Mustang Jazz musicians at the 2015 Purdue Jazz Festival

Congratulation to the student musicians from the Jazz Workshop, Jazz Lab Band and the Jazz Ensemble for their participation in the 2015 Purdue Jazz Festival.  Over 60 middle and high school bands participated in the festival, which celebrated its’ 25^th year of existence this year.

Jazz Workshop, Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Lab Band earned Division I ratings from the panel of judges.  Jazz Lab Band earned the Outstanding Performance award, second place in their room out of 14 bands.  From those 14 bands, junior vocalist Gabrielle Henderson was named the Outstanding Soloist for the entire day, earning a scholarship to Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp for summer study.

Numerous student musicians were cited by the adjudicators for Outstanding Musicianship for their performances today:

Paul Gurnic, trombone

Gabrielle Henderson, piano

Myles Henderson, piano

Jack Herstowski, guitar

Joe Kreidl, baritone saxophone

Tommy Leinart, piano (2) 

Andrew Pawelczyk, drums

Dan Piccoli, alto saxophone

Cassie Plata, tenor saxophone

Max Pokyrznycki, clarinet

Emily Rzeszutko, trumpet

Sam Tedeschi, bass

Melissa Wang, drums

Kat Woltman, bass

“These Mustang musicians represented their school and community with personal and sonic dignity this weekend. “ said Fine Arts Department Chairman Glenn Williams.  “ This was a fabulous jazz immersion experience.”

Jazz Night 2015

Congratulations to the over 170 student musicians from seven different jazz bands from five different schools that participated in the 2015 Jazz Cafe tonight at South High School in Downers Grove.  The varied repertoire during the course of the evening (27 different compositions) provided the audience with a stunning breadth and depth in jazz performance.

Special kudos to the students and directors from our sender schools for participating this evening:  Matt Janus and the Eisenhower Junior High School Jazz Band, Keith Carlson and the "Friends of Jazz" from Jefferson Junior High School, Brian Ohlsen and the Lakeview Junior High School Jazz band, and Dave Balika and the O'Neill Middle School Jazz Band.  With so many students performing at such a high level, the sonic future burns brightly for Downers Grove and the surrounding communities.