Leaves whirled around the tables and chairs of the plaza at the West Street Market on a blustery fall afternoon. As the nearby restaurants began to prep their evening service, Jammal Tarkington took the time to speak about his experiences as a globetrotting musician, DJ, and music teacher while reflecting on what the music scene in Reno used to look like.
“When we were literally kids and didn’t know nothing, we were smart about a couple things,” Tarkington said as cars passed by on the street. He got his start in music at a young age as a bassoon player. It was not long before he discovered the magic of the saxophone. Through the help of his grandfather, who turned him onto jazz music, he started off on the alto sax in the seventh grade. Soon his teachers urged him to try the much larger baritone sax and this instrument is where he earned his chops as a musician.
He came to the University of Nevada, Reno on a music scholarship and quickly fell into a band. “Our hotspot was the Wall,” he explained naming the bar just across campus on Virginia Street. “We would book gigs when we knew that there were football games, when we knew there were basketball games, that we knew were going to draw a crowd.” Tarkington attributes this as one of the reasons his career as a musician got off the ground. He remembers nights where the crowd was shoulder to shoulder and by 10 p.m. there was no room for anyone else inside.
“I rarely see local bands around here that are actually being able to pull numbers like that,” he said.
Pay hasn’t changed much for musicians over the years, but the cost of living has. “Before the pandemic...when I was a freshman in college, $125 was a going rate to get to play a good jazz show,” he explained. “And that’s what it is today.”
Tarkington remembers paying $600 a month for rent and now is baffled at the $2000 price tag he sees on places to live. This lack of affordable housing has left its mark on the music scene.
“The support for arts and musicians has gone to the backburner,” he said. However he knows there are efforts in the community to get art back to where it was when he was younger. Programs like the Holland Project, ArtTown, and the Off Beat Music Festival are ways he sees people trying to reestablish support for local musicians and artists.
“I think if we can find ways to support them to where that can be also an inspiration to them to be able to want to do this art,” explained Tarkington. As a music teacher, he passes on the torch to the younger generation cultivating this creative drive he found in the old jazz recordings his grandfather shared with him when he was a child in Stockton, California.
“I was a big kid so I think they were like ‘give him the big horn,” explained Tarkington about how he transitioned from the alto saxophone to the baritone saxophone. “Once I actually started playing it, I loved it.” He remembers carrying the massive case several miles to and from school everyday. Tarkington’s grandfather seeded his love of jazz. Specifically, he remembers one album, a Gerry Mulligan live album from the early 1950s. The concert was recorded in his hometown and he asked his grandfather about the record.
“He was like, ‘I was at that show,’” said Tarkington with a small laugh. “That drew me to having an understanding of where the instrument's progression has come.” Beyond his grandfather, Tarkington gave Gerry Mulligan credit for the musician he is today and his love of collecting albums and LPs. He considers himself almost an archaeologist of music. Mulligan also known as Jeru, was a New York City jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger who died in 1996 after a long, illustrious, multi faceted career.
“I think musicians can try to be, not to say more original, but just more true to themselves,” explained Tarkington about the difference between the music scene of his youth and today. When he first started playing music professionally in college, he said he had no idea what he was doing as far as a local band. But this lack of experience allowed him and his bandmates to pull together a unique style of music that was their own and true to who they were as individuals. A bit of ska, a tad of punk, and a little jazz. This eclectic arrangement of styles was his first band, The Mudsharks. Despite this quirky approach to finding his style, he does wish he had someone to help set them on track with a distinct style.
“Finding a voice that is you,” explained Tarkington, “so that you can dig into that is important.” It translates to when a musician goes in front of an audience. He has learned from his successful career, that this allows a musician or artist to create work that is truthful and relatable. Beyond that, he does feel there are not enough venues for musicians.
“When I look at what’s going on in Reno, I think we can have some music halls,” he said. “Some venues that are specific to cultivating a thing for bands.” He mentioned the spot immediately behind us, the former music venue The Green Room. He used to be a bouncer for them as well as a musician. These kinds of venues that have fallen by the wayside gave roots to up and coming musicians. And they are few and far between in town nowadays. He remembers bands would come through, fifteen years ago, and make a few thousand dollars a night.
“You can’t do that in Reno anymore,” he said. He thinks there should be many venues that support musicians with a solid sound system and sound person to help cultivate a connection between audience and musician.
While he looks forward to getting back to performing, he equally wants to go out and support local musicians. He is an avid fan of music and enjoys live shows nearly as much as performing. The pandemic has allowed him to focus on recording and getting the old band, Who Cares, back together. This band has had some of the greatest impact on the community in terms of a form of medicine. Tarkington told a story about how an individual used the music of Who Cares to get through some tough issues. This connection is something Tarkington feels is essential for musicians to distill into their music and is something he tries to accomplish with every note.
“Maybe see ways to be supportive of music and arts in general,” said Tarkington about what the community can do for the local arts. “I like looking for the underdog.” He wants the community to do the same and get out, safely, and support the local music and arts community.