Women’s Club treated to some jazz

By Mary-Justine Lanyon

There was a changing of the guard at the July meeting of the Women’s Club of Lake Arrowhead.

After serving as president for five years, Polly Sauer stepped down; her place is being taken by Jeri Simpson.

Sauer thanked her outgoing board members and installed the new board, all of whom received lovely floral gifts.

In addition to Simpson, the new board includes Sauer, vice president, programs and venues, and parliamentarian; Kristin Countryman, vice president of membership; Cindy Burnett, auditor; Joyce Patrick Eckert, director of communications; Linda Miller, vice president of ways and means; Suzy Garrett, assistant to the president; and Elizabeth Whitney-Olivas, secretary. Treasurer Sarah Muecke was not present.

Simpson presented Sauer with a plaque stating that “her legacy will be cherished and remembered.”

The special guest at the July meeting was Chris Levister, president of the Blue Jay Jazz Foundation. She brought with her two of the Future Generation Jazz Scholars, Evangeline De Leon and Brenden Watson.

“I have one word to describe what’s on my heart,” Levister told the club. “Grateful. When we started the rebirth of the Foundation in 2007, we were told we would crash and burn in a year – we didn’t. We have worked hard. You have believed in what we’re doing.”

Levister told the story of one former jazz scholar, David Anderson, who applied to be part of the U.S. Marine Corps band. “Only 2 percent of applicants get in,” Levister said. “David got in. We used a Women’s Club donation to help that child.”

Anderson’s response to that help: “You changed my life.”

Today, Levister said, “we bring you two very talented individuals who will bring you a little entertainment.”

With that, Evangeline and Brenden picked up their saxophones. She plays the tenor sax, he the alto. “We’re going to start by improvising,” Evangeline said. “We are developing our jazz skills.”

Their playing was met with thunderous applause from the women gathered at Jetties Waterfront Kitchen + Drink.

Evangeline then picked up her guitar and played and sang “Both Sides Now” by Joni Mitchell. Many of the women were seen mouthing the words.

“I have always had a love of music,” Evangeline said, noting her playing started with the mandatory recorder in third grade. She segued to clarinet, which she was good at and wanted to keep doing.

“My older brother played trumpet,” she said. “He inspired me to keep playing. I wanted to be in the high school band.”

She then tried the alto sax, which she said she like even more than the clarinet. But then she got to play the tenor sax. “I fell in love,” Evangeline said.

“This is my life now – I’m a musician,” she said. “I attribute so much of who I am to music. The Blue Jay Jazz Foundation has given me an opportunity to grow as a musician,” she said, adding she was so surprised to get her scholarship.

Evangeline graduated from Rim High in June and will be attending the University of California, Riverside, studying music.

Brenden recalled an assembly in elementary school when they were introduced to a variety of instruments. “I chose the trombone because it was the biggest instrument and bigger is better,” he joked.

But then his father showed him a video of a student “going crazy on the sax. I wanted to be that,” Brenden said. He received a sax for Christmas and taught himself to play.

It was during the pandemic, when the Rim students had music lessons online, that Brenden learned to play jazz. “I met Evangeline and the others. I joined the jazz band, the wind ensemble, the marching band.”

This past year Evangeline was the drum major and Brenden the assistant drum major. “I picked up a mop my freshman year to practice spinning,” Brenden said. 

This past year, he participated in a number of drum major competitions, where he always placed high. He auditioned to compete in the Avant Garde competition with the highest ranked drum majors in Southern California. On April 13, he competed and was crowned champion of the season – an extraordinary achievement considering he was only a sophomore.

Brenden will be the drum major the next two years as a junior and a senior.

As the students completed their program, Simpson called Levister back up and presented her with a $1,000 check for the Blue Jay Jazz Foundation.