Jazz ace visits Sisters Coffee Co.

Visitors to Sisters Coffee Co. on Sunday afternoon got more than a hot cup of coffee. They also got some hot music, performed by jazz ace Jay Thomas, who was visiting Central Oregon.

Thomas, who plays saxophone, trumpet and flute, jammed with some of Sisters High School’s hottest jazz musicians — Benji Nagel on guitar, Jared Henderson on bass and Justin Veloso on drums.

The quartet established themselves in a corner of the coffeehouse and proceeded to swing the joint with relaxed but impressive licks.

Sisters High School Band Director Jody Henderson put together the drop-of-a-hat event.

“It was very last minute,” he said.

Thomas lives in Seattle and comes down to Central Oregon periodically to visit his parents, Marv and Joanne Thomas, who live in Bend. The Thomases have been avid supporters of the Sisters music program and turned Henderson on to their son’s work through a variety of recordings.

“He’s called on by some pretty major jazz bands to play with them on all those instruments (saxophone, trumpet and flute),” Henderson noted.

Henderson told the parents that he wanted to have Thomas play with students when he’s in the area. The timing was a little awkward this time around, with only a Sunday afternoon available.

However, Henderson said, the show was “the start of what I hope is a very long-standing relationship.”

Henderson said that ideally he’d like to have Thomas come into the classrooms to work with students and stage a concert with the schools’ larger ensembles.