Think big-band music is for old folks? Jaysen Geissler will make you think again

The Olympia Jazz Senators, playing Monday at Rhythm and Rye, are kind of a one-band time machine.

It’s a classic big band of the kind most popular in the 1940s, and its 18 members span several generations.

On one end of the spectrum, there’s 85-year-old saxophonist Gary Scott, who played with the likes of Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis. On the other, there’s pianist Jaysen Geissler, who joined the band in 2017.

At 22, Geissler might not seem old enough to be a Jazz Senator (and incidentally isn’t old enough to be a U.S. senator), but his stage presence and talent have caught the attention of local jazz fans.

Geissler also plays with the Edgewater Trio, which accompanied singer-songwriter Micaiah Sawyer when she won Seattle’s Sound Off competition, and he recently began playing house concerts with Sawyer a friend and mentor who suggested he join the Senators when there was an opening for a pianist.

“Jaysen is very talented,” Sawyer told The Olympian. “He has a lot of integrity. I wish there were more young people like him.”

“He’s a fine young musician,” said Tracey D. Hooker, the Senators’ bandleader.

The admiration is mutual. “When I was in the Tumwater (High School) jazz band, we always were amazed by the Jazz Senators,” Geissler told The Olympian. “They were a big inspiration.”

Geissler, who graduated from Tumwater High School in 2015, studied piano performance for a year at the University of Idaho before deciding to return to South Sound.

“There’s so much good music happening in Olympia,” he said. “I realized I could be furthering my education by playing and making a living at the same time.”

He’s also working hard at his art. He serves as musical director for Appletree Productions, conducts orchestras for musicals at area high schools, teaches piano, and plays for the Olympia High School choirs and for classes at Johansen Dance Center. He’s also appeared on stage in numerous musicals, including Saint Martin’s University’s 2018 “Urinetown.”

Geissler, whose family includes several band and choir directors, grew up singing at home and began studying piano in second grade.

“It was my idea,” he told The Olympian. “I told my parents I wanted to learn to play chess and play piano.”

He still plays chess for fun, but it was his passion for piano that really stuck, and he continues to work with the same teacher, Paul Edwards of Olympia.

He’s developing his improvisational skills with help from Scott, with whom he studied saxophone.

“He did a recital at his house and invited me,” Scott recalls, “and when I heard him play piano, I said, ‘Why in heaven’s name are you playing saxophone? You’re already an accomplished classical pianist. … I think you should stick with piano.”

And so he has. He hasn’t given up classical music, either, but he said jazz has given him the opportunity to develop new skills.

“There’s a different spirit behind jazz,” he said. “It’s very improvisational, which is exciting. You have to trust the people you’re playing with. And you really have to be good on your instrument to play jazz, so that’s been a drive for me.”

He also gravitates to playing in ensembles rather than working alone.

“I’ve always been drawn to bringing groups together to play music,” he said. “Even in elementary and middle school, it was fun to get people together and see how everyone fit into a group and what they could contribute with their instruments or their voices.”

Olympia Jazz Senators

• What: The 18-piece jazz band will perform with guest vocalist Cole Chandler Haiste
• When: 8 p.m. Monday
• Where: Rhythm and Rye, 311 Capitol Way N., Olympia
• Tickets: $5-$25 donation suggested
• More information: 360-705-0760, jazzsenators.com

This story was originally published February 20, 2019 at 5:08 PM with the headline "Think big-band music is for old folks? Jaysen Geissler will make you think again."