by Kristina Gabalski
The Spencerport Jazz Ensemble as it prepared for the upcoming competition in Boston. Photograph by Kristina GabalskiMembers of the Spencerport High School Jazz Ensemble have high hopes as they prepare to travel to the Berklee College of Music’s 44th Annual High School Jazz Festival in Boston March 10.
This is the sixth year the 21-member Jazz Ensemble has participated in the competition which showcases over 3,000 students and 200 bands and vocal ensembles from 13 U.S. states and Ontario, Canada. The groups compete for $175,000 in scholarships to Berklee’s five-week Summer Performance Program.
Berklee is the largest high school jazz festival in the U.S., organizers say.
Last year, Spencerport won third place in the Large Ensemble Division (Class 2).
John Viavattine, Spencerport Director of Bands – including the Jazz Ensemble – says the Berklee festival is special because all the judges are jazz musicians and professors at the college.
“They obviously know their stuff,” he notes. “They’re all jazz guys and gals and their comments and critiques mean a lot.”
Senior James Stoffel plays guitar in the ensemble. This will be his fourth Berklee festival and he agrees with Viavattine that Berklee is unique. “It’s all jazz, there’s no classical – they only critique on jazz,” he says.
Janelle Goeke is also a senior and plays tenor saxophone and clarinet. She says she enjoys traveling with a group the size of the jazz ensemble, “compared to other band trips, this is just jazz kids,” she says. “You have a lot of fun with a really small group.”
The ensemble members say the long bus ride (they will depart at 4:30 a.m. on the 10th) helps them to bond and they enjoy a special meal on Saturday night as much as they enjoy the competition performance.
“The chemistry this year is incredible,” Viavattine says and adds the current Jazz Ensemble members excel at expressing the personal spontaneity and art of improvisation that are so integral to jazz music.
“Jazz is another language,” he explains.
The Spencerport Jazz Ensemble is scheduled to perform at 4:30 p.m. on the afternoon of March 10. The school’s Vocal Jazz group directed by Alan Jones is also participating this year for their fifth time, Viavattine says. They are scheduled to perform at 12:30 p.m. Winners are announced at 6 p.m. and a winners showcase concert is held at 7:30 p.m.
Brenna DeAngelis, a senior who plays alto saxophone, is making her first trip to the festival this year. “It’s the biggest deal of the year,” she says. “It’s a big competition.
Tenor saxophone player Sam Vespone is a sophomore. He says he likes the Berklee festival because it brings him into contact with so many other jazz musicians. Vespone says at school, he can sometimes feel a little isolated in his musical interests. “We have performances for the school and community, but going to Berklee (you see) the enormity – each person has something to do with jazz.”
Junior Keith Reese plays drums. “We have high expectations this year,” he says, “I think we can win.”
