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Now in his last year w88 live casinoat the University, Larry Engstrom looks back at the canceled Reno Jazz Festival and his time as a musician and educator.
It was a sad day this past Wednesday when I learned that the Reno Jazz Festival won’t be happening this year. This being my last year at the University, the news made me stop and reflect on my career as a musician and an educator.
I think I did my first gig where somebody gave me money when I was in the eighth grade, and I’ve been hooked ever since. I moved to Reno in 1987, and I’ve been a professor of music and served as director of the School of the Arts and chair of the music department. I also ran the Reno Jazz Festival for 25 years. During that time, I’ve had the pleasure of being involved in Reno’s vibrant live music scene, where I got to perform with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Ray Charles, the Smothers Brothers and many more incredible musicians.
Reno is still a great town for live music, but it was something else back in those days. I was playing in the Harrah’s Orchestra six nights a week. On my off day, I played in the Reno Philharmonic, and I had a pretty active brass quintet and a jazz quintet. I’d wake up around 7:00 in the morning, spend w88 live casinoall day on campus, head home for about an hour, eat a quick dinner, get in the car and drive up to South Lake, play all night, get home around 2:30 in the morning and do it all again the next day. The schedule was demanding, but it never felt like a chore because I was doing what I love.
That’s not to say there weren’t times I would have liked to just stay home. I remember one Christmas Eve, my second daughter had just been born less than a week before, and this performer named Charo was doing a two-week run at Harrah’s. She wasn’t really my favorite performer, so I really didn’t want to play already. On top of that, I’ve got a newborn, a house full of family from out of town, it’s Christmas Eve, and it’s snowing like crazy. Sure enough, right about the time I needed to leave to get to work, there’s a lull in the storm. I called my boss, and he says, “You gotta come.” So I threw on the chains and drove up the pass. That’s just how it was back then.
That was rare, though. Usually, I was driving up during the evening, and I got to watch the sun go down over the lake almost every day. It was a great time to be a musician in Reno. You could make decent money and have a family because you didn’t have to tour. w88 online casinoIt helped the University recruit some great talent, too, because they could make money on the side while they went to school.
A lot of people view the old Reno as seedy and dirty. It’s attention grabbing to talk about the shady stuff, but that wasn’t the Reno I knew. What I remember is you could go out any night of the week and see great live music in one of the show rooms. People were friendly, and everyone was having a good time. I think that’s a part of the old Reno that’s alive and well. I’m proud to have been a part of that. I’m sad that there won’t be a Jazz Festival for my last year at the University, but that’s life. It will be back next year, and Reno will keep changing and growing. Whatever happens, I think Reno will always be a great town for art and music.
