Quite familiar with the artistic appeal of each, Mike Cemprola knows that Philadelphia often finds itself in the shadow of New York City yet holds that the former possesses a superior personality. Eager to help that estimation to resonate with residents, the inhabitant of the 1200 block of South Marshall Street, along with the peers who complete his eponymous quartet, will assist in capping the Center City Jazz Festival with a Fergie’s Pub-situated Saturday gig.
“There’s a healthy amount of opportunities in this city,” the saxophonist said from his Passyunk Square home. “Our involvement with the festival is a terrific example and a great way to be myself in promoting this type of music.”
The 31-year-old and his trio of allies will play at the 1214 Sansom Street-based space from 1 to 2 p.m., with their participation helping Newbold dweller and festival founder/artistic director Ernest Stuart to mark his fifth contribution to Jazz Appreciation Month. With plans to play tracks from “Trip,” his 2015-issued disc, and to test new tunes, Cemprola confessed that he has not felt stressed as the days have dwindled until the foursome performs.
“It’s essentially a chance to do what I want to do, and that includes not wearing a bow tie,” he joked of the occasion, noting the fabric’s perennial presence at many other assignments. “I love playing, so when we’re talking about a chance to be a part of a celebration of jazz’s influence, I’m definitely appreciative and excited.”
While Cemprola will be showcasing his talent for an older crowd on Saturday, with the quartet as the first of four acts, he will engage in lighter moments tomorrow through a Play On, Philly clinic at Freire Charter School, where his wife, Kate Ambacher, teaches. With those two tasks and other burgeoning endeavors, he is acquiring even more perspective as he strengthens his attachment to a discipline that has secured his fascination for more than two decades.
“I’ll always consider myself a work in progress,” Cemprola said of navigating nuances and offering his observations to the jazz world. “I’m definitely enthused about enhancing my love of jazz, playing as much as I can, and wearing some different hats as I progress.”
The New Jersey native noted that baseball also interested him as a boy, but when he started to play alto saxophone as a fourth-grader, everything else seemed as if it teemed with cacophony.
“I had a little bit of natural ability and maybe a touch of ego,” Cemprola recalled, adding that Sesame Street’s “Put Down the Duckie” proved pivotal in prompting him to pursue his craft. “I just really started to love playing, so then it became natural for me to want to pick up more influences and see what might come of this enthusiasm.”
Maturing in Mechanicsville, Virginia, he gravitated toward the work of Phil Woods, the four-time Grammy Award-winning bebop alto saxophonist, bandleader, clarinetist, and composer. Wanting to sound like the Massachusetts-born genius and to emulate his tirelessness, he became involved in his high school band and began to score work while a teenager.
“I’ve always found myself loving the process,” Cemprola said of having an affinity for practice. “I’ve come to believe that the way that you sound is sort of who you are, and I always want for me and the other guys to sound great when we’re out there as the quartet.”
Wanting to explore more East Coast opportunities, the enthusiast matriculated at The University of the Arts and credited consistently playing with better musicians as a key component of his evolution. Though he enjoyed the scene in the City of Brotherly Love, he craved a taste of the Big Apple and lived there for a year. Tabbing it as a place where it is “easy to get swallowed,” he returned to Philadelphia and has accentuated his artistry through numerous engagements and travel opportunities, including time as a commercial/pop sideman with Aretha Franklin, The Four Tops, Johnny Mathis, and Wayne Newton, among others, and treks to Europe and South America for flute, clarinet, and saxophone chores.
“It’s been an interesting journey,” he said of his integration, which includes employment at his collegiate alma mater. “I needed about a couple years to gain any sort of stability, and there are obviously ups and downs in having this profession, but I think I’ve chilled out a bit and have come to know that everyone goes through that. I just try to keep my composure and give my best no matter what the job is.”
Accustomed to courting people to grow fond or fonder of jazz no matter what the calendar reads, Cemprola enjoys that Philadelphia stages a great annual tribute to his predecessors and contemporaries and loves that Jazz Appreciation Month and the Center City Jazz Festival could breed a few successors to his artistic curiosity. He will continue to show eagerness for further breakthroughs via new material and a July tour that could include two Philadelphia stops as well as dates in Pittsburgh; Morgantown, West Virginia; Washington, D.C.; and Richmond and Mechanicsville. A month before that, he will prove that his legs possess as much tenacity as his fingers when he competes in his inaugural ultramarathon in New Jersey.
“There aren’t many dull moments,” Cemprola, also set to mark three years of marriage next month, said. “I’m keeping time, so to speak, and it’s all pretty amazing.” ■
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Visit ccjazzfest.com.
Contact Editor Joseph Myers at jmyers@southphillyreview.com or ext. 124.
Portrait Photo by Tina Garceau
