IF YOU GO* What: Boling/Brown/Holloway Trio with Greg Tardy.* When: 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 13.* Where: Barking Legs Theater, 1307 Dodds Ave.* Admission: $16.* Phone: 423-624-5347.* Website: www.barkinglegs.org.
In 2010, after a lifetime of nomadic moves around the country – Milwaukee, New Orleans, New York City – Greg Tardy landed in Knoxville to teach jazz at the University of Tennessee. A globetrotting saxophonist with international performing experience, Tardy says his musical approach is impacted by every place he lands.
In contrast to the modern approach favored by musicians in New York, Knoxville, he says, is more focused on a traditional sound that hearkens back to early sax pioneers such as Sidney Bechet and Paul Gonsalves.
By immersing himself in that scene, Tardy says, he has learned that looking backward can be just as vital to musical growth as remaining on the cutting edge.
“I really do look at the tradition [of jazz] as being … the foundation that all the modern playing should be based on,” he says. “The stronger that foundation is, the stronger everything is. The foundation is essential.”