Live & Local: Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band in Colorado
Almost 3 years ago, Julia Keefe and Delbert Anderson had a big idea: create a big band connecting Indigenous artists across Indian Country. Today the band seats about 16-18 Indigenous artists at a time onstage. What started out as a call for Indigenous artists has turned into a network of over 60 Indigenous musicians across the US and Canada from different nations all celebrating the constant Indigenous presence in Jazz.
From honoring the music of predecessors like Russell “Big Chief” Moore, Mildred Bailey, Oscar Pettiford, and Jim Pepper to showcasing the work of its own members including Rogan Tinsley, Mali Obomsawin, Delbert Anderson and director Julia Keefe among others, The Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band has been celebrating and continuing tradition while uplifting the next generation of Indigenous jazz musicians.
The Morning Set's Abi Clark and Steve Chavis spoke with Director Julia Keefe ahead of their performances in Colorado April 6 at The Lincoln Center in Fort Collins and April 8 at the Newman Center in Denver.
This portion of the interview above has been edited for length and clarity:
Julia Keefe: The whole concept of the band is really celebrating the diversity and vitality of Indigenous people in jazz and to highlight that we have been part of this art form since its infancy, and we are very much a part of it today. We can play Rocking Chair, which is one of Mildred Bailey's number one tunes - She was known as the rocking chair lady. We can play a dirty old swing tune, and it sounds so great throwing back those big bands of the forties. But what I really love is that we're able to transform ourselves from your straight-ahead big band into almost this experimental, chamber ensemble orchestra. We do a lot of experimental music, a lot of contemporary jazz that really blurs the line between orchestral music and jazz music. So, it is kind of hard to pin down, but I promise it all has that through line, and it follows this story. You kind of follow the evolution of jazz, but you also follow the evolution of Indigenous people in jazz and the different chapters of that history where we have been present and active participants.
Abi Clark: Wow! I'm so looking forward to seeing that. Since you co-founded it alongside Delbert Anderson back in 2022, the growth and the impact after these three years of the Indigenous Big Band has to be so moving, being a band leader and helping these artists grow and all of you growing alongside each other through the process.
JK: Yeah, it's been awesome. Honestly, it's given me purpose professionally to direct this big band and to be a supporter for the other folks in the big band or folks who have reached out to me. I've had emails from Native kids in rural Oklahoma as young as 14 and 15, sort of like, 'Oh my God, I thought I was the only Native who loved jazz!' And so to be able to build this community, even if right now it's a virtual sort of community, to raise this awareness, and to be a supporter of these other musicians, these other Indigenous jazz musicians, it is given me so much joy and so much purpose in what I'm doing that it's not about me as a jazz vocalist. It's not about me as a jazz musician. It's very much about us as a community. It's given me the opportunity to expand from self-care and self-expression to community-care and community-expression. And that has just been the gift, gift of a lifetime.
Steve Chavis: Great to have Chantil Dukart in our neighborhood. And it's cool that, with a big band like that, like 60 people in and out, as you travel the nations, you're always running into people or going to visit the home turf of some of these other players like Chantil in Denver or Alaska, or Delbert in Oklahoma or wherever.
JK: And Chantil was able to come to the Kennedy Center with us, and so being able to bring her on the road with us is always fantastic. And of course, once we got the Denver dates, it was like, well, obviously Chantil's going to be on this! But really, it's cool because every location that we go to, every homeland that we go to, we end up meeting more folks who either had relatives who were in all Native big bands in the forties, or that they're jazz musicians themselves. So, with every gig, we're building our community even bigger, which is just the coolest part of this for sure.
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Photo Credit: Photo Courtesy of the Julia Keefe Indigenous Big Band
