Jazz Showcase 2009

Gridley IL isn't usually a place you think of a jazz hotspot, but it sure was on April 17th. The candles were lit, the lights were low and the place looked ready for an evening of quality entertainment thanks to a great team of parent volunteers.(Thank you so much!)

The EPGHS Jazz Band took the stage for two sets that evening, providing our patrons with music to enjoy while they tasted the delicious desserts(again, thank you parents). There were even some couples caught...dancing! The venue really was quite fitting and most guests even dressed up for a night on the town.

Jazz Showcase is a great opportunity for the students to get a taste of what being in a real big band is like for musicians. We had to put together a dance book of varying styles, rehearse the tunes, and work with guest vocalists. Thank you to our girls group and choir teacher John Shaffer for preparing "As Time Goes By" and to Senior Harrison Hakes for singing Gerswin's famous showtune, "They Can't Take That Away From Me."

The students really enjoyed playing this set including such classics as Miller's "In the Mood" and Basie's "Jumpin' at the Woodside". We also performed more contemporary music such as "A Child is Born" written by Thad Jones and a burnin' Latin tune entitled "The Tiger of San Pedro." The music kept the crowd going for two hours and the standing ovation for our encore was more than we could have hoped for from those in attendance.

We're very proud of the performance and look forward to doing more things like this. The students really worked hard for this and it paid off. We are also happy to donate all proceeds to the EPG Music Boosters who support music of all kinds within our school system.

Photos from the evening courtesy of Tyson Joye Photography will be up as soon as my connection speeds up.

EPG Jazz Saxophonist Among the Best in Illinois

Junior tenor saxophonist Andrew Durham recently spent two days in downtown Peoria playing music with the best HS jazzers in Illinois. When you ask him about the experience, he speaks of how humbling it was to be there and how he knows he'll have to work hard to get back next year. He also just said "awesome" a lot.

Andrew was selected to perform as the lead tenor in the Illinois Music Educators All-State Jazz Band. The road to this concert was long. He started preparing the music last April when Mr. Freesen put the audition tune in front of the Jazz Ensemble. In October, he auditioned at the district level where he was named lead tenor and was a featured sololist for District 3. In early December, he was informed that he would be making the trip to Peoria for the All-State Conference which is the highest level honor group in the state.

The group spent many hours a day rehearsing with fantastic clinicians. During the breaks, the students wouldn't even stop playing! All the hard work paid off for the students at Jazz Night. On Friday, the students rehearsed on the Civic Center Theatre stage and then performed there later that night for a huge crowd. The audience was enthusiastic about the performances by all the participating students who come from programs all over Illinois.

"I was honored to take a student to the festival this year. This was the first time the EPG schools have sent a student to the conference for instrumental music and it couldn't have been a better student-musician than Andrew. We will work hard and hopefully have more students get to experience this in the future."-Mr. F
(Article originally appeared on http://www.unit11.org/)