It\u2019s all coming together this year for the Kentridge Jazz Band.<\/p>\n
With seniors leading the way in most sections and a handful of top-shelf soloists out in front, the band is starting to make a name for itself, including winning the Auburn Riverside Jazz festival Jan. 17.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year we have a sort of a veteran group,\u201d said band director Dave Baldock. \u201cWe\u2019ve got good players form top to bottom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Playing a pair of Duke Ellington numbers (\u201cAgain and Again\u201d and \u201cPhantazm\u201d) as well as \u201cThe Gates of Tashbaan\u201d by Kris Berg, Baldock said the band was really able to come together behind senior alto sax soloist Sam Wallen and sophomore trombone soloist Nachi Shamaprasad.<\/p>\n
It really helps to have good soloists out front,\u201d Baldock said.<\/p>\n
Baldock said he was proud of his band and was confident of how well they did even before the winners were announced.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew we did well,\u201d he said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t surprised when we were chosen to come back as a finalist that evening.\u201d<\/p>\n
With other competitions ahead, including this past weekend in Bellevue and having sent an audition tape out for the \u201cEssentially Ellington\u201d show in May at Lincoln Center in New York, the band meets every day during \u201czero period,\u201d before school at 6:45 a.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re just very busy and always tired,\u201d Baldock said of his band.<\/p>\n
Baldock said the school\u2019s monthly \u201cJazz Cafes\u201d gives the students a chance to perform in front of a friendly audience of family and friends, helping them prep for an audience and a competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cPutting them in that performance-like situation … is sort of a nice way to prepare,\u201d Baldock said, adding that he though it made a difference when the band played at Riverside. \u201cGoing into this one (Riverside), it just felt more comfortable on stage than we have in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n
And the band responded beautifully, backing the soloists and best the other seven large high schools in competition and bringing a new trophy back to Kentridge.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt great,\u201d Wallen, 18, said of the win. \u201cWe know that when we perform at our best we can do great things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wallen said the difference-maker this year is leadership from the seniors in each section, all of whom pushed their sections to work harder.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year we\u2019re just really solid,\u201d agreed senior Kaley Puckett.<\/p>\n
Baldock agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cMusically, we\u2019ve got a real evenness in the band that makes it easier to put the finishing touches on our preparation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Even after 38 years teaching, Baldock said it is difficult to say exactly how a group of kids and a piece of music come together.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always a mystery as to what that chemistry is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Baldock said though the competitions do not drive the music program – of which jazz is only part – he said it was nice for the kids to win because it instills confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sort of starts to feed on itself,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to keep doing well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s all coming together this year for the Kentridge Jazz Band. With seniors leading the way in most sections and a handful of top-shelf soloists out in front, the band is starting to make a name for itself, including winning the Auburn Riverside Jazz festival Jan. 17. \u201cThis year we have a sort of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":223,"featured_media":7453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-7452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7452"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/223"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7452"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=7452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}