The Passionate Saxophonist

The Talented Jeremy Vanterpool

Do you hear that sound? Does it tug at your heartstrings? Is it soulful? Is it soothing? Is it Jeremy Vanterpool on the saxophone? Yes, it is.

These words and more describe the melody emanating from the saxophone when Jeremy is at the business end.  But there is only one word that fully encapsulates the personality of this 26 year old Gerald Albright enthusiast; that word is passionate. 

Virgin Vybz caught up with Jeremy recently for a tète tete to extract the secret of his passion for music and his love of the sax.

That love originated at the Elmore Stoutt High School, formerly the BVI High, 12 years ago. He told us that since that time he has been committed to enhancing his skills.

“I had a lot of inspiration from a lot of the teachers at the music programme; I think it is probably one of the best in the Caribbean to be honest, in terms of the discipline… when you come out of that programme, you should be well versed enough, at least for your first semester of a bachelor programme in music. That is how in-depth it is in terms of the theory and the practical training that you receive,” Jeremy told us.

He said the first thing he did on entering college was to search out a jazz studies programme, as he was determined to continue furthering his skills.

Pursuing tertiary education in Georgia and North Carolina, USA, Jeremy’s talent was quickly recognized and engaged by Steve Dancz, a Pianist, Composer and Director of the Jazz Studies Program at the University of Georgia.
Jeremy then came under the tutelage under Dave D’Angleo, Alto Saxophonist of the world renowned Section 8 Jazz Combo.

“The sky is the limit, I always try to work hard; I always see myself as a continuous student, I just continue working.”

He said he derives his musical inspiration from a lot of different things; one of them is his family.

“My family, they kind of excel in various creative arts… so I think I kind of follow suit in that I naturally grew up hearing uncles, aunts and cousins just singing, so I started singing in church, that is where I got my appreciation for different styles of music… so I had a passion for it from young and it was nurtured over the years between church and Elmore Stoutt High School. I was always busy doing things, I was always busy and appreciating music, so it was a natural thing.”

His vibe
“What makes you stand out from other local saxophone players in the BVI, like Dalan Vanterpool and Kamau Georges?” we asked.

“First of all, each of us has a different sound. If you listen to us, you would see the difference in the styles clearly.
“Music is such a personal thing, your personality shows when you playing. So in essence I am the only alto-saxophone player, those guys play originally tenor saxophone. In terms of our styles, music is so personal… the type of people that you listen to, you will more than likely sound like the players you admire,” he explained.

His thing is mostly alto-saxophone music, he told us.

“Ultimately it is the same kind of stuff, but the players that I listen to and the things that they do, you will hear a lot of that when I play. I am a Gerald Albright fan, Mike Phillips…”

He clarified for us that no two saxophone players would sound exactly the same.

“I can’t express myself if I am just trying to regurgitate what somebody else is playing, it is the same concept that you take with life in general. You have to stand out.”

His moods
“I want to continue to be versatile in how I express myself; sometimes I might be in a soulful mood. When I am in church I play different… but the one commonality is the passion that I play with. I am very passionate about music.”

He said a common question he gets from people who have seen him play, and one we asked, is; ‘Why are your eyes closed when you’re playing?”

“I can’t honestly expect people to enjoy listening to me play if I don’t look like I enjoy what I am doing. That is how you pull people in. That is pretty much my concept of performing.”

He said performing is in his blood and from young growing up singing in school functions; he has been able to have performances that really solidify where he is right now, musically.     

Jeremy is also a member of popular local musical group, Blue Essence. He told us that by being a member of the group, they have received many opportunities to perform and open for international artistes, numbering among them Percy Sledge, Sparrow, John Legend and Joss Stone.

“Those kind of experiences definitely put you on another level, force you to be like I am on the same stage as this level of talent, I have to come out and represent myself and that helps to catapult you into another level, so I am very thankful for those opportunities.”

His future in Music
“I see myself with the group (Blue Essence) of course.  One of the strengths of the group is that if you look at the members of the group, individually we have all accomplished a lot and that is really one of its strengths because when you bring that nucleus of players together with reputations of pushing for excellence in their various areas, something like that together is always something special so that is key, I mean, it keeps us on point. So I would never give up the camaraderie of something like that.”   

He said that when he is playing with Blue Essence, it is not just about the Sax, or just about musical instruments, it is about collaboration in that setting.

“So, me performing with Blue Essence is a little bit different than me performing by myself, because you have more leeway with how you want to do it, how you want to express yourself. Even though both are crucial and I would never want to give up any one.”

A member of the HLSCC Jazz Band also, Jeremy told us that he is constantly playing, but with every setting, there is a different sound as it all comes down to the message that he wants to get across.

His focus right now is on getting in some more Caribbean appearances, such as in Jazz festivals.

“The way I see it this; how can I say I am going to conquer somewhere else if I am not conquering my own waters. There is a serious emergence of music in the Caribbean, jazz music; so the way I see it I could make a print quicker through that route… I mean I would welcome any opportunity but I don’t want to limit myself and say I want to be successful in just this particular geographic location, I will take it as it comes.”

Even though he is based in Tortola, Jeremy said his music has been touching many different people all over the world through his website, www.jeremyvanterpool.com .

“I released two albums already in 2010, J Volution, and I am currently trying to work on some stuff, so you can look out for that. “

He assured that in coming months, the BVI will be seeing and hearing a lot more from him, as he is working on a number of initiatives.

“I am trying to see if I can get together a more consistent way to hear more jazz musicians express themselves. I would like to see a continuous mini-concert jazz series…”

His life outside Music

“My other passion is finance.” He said he was able to meet a number of people through music when he was at college studying finance.

“I have a degree in finance and I am currently working on a masters of science in finance with a focus on economic policy.

“I try to merge the facets; on the business side of it, I definitely try to make sure everything is tight on that end in terms of the music business.”

He advised that learning the basics of the music business from the financial end is important as he recounted past bad experiences in that area.

“I try to make sure I represent myself properly because I had two bad experiences, a couple instances where I didn’t have performance agreements and ultimately I was robbed out of some of my material.”

The young musician said that he has learned from these hard lessons which opened his eyes to the reality that being an excellent musician is not all, but knowing the dynamics of the industry is also paramount.

“I would love to see an Entertainers’ Bureau be set up here, whether it is through the Tourist Board; it doesn’t even have to be through the Tourist Board, it could be something that is privately run, everything doesn’t have to be subsidized by government. I would love to see something like that so that you have the forum where you can be educated in the basics of music business.”

When it comes to local talent, in any genre, he believes that, “The reason why we are short-changed a lot of times is not so much victimization; but you get back what you present. So if you present professionalism, more than likely you will get back professionalism, so if we raise the bar to where we all are prepared to present ourselves professionally people will want to hire us and use us without a doubt.”

Jeremy said that he is very passionate about seeing that development for all artistes and for the importance of contracts to be established, performance etiquettes, grooming, anything that falls under the umbrella of excellent musical presentation.

On the light side, Jeremy revealed his well hidden shyness.

“It’s funny, I play for crowds but I am not really a crowd person. It’s an interesting situation.
“You would find that a lot of people are like that, a lot of people who play a lot publicly, sometimes their persona on-stage is much different from their personality. I would say I am kind of like that.”

In spite of this, he left us in no doubt as to his passionate nature. “I am a passionate person in general."

Jeremy”s life philosophy is built on the three P’s: Prayer, Passion and Professionalism. These three Ps are what he has founded his life and career on.

“I am thankful for where I am right now but it doesn’t at all stop me from wanting more in terms of getting myself out there. I don’t want to limit myself to a step and say that is it, because that is where complacency steps in… so I continuously push and do things and keep it going.  I am very driven and result oriented.”

His Outreach
Jeremy lends his talent and expertise to the Universal Language Music studio in is spare time, teaching students aged 13 – 56 on basics of playing the saxophone.

“Right now I have a total of 5 students of different ages, I teach them, and I play with them.  I will teach anybody; if you don’t have an instrument, we provide one. I just want to teach people the same love I have and dedication to music, I am willing teach anybody who wants to learn.”

He said in teaching, he continues to teach himself as well, and this keeps him current in what he is doing.

His Advice to Budding Musicians
“Music is about hard work, humility and perseverance,” Jeremy advised.

“Originally, funny enough when I started playing the saxophone, it wasn’t the most encouraging first lesson that I ever had, but I was very determined that the saxophone is what I wanted to play and despite some little set backs I was able to still push and do what it is I had to do. I would say perseverance and hard work, a lot of hard work. People sometimes asked if I practiced; I practiced a lot. I used to practice almost every day in school; I mean it’s like a lot of hard work.”

He said his passion is due in no small part to the hard work that he has put in towards getting where he is right now.

“When you work hard at something it kind of hurt you when somebody doesn’t see the value in what you do, so you always have to value what it is you do. Hard work is a true value indicator of what it is you are doing. Humility is another one because through humility you are able to take constructive criticisms and improve on what is you need to improve on; you are able to reach a wider mass of people because you can’t reach out to people if people are not listening to you.”

You need to have good influences in what you are doing, Jeremy said, referring to his background in the church and his faith in God throughout his musical journey.

Jeremy advises young aspiring musicians to “Always learn from people that are better than you; if you can’t accept that people are better than you in certain things you are never going to go far.

“Another thing too, you got to have thick skin. Not everyone is going to like how you express yourself, and you have to respect that sometimes. When you receive harsh criticisms when somebody doesn’t really feel how you express yourself, don’t let it take you down or mess up your focus. Just stay focused and keep grounded in something positive. It is very easy to get side tracked. Stay positive. “

His Next Gig
Jeremy will be playing on Saturday, March 3, at the Jazz on the Hill concert in Virgin Gorda.
“I am looking forward to a full showing. “It’s going to be nice; it’s going to be real nice. I am going to incorporate a little bit of everything; and a little fun. I really want to take it to the next level so I am really excited about it,” he said.