Jazz man

Brice Winston didn't know if Tucson was a proper fit when he first moved his family to town from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

The jazz sax player, highly regarded for his work with famed trumpeter Terence Blanchard, grew up in the Old Pueblo. He went to Catalina High and remembers getting his start in jazz as part of the music program at Carson Middle School.

He had fond memories of the city but wasn't sure what coming back would mean for his career.

"Tucson is not the same kind of town as New Orleans," Winston said.

The musician spent more than a decade earning his keep in The Big Easy.

"Hundreds and hundreds of musicians make their livings every day in New Orleans. It is a music community. You don't have that same level here in Tucson."

Looking for stability for his family — his wife Eleonor and two daughters, Maya and Alana — Winston stayed in Arizona.

Today, nearly four years later, the 38-year-old artist is thriving.

On a national level, Winston continues to play with Blanchard, a longtime friend whom he met at jams while attending Ellis Marsalis' jazz studies program at the University of New Orleans.

Blanchard and Winston have worked together on five CDs as well as 10 movie scores, six of them for Spike Lee films, including "Inside Man" and "Summer of Sam."

"He is a serious asset for the group," Blanchard told the Star in an interview last year. "He is one of the most underrated guys in the jazz world. He is a great performer and composer, a visionary."

Come Monday, Winston will meet Blanchard in Seattle to do some score work for the upcoming Terrence Howard movie "Red Tails."

He is also on tap to play a string of dates with Blanchard throughout the summer from Scullers in Boston to Yoshi's in Oakland, Calif.

"We have absolute respect for each other and I have learned a lot from him on so many levels," Winston said. "He taught me about life, about music, about leadership. He is such a deep cat."

When he isn't playing with Blanchard, Winston is taking steps in his own solo career.

In January, the musician started production work on his very first solo album, which he hopes to have out by this summer.

While on a hiatus from Blanchard's band, Winston gathered material he honed playing Tucson venues like the Cushing Street Bar & Restaurant and Old Pueblo Grille and picked up two days of studio time in New York City. He recruited some of his old pals for the session, accomplished players like pianist Aaron Parks, drummer Kendrick Scott and Derrick Hodge on bass.

"To get these guys in one place at one time was almost a miracle," Winston said. "Kendrick has been touring with Terence, Herbie Hancock and Dianne Reeves. Derrick has worked with the Chicago Symphony, Patti LaBelle and Christina Aguilera. He works with the rapper Common a lot. They all have very busy schedules."

The session was hectic but successful, Winston said. The album, which he describes as having more of a "New York feel," still needs to go through the mastering process. Winston funded this project all on his own. He plans on finishing the job with local producer Mike Levy.

"People have been asking me about a solo album for 10 years," Winston said. "But I am a perfectionist. I wanted it to be perfect. I just had to come to terms that it is not going to be perfect. It is simply a documentation of this point in time. It is a fair representation of who I am as a composer and a player."

On top of the touring, the score work and his solo efforts, Winston is diving headfirst into a new project aimed at educating Tucson's youngest jazz players.

Earlier this year, members of the Arizona Jazz Academy and the Tucson Jazz Society's JazzWerx training program agreed to join forces to create the Tucson Jazz Institute, a super-school led by Winston, a JazzWerx coordinator since returning to town, and Doug Tidaback and Scott Black of the Arizona Jazz Academy.

The newly formed jazz school, boasting more than 140 students, set up shop in a 3,000-square-foot facility on East Broadway in a strip mall across the street from Park Place.

It features two combo rehearsal rooms as well as a larger rehearsal space that will soon double as a performance venue.

Winston is in charge of improvisation, Black directs combos and Tidaback serves as the big-band director.

"Brice is an incredible tenor sax player and has a passion about teaching," Tidaback said. "He is at that highest level of performance. It is great to have him on staff because of his experience. He can talk in real-world terms about what it is like to go to college, to study and lift himself up from Tucson."

Winston sees combining the two schools as a positive move. He remembers his father, an avid jazz fan, taking him to jazz jams around town when he was a teen. They were sometimes "uncomfortable" but helped with his growth, Winston said.

"When you are around talent, it breeds competition and excellence," he added. "I see the kids already influencing the scene and pushing the professionals. They see these kids and are inspired because they are playing some amazing stuff."

Winston knows what it means to miss New Orleans.

"It will always feel like my home to a certain degree," he said. "It is a huge part of who I am and how I play."

But he can't see moving back. He finally sold his Louisiana home in December and has reacquainted himself with his desert surroundings.

"There were things in New Orleans that we were growing frustrated with before Katrina," Winston said. "We weren't excited about raising our kids there. Things work well here. Our kids are in a great school. We have made friends. We are trying to take advantage of all of that."

If you go

Judy Roberts and Greg Fishman with Brice Winston

• Presented by: The Tucson Jazz Society.

• When: 7 p.m. Sunday.

• Where: St. Philip's Plaza, 4280 N. Campbell Ave.

• Cost: $20 with discounts available through Bookmans. Call 903-1265 for more info.