Jazz group reunites in Sisters show

The jazz group 7 Minus has recently come together again after three years of traveling their own separate roads.

The highly original group of artists first crossed paths at the University of Oregon when they were graduate students in music and became well known in area jazz circles. The group performed in concert at Sisters High School last Sunday night and worked with the high school's band students on Monday morning, October 10, during an overnight stopover in Sisters.

As band members each took a separate path in his or her journey though life, they hoped they would once again join forces.

"Since that time everyone in the group has pretty much gone on to do different things. The trumpet player is now a trumpet professor at Virgina Tech. Our piano player Dan (Cavanaugh) is the associate jazz professor at the University of Texas. Our base player (Andrea Niemiece) lives in Portland, and I live in Eugene. We are just spread all over the place, and everyone has been doing their own thing for the last three years," said Jason Palmer, the group's drummer.

At a conference last January group members finally decided that the time was ripe to again come together.

"Occasionally, we have seen each other at jazz festivals and that sort of thing. Last year at the IAJE (International Association of Jazz Educators) conference in New York, we decided that we should get the group back together," said Palmer.

Sisters High School provided the group the venue for both performance and workshops to assist the students.

The group sees this reunion as an exciting time of renewal.

"We thought we had such a great group, but we had all moved across the country, and most of us are professors now at different colleges. When we saw each other last January, we decided that we really wanted to rejuvenate our group and the music," said the group's pianist Dan Cavanaugh, who also composes for the group.

Although they have been out of the Oregon jazz scene for a few years, 7 Minus is still well remembered.

"I became familiar with each of these guys when they were graduate students over at the University of Oregon," said Jody Henderson, the Sisters Middle School and High School band director.

"We have the great fortune of taking our bands over there a couple of times a year for events, and we get to see some of the standout students that are there. Also the University of Oregon has a summer camp that we sent quite a few students to before. Usually, between six and eight of our students go to that camp every summer. Some of the better students on campus also teach at the summer camp," Henderson said.

Some of the students have kept in touch with members of the group, so the band is also not unknown at the high school.

"Some of our students got to interact with some of these guys and have kept in touch. The people in this band know that we have pretty solid interest in their music, and when they decided to do a Northwest tour we were one of the first people they called," said Henderson.

As a part of the time they are spending in Sisters, band members are also helping the students.

"They will be working on individual playing techniques with specific instruments. For example our trumpet players will be going with their trumpet player and talk trumpet. The piano player (Dan Cavanaugh) is becoming a national and world noted composer, and he is going to do a composition clinic with our kids. He calls it 'Speed Composing' and says that if you can write a single note on a piece of paper I can help you be a composer, and when this is over, we will do a panel discussion where the kids can ask questions," said Henderson.