Jazz band performs at West Valley music festival

The Jazz Band performed “Billie's Bounce” by Charlie Parker, “Recordame” by Joe Henderson, and “Oleo” by Sonny Rollins at a music festival at West Valley College on Nov. 6.

There were around 20 groups participating and there was no admission fee for the audience, but the music program paid a small fee to get the jazz combo into the event.

According to senior Uday Singh, the festival was a way for jazz students to get suggestions for improvement from professional jazz musicians.

“The audience was pretty small but that didn't really matter since it wasn't so much of a performance as it was a clinic,” Singh said.

SHS supports two jazz band classes, one during seventh period and one that starts during the second semester. According to Singh, the seventh-period group was not prepared for the festival, so jazz band director Anthony Lanzino asked Singh, seniors Katie McLaughlin and Max Rossip and junior Matthew Tung to prepare a set for this show because they all shared jazz experience. The group rehearsed once a week for a month and a half.

“Our combo did great,” Singh said. “Even though there were some hiccups we were able to recover quickly enough that I don't think anyone noticed.”

According to Singh, the event was a great experience considering the  infrequency of public jazz performances and the professional advice given.

“The clinicians were able to give really helpful and insightful feedback on what we were playing and how to make it better,” Singh said.