Fullerton College's 38th annual Jazz Festival was held on March 26-27. The vocal day of the event featured high school and college jazz and show choirs and soloists. The following day showcased the instrumental portion, featuring middle school and high school big bands, combos and soloists.
The festival provided many different functions for the schools that came. Along with the venue being a place for them to compete, they also got the chance to study and watch other groups perform. However, the chief aspect of the festival was the clinics and workshops, both of which helped tutor the students on their instrumental or vocal skills.
For the competition aspect, the band/choir directors placed their group(s) into categories of novice, intermediate or advanced, depending on where they felt their group(s) belonged. On the instrumental day, an extra category of heavy was added.
The group would then perform in front of a panel of judges, who were jazz educators. Jamie Shew chose the vocal judges and Bruce Babad chose the instrumental judges.
Winners from the vocal competition included Lutheran High School of Orange County who took home first place in the category of advanced high school vocal jazz.Pacifica High School won first place in the category of Intermediate mixed high school show choir and Royal High School won first place in the category of Intermediate high school vocal jazz.
Winners from the instrumental competitions included the Tucson Jazz Institute who placed first in the category of heavy high school big band. Orange County High School of the Arts won first place in the category of advanced high school combo and Mcauliffe Middle School who won first place in the category of advanced middle school band.
The other aspect of the festival was the clinics. Six clinics were held on the vocal day and 19 were held on the instrumental day. On the vocal day there were various clinics to help students improvise better and others to teach students the proper methods for performing an a capella ballad. The vocal clinics were taught by special guests Kirby Shaw and Michelle Weir. There was also a special clinic featuring this year's special guest artist, The New York Voices.
On the instrumental day there was a variety of different clinics, ranging from master classes on the different instruments to improvisation skills on each instrument. Teaching the clinics were professors Roger Shew (bass), Joe Bagg (Piano), Mike Scott (guitar), Matt Johnson (Drums) and Bruce Babad and Ernie Delfante (Saxophone).
Teaching the trumpet and trombone clinics were special guests, Kye Palmer and Fransisco Torres. Palmer taught the trumpet clinics and Torres taught the trombone. Palmer currently plays in Jay Leno's Tonight Show Band and Torres currently plays with Poncho Sanchez as well being part of the Bill Holman Big Band.
According to Babad, the Jazz Festival co-chairman, the clinics had a large attendance and went very well.
"I didn't get much sleep last night, so I'm really going off the energy of the kids," said Babad, who was amazed by the enthusiasm the students showed of the clincs.
Throughout the day, students also got a chance to see some of Fullerton's performing groups on an outside stage. On Saturday, the groups had to deal with a mighty wind, but they prevailed despite the rough conditions and managed to put on great concerts for the students. Some of the groups performing included the Cabana Boys, the Jazz Lab Band and all three jazz combos.
At noon on Saturday the students packed the Campus Theater to catch a concert featuring FC's top jazz ensemble, The Big Bad Band. The students were very impressed with the high quality of the group, as well as the soloists.
"I think they liked it, it was a great vibe and they interacted with us very well," said Lalo Agredano, Big Bad Band member.
Agredano also added that he believes the performances help persuade people to come to Fullerton College.
"I think it's a really big draw, we feature one major group on campus and it gets them excited and makes them want to come here."
Before the awards ceremony on Saturday, the Campus Theater was packed with people eagerly waiting to watch the faculty ensemble, the Jazz Cadre. The Cadre consisted of jazz instructors Shew (Bass), Johnson (Drums), Bagg (Piano), Dr. Joe Jewell (Guitar), Babad (Saxophone) and Shew (Vocals). Special guests, Palmer and Torres joined the group on trumpet and trombone respectively. It was obvious that the students loved the Cadre performance due to the amount of cheers and applause that filled the small theater.
On the vocal day, the students were given a special treat: a concert from the vocal jazz group, the New York Voices. According to co-chairman Shew, the New York Voices are what every vocal jazz group aspires to be, so they were very excited to have them perform. It was also the first time a major name act appeared at the jazz festival since the early ‘80s.
Overall the festival was well received by the students who went.
"It's fun, I love the atmosphere, it promotes music well," said Kabir Nagarkatti, a sophomore at Westlake High School.
The festival was also well received by the teachers.
"We really enjoy the experience, the kids learn a lot and I learn a lot," said Paul Barber, the band director at Whittier Christian High School.
According to Barber, one of the best moments of the festival was when his students watched the advanced groups perform.
"When they see and hear kids like them playing stuff that, it is so far beyond where they are. It's a combination of a how moment and inspiration. They see these other high school students and think well maybe Mr. Barber is right, it can be done."
At the end of the day Babad said that the festival was outstanding. He also noted the student workers that were present were on top of their game.
Babad also took the opportunity to thank Bob Jensen, the dean of fine arts.
"He worked tirelessly the entire week. Without his physical effort, none of this would have happened."
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