On a younger note ...

The Sketches Trio, which consists of Eric Windmeier (left), 15, Ethan Parcell, 15, and Alec Watson (not pictured), 15, practice for an upcoming performance at the taste of Chicago. (Rob Winner photo)

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Thoughts of teen bands might turn to rock, punk, metal, nu metal, hardcore, industrial, emo, screamo or even two-tone rudie ska. But jazz? Alec Watson, Ethan Parcell and Eric Windmeier, all 15-year-olds from Geneva, make up the jazz combo Sketches Trio, a band that is more Miles Davis than Johnny Rotten. The three, who will be Geneva High School sophomores this fall, will play Friday at Taste of Chicago. “We will be playing a tune of mine, a tune of Eric’s, and some old favorites of ours,” Parcell said. “We’re going to play some Thelonious Monk, some Miles.” Their show will be from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at the Fox Chicago Bandstand. “It’s going to be a fun gig,”Windmeier said. “Our biggest one yet.” In addition to the normal travails of being in a band, the three also must deal with peers who don’t have a real conception of what jazz is. “They have some stereotypes of a saxophone and a bunch of beatniks and bongos,” Watson said. On the skins Jazz’s relatively unknown status among teens was a draw for the contrarian Parcell. “I think I naturally tend to gravitate to what people don’t like,” Parcell said. A poster led Parcell down the road to jazz. “When I first started taking drum lessons, my teacher had three Buddy Rich pictures up on his wall, and I had no idea who he was,” Parcell said. Parcell bought a Buddy Rich CD, then a few more, before moving on to Miles Davis and other jazz greats. He was 7 years old at the time. Sketches Trio started two years ago, although Parcell and Watson had been friends since second grade. “We didn’t even know we both liked jazz until like eighth grade,” Watson said. The two brought up the idea to Windmeier, a jazz band classmate who, as Parcell put it, “was showing promise.” The trio has been jamming and gigging ever since. In September, the group recorded two episodes of ‘Arts Live!’, a Wisconsin Public Television program showcasing new young talent. “We play a lot of Miles Davis tunes or tunes Miles is famous for,”Parcell said. “A lot of Bill Evans, [John] Coltrane.” On bass In his free time, Windmeier mainly listens to classical music, but that doesn’t mean that he can’t rattle of lists off famous jazz bassists such as Dave Holland and Ron Carter. Jazz meshes with his musical style more than rock does, Windmeier said. “The music is a little more interesting, and it fits my instrument better,” he said. Windmeier started playing the bass four years ago in a school program. He wanted to play the guitar, but the options that he had to choose from were band and orchestra instruments. No guitars. He later came to view this as a stroke of good fortune. “I decided bass was cooler than guitar once I started playing it,” he said. On the keys For Watson, jazz is about expression and improvisation. Even the name Sketches Trio, a sketch being a rough, free-form drawing, comes from this, he said. “I feel like everybody needs a way to express themselves,” Watson said. “Some people do it through their jobs, some people do it through painting.” Watson said he did not remember any defining moment that turned him on to jazz. He played the piano most of his life and his father, also a music buff, taught him the basics of improvisation. “I think that sparked my interest in jazz because jazz is a lot of improvisation,” he said. A hopeful jazz populist, Watson wants to make jazz a Geneva High School class. However, he said, teachers told him the class was unlikely, because all the members of the jazz after-school program were in the wind symphony class and would have to choose between the two. Still, Watson wants this class to bring jazz to his peers. “I think it’s doable,” he said. “I have a plan for it.”