On Saturday 17th of February 2024, the BC Jazz Band 1 traveled to the far-off town of Sun Prairie, WI to participate in the Essentially Ellington jazz festival at Sun Prairie East’s performing arts center.
A festival consisting of 16 different high school jazz bands, students got the opportunity to perform in front of professional judges, receiving feedback on how to perform their pieces better. After this, each student went to classes, one dealing with music theory or jam sessions, and a class on how to sound better on one’s individual instrument. Finally, a very long concert occurred with each band performing one of the pieces they did earlier in the day, adding a guest soloist from one of the staff members at the festival. Following all of the high school performances, the professionals played three songs (which all were over ten minutes each) ending in a final jam with Sun Prairie’s own jazz one.
The BC Jazz band performed three pieces for the festival, including Long Yellow Road by Toshioko Akiyosi, featuring Adyn Hamann (‘24) on tenor sax; Addi by Duke Ellington featuring Elizabeth Feist (‘26) on alto saxophone; and Simba Ti Kaye by Mark Taylor featuring Pascal De La Torre (‘25) on baritone saxophone and Ryan Logan (‘24) on piano.
BC Jazz One is planning to attend several more events including the Whitewater Jazz Festival, Solo and Ensemble at BC, Fine Arts Extravaganza, and BC Bebop on June 1st.
