LYNNWOOD — Ingraham High School’s jazz choir took the stage at Edmonds College on Thursday morning and transported attendees into the world of jazz with renditions of “No Moon at All” and “Fly Me to the Moon,” accompanied by piano, guitar and drums.
It was one of many performances made possible by Frank DeMiero, who founded the jazz festival that now bears his name 49 years earlier. DeMiero died on Feb. 19 after suffering a debilitating stroke five years ago.
DeMiero grew up in Belfair. Although his family was musical, DeMiero’s decades-long music career started with a high school prank.
The coach and the school’s choir director enrolled DeMiero and the rest of the South Kitsap High School football team in choir.
“The rest is history,” his son, Vincent DeMiero, said.
He fell in love with choir and ended up singing and drumming at Olympic College, where he met his mentor, Ralph Manzo. He transferred to Eastern Washington University to keep working with Manzo.
After he graduated, he spent time touring, and later settled in Cheney with his wife, Yvonne DeMiero. They had three kids: Vincent, Carmelyn and Joe. Frank DeMiero then became director of vocal music in Aberdeen, where he taught at a middle and high school.
In 1967, he started teaching music at Mountlake Terrace High School, succeeding another mentor and dear friend, Ed Aliverti. He taught vocal music to just under 400 students in a variety of groups, including men’s and women’s glee, a general choir, a select choir and a jazz choir.
“I would come up here on occasion, especially like on weekends or evening rehearsals, or if they were doing something with a drama program. I was always blown away, even then, at how many different kids were involved in in music, let alone vocal music,” said Vincent DeMiero, who now teaches journalism at Mountlake Terrace High School.
During the summer of 1971, Frank DeMiero took his jazz choir, the Dynamics, on a tour of Panama at the request of the Panamanian government. On the way back, they performed in Mexico City and for NASA scientists in Houston.
The group also performed at some of the largest jazz festivals on the West Coast. They won every single one.
“It was almost like some sort of rock group was touring because kids would come up and ask the high school kids for their autograph,” Vincent DeMiero said.
In 1974, Edmonds College recruited Frank DeMiero to start its music program.
“It’s an absolutely true story,” Vincent DeMiero said. “He took the piano that our family had and put it in the classroom there, and that’s how the music department started.
The same year, he founded Soundsation, a jazz choir that still exists today. Within a year or two, they were invited to the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.
“Frank was one of four or five people on the ground floor of really exploring what it would be like to do the vocal equivalent of a jazz band,” Marcy said.
When jazz choirs first started, they stood in a traditional choral formation on risers. But Frank DeMiero had a different vision. He had his students stand in an arc and put a microphone in the hand of each singer. Soundsation was a model for jazz choirs across the country, said Louise Uriu, board president of Frank DeMiero Jazz Festival. The group’s early recordings are still used as examples today.
“He was an innovator,” Uriu said.
From 1976 to 2000, Frank DeMiero hosted a total of 26 Soundsation jazz summer camps. Between 175 and 300 students would attend from all over the country. That’s when Kirk Marcy, who traveled to the camp from Colorado, met Frank DeMiero.
“When Frank walked in the room, it didn’t matter what room it was, you knew he was there,” Marcy said. “He was just full of personality, such a positive force.”
Eleven years later, Marcy started directing Soundsation and stayed for 36 years.
“(The camp) was life-changing for me,” Marcy said.
Vincent DeMiero said his father had “infectious enthusiasm” that helped him connect with people. He’d ask jazz legends to talk to his students and come to his camps, and they almost always agreed. Legends such as Bobby McFerrin, Diane Reeves, Dee Daniels and Ernestine Anderson performed and hosted workshops with students.
In 1985, Edmonds School District hired Frank DeMiero as the director of performing arts. He made sure every student through sixth grade had access to music, which trickled up to higher grades. Once he started, the district began to gain national recognition for its music program.
“None of that happens accidentally,” Vincent DeMiero said.
Frank DeMiero was an advocate for keeping music programs away from budget cuts, Marcy said.
In 2023, Mountlake Terrace High School lost its choral programs due to budget cuts. In 2024, the Edmonds School District also approved cuts to music programs.
“There’s a lot of school districts and school district officials that don’t see the value of the arts in the same way that those of us who are entrenched in the arts do,” Marcy said. “We see kids on a daily basis that say, if it weren’t for music, if it weren’t for choir or band or orchestra or drama, I wouldn’t be in school.”
Frank DeMiero retired in 1998. During his retirement, he continued to work with national and international jazz organizations, guest conducting and hosting workshops.
The year he retired, Frank DeMiero was inducted into the Washington Music Educators Association Hall of Fame. He also established the Seattle Jazz Singers and the Sno-King Community Chorale and served as the director of vocal jazz education at the University of Washington for two years. In the early 1990s, Frank and Yvonne started a music publishing company, Anchor Music Publications.
At home, music was just as prevalent, Vincent DeMiero said. The family had a rule that each child had to learn how to play piano, sing and pick up one more instrument.
“He got to do so many things because music was the avenue, was the venue, was the catalyst,” Vincent DeMiero said. “He was not a wealthy person at all, but he was a world traveler because of music.”
Outside of music, Frank DeMiero enjoyed cooking. He hosted baking days before Christmas, which Marcy’s kids went to. He would teach Mountlake Terrace High School kids how to make “legit” spaghetti sauce while singing and teaching them about Italian culture.
Frank DeMiero also loved salmon fishing and being out on the water listening to jazz music. It was one of his favorite activities to do with his children and grandchildren, including Vincent DeMiero’s youngest son.
“He couldn’t even walk yet, and my dad’s throwing a life jacket on him and saying he’ll be fine, put a fishing pole in his hand, let him experience that,” he said.
Frank DeMiero’s legacy lives on in the Snohomish County music programs that are still intact today, Marcy and Vincent DeMiero said.
“He dreamed out loud,” Marcy said.
Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.
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