Submitted by Al Kanovsky 5/13/13
....Hey! Hold up! We haven't
completed the competition (Essentially Ellington). There are still 8 great bands to listen
to.
I know, I know. But there was an early winner. Me. Yes me. Yesterday I was late but today (Sunday) I am early. Why?--to snag a free parking spot on 58th St.--and I do. If you think getting to park free in Manhattan isn't winning, consider this. Thurs.(Bway)$37--Fri. (JLAC evening only)$19--Sat.(JLAC noon 'til 9)$25. So now you know why I consider a free parking spot a win. The winning didn't stop there. My streak continues with my seating. In my box are two fascinating gals (yeah, yeah) both named Kate. Kate Labiak who is the band director at College Place Mall School in Washington and Kate Buker who makes a living as an Assistant District Attorney and is an avid photography hobbyist. She is there in support of Beloit High from Wisconsin. And if that ain't enuf I get to listen to the 8 bands who hadn't performed yet. That is the topping on the cake.
First up was Badger H.S. from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin and under the direction of Greg Bunge. Full swing band set-up. 5sax, 4 trombone, 5 trumpet, piano, bass, guitar, drums and the first vocalist of the competition. That's not the whole story----the sax section was completely and totally female!!! The singer was a girl too, her voice a reflection of the 30's.
Next up was my adopted H.S., Dillard Center for the Arts. Mr.Christopher (uh uh--er-uh uh) Dorsey directs this outstanding band which has placed first in the last 2 competitions. Because they are my "homeys" I will exploit my position as writer of this blog, and name them. Ladies first. On trombone,Taylor Young, playing bass, Brenda Contreras and on the drums Sydney Henry. The sax section--Markus Howell, Christian Cummings, Ben Stocker, Damonn Sands and Jonathan Hainsworth. Trumpets: Christian Dorsey, Anthony Hervey, Max Boiko, Eric German and Donovan Perry. Trombones: the aforementioned Miss Young, Kim Morton, Jeremiah Joseph, Tashi Shaw and Joel Perez. At the piano and trading places, Diandre Dawkins, Ulysses McClover and Max Holm. On guitar Zachary Auslander and Connor McWilliams. Bass Miss Contreras and Christopher Mills. Drums: Sharing the spotlight Miss Henry, Zachary McKinney and Charlie Steiner.
They concluded
their performance with a rousing "2d Line" march. In regard to my referring to
Mr. Dorsey as "UH UH--ER- UH UH" it is because when he was doing his opening
remarks he had one of those uh uh moments, which even he thought was kind of
funny.
I am sure Mr. Dorsey will let me
know, with no 'ers', what he thinks of my comment.
Dillard was followed by
Lexington High School JAZZ Ensemble from Lexington, Mass. under the direction of
Andrew Held. Lexington also had 2 young ladies in the reeds
section.
Fourth was another home-grown
group from Coral Gables. FL. The Community Arts Program All-star JAZZ Ensemble.
This is not a high school group but a community sponsored arts program by the
City Of Coral Gables. It is under the direction of Daniel Strange. Their
performance completed the morning program.
The afternoon program continued
at 1PM, with the Foxboro High School JAZZ Ensemble from Foxboro Mass. which has
had its share of publicity of late. Mr. Stephen Massey directs. Following was AM
JAZZ Ensemble representing Rio Americano High School, Sacramento, CA and
directed by Josh Murray. Next up was highly competitive Roosevelt High School
JAZZ Band, under the direction of Scott Brown. There are three other performing
JAZZ groups at their school in Seattle, Washington. There are young ladies at
sax, trumpet and bass in the
Roosevelt band. Last up was the Ellington Big Band, representing the Tucson JAZZ
Institute out of (you guessed) Tucson, Arizona. The Tucson JAZZ Institute
supports a total of 7 big bands. The Ellington Big Band ranks #1 amongst them.
The band members come from 10 different high schools throughout Southern
Arizona. The top 3 would be announced at 4PM.
JAZZ At Lincoln Center (JALC) is
celebrating its 25th anniversary and this is the 18th year for the Essentially
Ellington competition. They are planning on having 2,000 High Schools in their
program in the near future. Gail May Engelberg, a member of the Board of
Directors, was given an award as a founder the Essentially Ellington program.
Also, there was for the first time, a competition in JAZZ composition and
arranging. It is named for Gerhard W. Vosshall and is made possible by a
generous gift from his family in his honor .The winner was Devon Gillingham from
Transcona Collegiate in Winnipeg. M.B. Not only did he win an award, Wynton admired his
jacket.
Just prior to the announcing the
top 3, the judges, seated on stage gave bits of advice to the future JAZZ
artists. The importance of finding a teacher, the relationship of improvisation
and the sense of story. soulfulness and vibe. The importance of the clarinet to
sax players. How the rhythm section is the most important of the sections and
much more. The top 3 were announced, not in any particular order, JAZZ House,
Roosevelt and Tucson JAZZ.
The announcement was followed
with honorable mention and outstanding solo awards for individuals as selected
by the judges. Then the 3 selected bands had the opportunity to perform once
more with 2 selections Finally the suspense would come to and end---3d place
Roosevelt High School--2d place JAZZ House Big Band----and 1st
place Ellington Big Band fro Tucson, Arizona---Honorable mention went to
Dillard Center for the Arts. You may have noticed that I didn't use the word
winner for the 1st place band. I will tell you why. every kid, every director,
every parent and every program that participated was a WINNER.
And an even bigger winner were those of us who were privileged to hear these
bands play.
They tried their best with
outstanding performances by each and everyone. Thank you
all.
The evening ended with a one set
concert by the JAZZ at Lincoln Center Orchestra.
Wynton Marsalas (music
director/trumpet), The trumpet section: Ryan Kisor, Kenny Rampton, and Marcus
Printup. The trombones: Vincent Gardner, Chris Crenshaw and Elliot Mason. Reeds:
Sherman Irby, Ted Nash, Victor Goines, Walter Blanding and Joe Temperly, all of
them playing at least 2 different horns. At drums, Ali Jackson, on piano,
Dan Nimmer. Special Guests included James Chirillo(guitar), Philip Kuehn(bass)
and Max Siegel(trombone).
During the day I ran into Rick
Katz, Executive Director of the Miami JAZZ co-op and had a chance to chat about
what a great event this was. A little later shared some further philosophies
with "JellyRoll Justice" WWOZ, out of New Orleans, hung out with Mike and Susan
Stocker who were busy shooting pix and whose son had an elongated clarinet solo
on "Royal Garden Blues" with Dillard. As we were all leaving I met Russell
Hall(bass) a Dillard alumni and long-time favorite of mine (since he was 13 or
so). We shared a bone-crunching hug--he is kinda big--. One of the other Dillard
band members asked me if I was Ben's Grand-dad. No I told him I was actually
Markus Howell's grandfather. It was Markus' 18th birthday, Sunday. Heck of a
Mothers Day gift. Actually I would be proud to grandfather to any of the
youngsters I heard play this weekend.
An extra special thank you to
everyone of the JALC staff. Starting with the courteous ushers on up to the
super helpful top-brass. This young and beautiful group know what they are doing
and know how to do it.
I will start with Erika Santucci
who was my contact and guided me carefully(is it my age or my looks) every step
of the way. Maegan McHugh, the Manager of Secondary and Higher education
programs at JALC was instrumental in producing the EE event and did a superb
job. Seton Hawkins is the Manager for Social Media and Educational Resources and
covered all the bases. Kathleen Murray(Education Ass't) added support. Ted Stoll
is the V.P of Education and plays a key role.
The Public Relations Team has
Zooey T Jones as its Director and Erika is her Assistant Director. Lauren
Laucher and Kimberly Armante are interns. I could not have lived through this
weekend without their thoughtful kindness. Each and everyone in the P.R. group
is (in order of importance or maybe not) young, beautiful, talented,
knowledgeable, intelligent and helpful. Thanks, guys----I mean, gals----uh oh I
did it again!!!
Back in FL. Tuesday in time for
Anniversary Party(paaaarrrtttaaaayyy) at BJB's.
Still time to check in with me
if you want go to the Havana JAZZ Festival 12/15 to 12/23 with direct flight MIA
to HAV on AA. alkanon@hotmail.com
Al's Disclaimer:
Traveling to catch some of Florida's good music? Check out these places and rates!
Posted by Jazz & Blues Florida
Please visit http://www.jazzbluesflorida.com/ to sign up to have
Or, just email me at Charlie@JazzBluesFlorida.com
And, if you like what you see here, HIT THAT FACEBOOK SHARE BUTTON below!
Thanks!
No comments :
Post a Comment