Last October, a mailing about Notre Dame's Collegiate Jazz Festival was sent out to 400 college jazz bands across the country. By December, 34 of them had written back, submitting an audition tape and information about their band.

Amidst the rush before winter break, this year's festival director, Paul Krivickas, and faculty advisor Fr. George Wiskirchen, C.S.C., sat down and listened closely to each tape. They considered their decision carefully, talking over the strengths of each ensemble. They finally chose nine bands (the 10th being one of Notre Dame's own) to be a part of the University's 43rd jazz festival.

This year's Collegiate Jazz Festival boasts groups from across the nation, including bands representing Central Michigan University, Boise State University, Southern Illinois University, Lawrence University, University of Texas-Brownsville, University of Northern Iowa, Northern Illinois University, Loyola University-New Orleans and Florida State University.

"Usually [the bands] come from the Midwest, but this year it's more national," said Krivickas. "We were mindful of this when we picked the bands."

Many of the bands are making their first appearance at the festival. "We have a lot of new groups this year," said Wiskirchen. "Old groups run into schedule conflicts or problems with budgets, so the result is newer groups who haven't been to the festival before."

There are a few noticeable absences — namely Western Michigan, whose strong jazz program faced scheduling problems for the first time this year. As a result, Wiskirchen said the festival should be full of surprises.

"I have no idea who's going to be an outstanding group," said Wiskirchen. "We can presume Florida State will have a very fine group based on what they've done in the past."

"I haven't heard from Loyla University in New Orleans in about 25 years, so it should be interesting to see what they're doing," Wiskirchen said. "Other [groups] are here for the first time and may end up being more interesting and exciting."

"That's part of the interest in the festival," said Wiskirchen. "Jazz is a constantly changing thing."

The "CJF," as it is known in jazz circles around the country, was founded by students in 1959 and has been a student-run operation ever since. Wiskirchen, its faculty advisor since 1972, sites this student involvement as one of the festival's strengths.

"From the beginning, the faculty advisor was just there to help out, to give whatever advice was needed, to provide contacts and experiential knowledge," said Wiskirchen.

Yet these contacts he refers to have done more than help out student organizers — indeed, Wiskirchen's connections have helped draw top jazz musicians to the festival as judges.

"Fr. Wiskirchen is amazing," said Krivickas. "He knows everything there is to know about jazz — he's a legend here."

As student director, Krivickas is in charge of assembling the festival's judges. "Whenever I mention [Wiskirchen's] name, people recognize him," Krivickas said. "He's known all over in the jazz community."

Among the judges who were drawn to the CJF this year, either by connections through Wiskirchen or an appreciation for the festival's quality and success, all are well-known professional musicians, according to Krivickas. "There are even a few Grammy nominees in the group," Krivickas said.

The group of judges is unique for several reasons. Two are women, of which there have only been a handful in the past, said Krivickas. Four are repeats — Lew Tabackin (flute and saxophone), Conte Candoli (trumpet), Joanne Brackeen (piano) and Richard Davis (bass). The fifth is drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, whose father Sonny was once a CJF judge.

The festival's five judges traditionally play together at one point in the festival for the "Judges' Jam." The Friday night performance is a favorite for both Krivickas and Wiskirchen.

"The festival depends on the judges — their performances and input are always very important," Wiskirchen said. "Each group [of judges] is separate — not a working band that comes here together. They're all individuals that weld themselves together at the festival."

"[The Judges' Jam] is incredible," said Krivickas. "They just get up there and play together with no music."

Besides the crowd-pleasing Judges' Jam, CJF's other big draw is the Saturday night performance of Notre Dame's Monday Night Jazz Band (distinguished from the Wednesday Night Jazz Band by their practice days.) Also known as Jazz Band I, the group has been directed from Wiskirchen from its beginnings in 1972 and has always played in the jazz festival. Its roughly 20 members comprise a standard big band sound: five saxophones, four trombones, five trumpets and five rhythm players.

Wiskirchen said the jazz band's performance remains the central part of his weekend: "My favorite part of the schedule has always been running the Notre Dame band, making music with the group."

This 43rd festival brings a few changes to the event. Most noticeably, the event will be held in Washington Hall, fittingly close to the Old Fieldhouse Mall where the first CJF was held in 1959, and where a cornerstone plaque still commemorates the event.

Krivicakas' efforts are to thank for the move from Stepan Center to Washington Hall.

"I just started thinking, we have this great performing arts center on campus — why aren't we using it?," Krivickas remembered.

It took two years for us to move the festival, since Washington Hall gets booked far in advance. But Krivickas and Wiskirchen agreed it was worth the trouble.

"Washington Hall is much better for our needs," said Krivickas. "All the equipment is there, we don't have to move chairs in and there's more room backstage."

"We had terrible acoustic problems at Stepan Center," Wiskirchen said. "For the present time, I think Washington Hall will be an improvement. [And] we can't wait till they get the new fine arts building done and we can move the festival in there."

Another less recent change whose effect is still being felt on the festival is the switch to a non-competitive atmosphere.

"The competition was getting cut-throat, which wasn't what we wanted," said Krivickas. So several years ago the CJF dropped its "Best Band" award. Judges are still able to award personalized certificates to groups or individuals that stand out, but the focus has switched from a clear winner to a celebration of different jazz styles.

This change has been very beneficial to the festival, according to Wiskirchen. "You have 10 groups playing this weekend, roughly 200 students working hard all year. They come here, play well and the audience likes them. Now, to pick out one group and say they're the best, the rest [of the groups] feel sort of brought down — there's no reason for that."

Wiskirchen contrasted winning a musical competition like the CJF with winning a sporting event: "If it were as close as playing a basketball game, where you can determine exactly who puts the ball through the hoop so many times, then it is much easier to pin it down who won."

But art is more subjective, said Wiskirchen. "It isn't an 85-86 victory — with art, it's much harder to pick a winner. That is one of the reasons we got away from [the competition.]"

The festival's traditions still continue, however, in the quality of performances and the variety of styles.

"The history of the festival follows the history of jazz and the artistic trends of the country," said Wiskirchen. "There were times when [jazz] was very experimental, back in the mid-to-late '60s, and times when it got into a rock or fusion vein, as jazz did in the early '70s."

Today's jazz, as seen at the festival, can be described as mainstream, said Wiskirchen. "It's not avant-garde, but it's going into depth rather than going into new things."

Depending on which bands come, styles of the festival change from year to year, "sometimes [focusing] more on improvisation, sometimes more on communication," Wiskirchen said. "It's a recap of the history of jazz in the professional world — it varies and fluctuates."

As for what this year's festival will hold, neither Wiskirchen nor Krivickas can say for sure.

"That's something you never know ahead of time," said Wiskirchen. "But there's always something exceptional about it."

• All that jazz ...