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Foxboro Jazz Ensemble Takes Third at Essentially Ellington

May 10, 2010

 

FHS Jazz Ensemble on stage at Avery Fisher Hall

Foxboro High School’s Jazz Ensemble was awarded third place in the fifteenth annual Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival on May 10. As one of the top three bands in the competition, the Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Stephen Massey, performed on stage at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City. Wynton Marsalis joined Matt Muirhead as soloist on the band’s rendition of Duke Ellington’s “Portraits of Louis Armstrong.” As the third place winner, Massey accepted the trophy and a $1,000 award to go toward improving the school’s jazz program. This marked the twelfth time Foxboro has been one of the top fifteen finalists—more than any other band in the country—and the fifth time in the top three (they have an additional three Honorable Mentions).

Festival organizer’s also awarded individual awards, including Outstanding Trumpet to Matt Muirhead, Outstanding Bass Performance to Connor Schultze, Outstanding Guitar to Ian Ayers. The group awards included Outstanding Reeds Section (Tyler Appel, John Jepson, Lindsay Crook, Brendan Thomas, Sophie Kass, Rachel Fuller, Tristan Ballard, Jeremy Thayer), Outstanding Trumpet Section (Matt Muirhead, Chris Kelm, Ray Fuller, Jacob Dice), and Outstanding Rhythm Section (Christian Lyman, Ian Ayers, Mike Haddad, Alex Olson, Celine Haddad, Connor Schultze).

 

In its fifteenth year, the Essentially Ellington program aims to teach the fundamentals of jazz to students across the country. The compositions and arrangements of Duke Ellington form the core of the repertoire, along with those of other important figures in jazz history. This year the works of Mary Lou Williams were featured with Ellington’s works. Scores and reference recordings are distributed each year to bands across the country and abroad. This year over 1500 schools received materials and 96 submitted audition recordings for the prestigious festival. Fifteen bands, including Foxboro, were selected to participate in the festival. In March and April, Jazz at Lincoln Center sent professional musicians to lead intensive rehearsals, lessons, and master classes with the finalists.

The festival weekend included workshops, rehearsals, jam sessions, and a banquet dinner with members of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Mercedes Ellington, granddaughter of Duke Ellington, likened the weekend to Hogwarts, the school for wizards in the popular Harry Potter series, saying, “Music is magic.” In the competition portion, bands performed three pieces from the repertoire list. The panel of judges this year included Jazz at Lincoln Center's Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis; composer, conductor, and Ellington authority David Berger; leading Mary Lou Williams scholar Ted Buehrer; legendary jazz saxophonist and composer/arranger Jimmy Heath; and bassist and educator Rodney Whitaker. The top three finalists performed two numbers, one with Marsalis as guest soloist. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra then performed numbers that will be part of next year’s repertoire list. In addition to featuring Ellington, next year’s festival will include the works of the Count Basie Orchestra.

Please visit the photo gallery for more pictures from this event.

The Boston Herald recently ran an article about the FHS Jazz Ensemble and Essentially Ellington. There is a video of a rehearsal on the page.

For information about the Essentially Ellington competition and Jazz at Lincoln Center, please visit their site. You can also read about it on Wynton Marsalis' site.