wife, Lil Hardin, trumpet player Ingrid Jensen and jazz composer Maria Schneider.\n"I think for a lot of jazz musicians it's not something that's really new," Walsh said. "Yes the numbers are skewed so it's predominantly male, but there are enough really amazing women jazz musicians out there that any intelligent man knows they've gotta hear somebody play before they make any judgments."\nAlexander said she agrees with this open-minded attitude, though she can recall several instances where her audience or peers treated her differently because she was female.\n"I laugh it off," Alexander said of her reaction to people who unfairly categorize her ability. "People make these comments, but then they hear me play and think 'Oh, I can take her seriously.' I have to be able to back it up."\nWalsh said Alexander's ability to prove herself comes easily and her desire to improve as a musician and her natural talent guarantees her a bright future.\n"That's a really crucial combination of characteristics for someone who is going to continue as a musician," Walsh said. "And she has those characteristics. She's someone who is very determined and that's what it takes"