District Jazz Night kicked off with the PJ Jacobs Jazz Ensemble, featuring pieces “Stompin’ At The Savoy,” and “Freddie Freeloader,” the latter accompanied by PJ Jacobs Alumni! Drew Rust mentioned in an interview after the performance that “When [he] was in middle school, [they] would do this all the time. It was the best time and [he] was like, ‘wow, these guys are really good, I wanna be like them.’” Showcasing some of the importance of having the high schoolers play with the middle school band members, encouraging them to continue their journey in music. Andy Emerson and the 30-person band then closed the PJs Jazz Ensemble’s segment with the hit “It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing.”
Taking the stage, Derek Carden’s Jazz Ensemble from Ben Franklin played the “C-Jam Blues,” which featured melody lines reminiscent of the Jazz Standard ‘Dukes Place!’ Carden mentioned prior to the performance that “[he has] a 6-week-old child at home,” explaining why he couldn’t remember the soloists prior to every song, but he made sure to give them recognition after each piece.
The Ben Franklin Chargers went on to play “Perdido,” accompanied by the Ben Franklin Alumni from SPASH. Carson Slowinski noted that the experience of combining the high school and middle school bands can be helpful for both schools, stating that the high schoolers get to “lead by example and [play] good music,” which then can “inspire [the middle schoolers] to do [jazz band] more in the future.” This helps the middle schoolers improve their skills and increases the jazz band program at SPASH. Lastly, the Ben Franklin Jazz Ensemble presented the song “Ritmo Cristal” to close out the middle school’s showcase! Both schools did a magnificent job presenting what they have learned so far, exciting everybody to see them move up to the high school in the next couple years!
SPASH Jazz 2 took their seats as we welcomed Emerson back on the stage. They started off with “Mack The Knife,” before speeding it up with the upbeat “Fiesta Latina.” Lastly, the 14-person ensemble played the fun “Chameleon,” presenting a segue into our final group of the night, SPASH’s Jazz 1 Ensemble.
Counting down to the beautiful melody of “Blues In The Night,” a clatter made by a trombone slide earned Grayson Barber a round of applause as he stood up and took a small bow. Do not fret, his solo still sounded amazing and the instrument was not harmed! The song calmed the audience down before revving them up again with the funk tune, “Delta Queen.” Afterwards, the beginning of the end kicked off with “Always Simpatico,” a Latin rock tune that featured a bass guitar solo commencing and concluding the melody. This gave a perfect lead-in to the final song, Caravan. Also in the genre of Latin rock, it differentiated itself by moving into a more swing feel throughout the piece.
Overall, the performers felt the concert went well! Slowinski said that it was “successful for the middle schools,” supported by Ryan Blaskey stating “it was better than a three.” From an audience perspective, I would give the District Jazz Night a 9/10. The music kept me on the edge of my seat and the casual feel of it all made it more fun for everybody in the room! As Jordan Moore stated “They get to see how much fun we’re having, and then they get to be like, woah, I wanna have that much fun, and I wanna be that cool.”
