AJO performs at the Fullerton Jazz Festival

AJO performed yesterday, April 4, at the Fullerton Jazz Festival as a practice run for the upcoming Reno Jazz Festival. They competed in the Heavy division. Divisions are determined by enrollment size, but because OCHSA is an arts academy, they are automatically placed on the top division regardless of enrollment numbers. It's cool. Bring on the Heavies! I watched a couple of big bands perform other than AJO and they were quite good, but only one of them, other than OCHSA, was really swingin' and that was the band from Tuscon, AZ, The Arizona Jazz Academy (LOVE that name). The other bands that I saw, including last year's Fullerton and Reno winner, Long Beach Poly, were technically good and had some great musicians, but they just didn't swing enough for me. I know that is not all the judges look for, and they might not figure it in at all, but it's a big deal in my book and what really, in my opinion, illustrates if the band is a true jazz band or just a well rehearsed school band. They should let me judge.

AJO played their Reno set, which includes the Sound Piece for the Jazz Orchestra by Oliver Nelson, Yes or No by Wayne Shorter, and a piece by Nicholas Payton arranged for the band by Dan Reckard called Zigaboogaloo. All are very interesting and challenging pieces and so much different than what every other band was playing (the band from AZ had a great, and very different set, too). The solos by Sara, Paul, Ryan, Josh, Kalia, Andrew Gilliam and Francisco (don't think I missed anyone) were all very good, in my opinion, and had folks in the audience not associated with OCHSA nodding their heads in agreement, especially during Zigaboogaloo. The band received a standing ovation, second largest only to the AZ Academy of Jazz, and everything seemed right with the jazz band world. So we thought.

As the band left the stage, I left to help Felicia load the drumset into the car. When I got backstage, the band was standing around wondering if they were going to do the site-reading portion of the festival. At most of these festivals, especially for the bands in the top division, a judge will take the band to another room right after their performance and either test their site-reading abilities or provide constructive feedback. AJO has done this at Fullerton before, but no one was waiting for them when they got off stage and when Keith asked a woman who was associated with the festival, she stated that there was no site reading portion. So, with that, everyone scattered. Some went back in to watch last two big bands and others headed home.

Since Keith had to leave, a few of us decided to stay to check out the rest of the bands and watch the awards ceremony to see how AJO finished. As they were setting up the stage for the awards ceremony and the crowd was filling the arena, someone on stage called out for a representative from OCHSA. Ryan's mom, Fenya, was sitting in the front so she stood up to talk the guy. Meanwhile, the rest of us were all thinking the obvious: AJO was so good that they wanted them to perform an encore. Or maybe, AJO had won the whole thing and was needed for a victory photo shoot. Well, those of us pondering the results of the conversation were just a bit off the mark. Fenya came back to tell us that OCHSA was being disqualified for not attending the site-reading portion of the competition. Talk about your wind being taken from your sails. The good news is that I had been with Keith when he asked about the site reading requirement so I quickly doused the "Why didn't Mr. Fiddmont..." questions. I was also able to go up to the guy, who was still on stage, and explain the situation. He seemed to understand, but wasn't sure what could be done. He gave some suggestions as to what might happen, but there was nothing concrete, except that we would finish last as of today. If anything would be done, it would be done later in the week. We left the auditorium without watching the ceremony.

Keith wasn't too concerned about it when we told him. His goal was to use Fullerton as a tuneup for Reno and to find out where the band still needed work. He did that and will be able to use the scores from the other judges to see how we did when compared to everyone else. He wasn't too happy with the lack of organization with the festival and the news we gave him only added to it. He is planning to discuss the issues with the folks in charge of Fullerton.

This was a good experience regardless of what happened post performance. It gives the students and Keith a chance to iron out some kinks before we head to biggest little city or is it the smallest big city...whatever...Reno.

Guest Artist Ira Nepus plays Benny Carter

The Ambassador Jazz Orchestra (AJO) showed that they are close to Reno-ready with their last concert on Friday, Feb 6. They played Benny Carter, Oliver Nelson, and a Nicholas Payton piece arranged by OCHSA Jazz alum, Dan Reckard.  Ira sat in the trombone section for most of the set, but came out front to talk about Benny Carter and his music. He even wore a tie given to him by Benny, or Benny's family.  Ira also showed why he is much more than a just a great jazz musician by donating $10 of each CD sold that evening to the OCHSA Jazz Program and more specifically, the upcoming Reno trip. We also ask each guest artist to sign 10 to 15 posters so that we can sell them during our evening's fund raising activities. Well, not only did Ira sign posters, but he wrote unique messages on each one of them. Thank you very much Ira.

In addition to AJO, the Latin, Standards, and Combo 1 combos also performed to a small, but enthusiastic and supportive crowd. The next big event for the group is the trip to Reno for the Reno Jazz Festival and competition. Check back toward the end of April for daily blog entries during that trip.

Great Job, Kyle!

The first, and hopefully not last, Jazz alumni concert took place on Sunday evening, January 11 at The Rose Center Theater in Westminster, CA. The good news was that this was a student and alumni run event and included a dozen, or so, alumni from the past few years as well as the current jazz students. Memorable combos from the past, such as the Vangaurd with Devon, Eddie, Austin, Francisco, Kalia, and Josh as well as the famed Black Note Trio with Dan, Tyler, and Cindy performed with the newly formed combo, Momentum, which was a quartet made up of Tyler, Eddie, Graham, and Andrew (sorry, too lazy to include last names. Feel free to comment or add your own entry and include last names). Also returning from the past was the Non-Straight Ahead (NSA) combo. The members of this combo included Andrew, Brett, Kyle, Devon, Ryan, Josh, Francsico and a few others I will include when I get a chance. AJO contained the current band plus all the alumni, including Jannine on Flute playing a beautiful piece written by Tyler (sorry, don't have the name. Is anyone getting the hint that I WOULD LIKE OTHERS TO BLOG?!). AJO primarily played a funk set, which was a lot of fun for the students. The concert went off well with the help of some parents and Mr. Fiddmont, but this was really a student run gig.

And that leads me to the bad news; that this was a student run gig. Not that they didn't do a bang-up job...they did, but I am really disappointed that the school, or at least the Instrumental Music department didn't get behind this more and help to make this a success. In the end it was a success as the music was fantastic, the attendence was decent for a Sunday night, and the parent volunteers came through, as usual. But where was the support from the school and the foundation?

Oh well, can't dwell on the past, only look toward the future. There is a concert coming up on Feb 6 and I am looking forward to it. Reno is also just around to corner and that should be another positive experience for all involved. Let's hope that the earth doesn't shake like last time unless it's from the swining set from the jazz band.

I am also looking forward to others posting their perspectives on this blog. C'mon, share your thoughts and insights. It is always interesting to look back to see what we were thinking and experiencing at any given time.

Wow! Can we use Meng Hall for ALL our concerts?

Friday evening the OCHSA Symphony and Ambassador Jazz Orchestras performed together for the first time. And what a place to do it...the new concert hall at Cal State Fullerton, Meng Hall. The place is not only beautiful, but was able to wonderfully handle the acoustic nuances of each performing group. The Symphony Orchestra performed first and they were excellent as usual, but this is a jazz blog site so I will move right to the post intermission performance by the jazz orchestra. The overhead sound thingy ( how's that for serious technical knowledge of sound systems) lowered for the jazz performance to change the acoustics for the smaller jazz ensemble and the ensemble did the rest. They started with Groove Merchant, which is a piece they performed last year and followed it up with a selection played at the last concert by Duke Ellington. Ryan Konovaloff played the part made famous by Johnny Hodges during his Ellington big band years and man-o-man, did Ryan kill it (that's a good thing). I am sure Johnny was listening somewhere with huge smile on his face. The band then went into a three-movement piece by Oliver Nelson called Sound Piece. They performed the third movement at the first jazz concert, but are preparing the whole piece for the Reno Jazz Festival in April. It is a very challenging selection, but they already have made great strides towards making it their own. Kalia, Paul Farber, and Sara Sith-Amnuai all had nice solos. I look forward to them playing this at Reno. The last selection of the evening was a Matt Harris arranged, congo version of It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing. It was our closing number in Reno last year and is my favorite arrangement of the piece. Sara and Paul repeated their amazing solos from last year (well, not repeated as in exact notes...you know what I mean) and Paul dealt with a little drama as his neck strap broke during his solo.

There were a couple notable holes in the group last night. Mr. Fiddmont was in NY performing with the Clayton Hamilton Jazz Orchestra in a battle of the bands versus Wynton Marsalis' Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. I bet that was smokin!. Another huge hole was left by the absence of our drummer, Francisco Orellana. His Father passed away earlier in the week and the funeral was Friday night. A drummer from CSUF filled in nicely, but it just wasn't quite the same without Francisco on the skins. We look forward to his return and continue to support him and his family any way we can.

All in all it was a great evening. Would have still liked to have seen more people in the seats, but it was a decent sized crowd.

Next up: Alumni Jazz Concert on January 10, 2009. This ought to be a great night as many alums have already committed. This along with the tremendous parent support and infusion of new ideas are helping to build great momentum heading further into the school year. I, for one, am enjoying the ride.

First Concert Sets Tone!

I thought overall things went well last night, especially for it being the first concert of the year -- and first performance of any kind at OCHSA for the 2008/2009 season. The combos all played well and showed early in the year, in true jazz fashion, that they can adapt when things don't go as planned. AJO, in my opinion, was in mid-season form, but I am sure Mr. Fiddmont would disagree with me and argue that they still have a long way to go. However, based on last year, I'd say we're way ahead of schedule. Gary Foster was a great addition as the the guest artist and seemed to work well with the students.

I love hearing the details of the concert from Felicia and Kalia. We usually discuss them the morning following a performance as we did this morning. We have done this for years and it is always interesting to hear how things went from the students' perspective, who struggled, who triumphed, etc. I also like to throw out my own thoughts, questions, and insights on combo member communication, solo breakdowns, and a host of other aspects of the evening. I do this because I am a jazz geek and my daughters play along. It would be great if the students shared some of those insights on this blog.

Still like to see more folks attend the concerts, but those who were there made tremendous impact both with enthusiasm and raffle ticket sales. We also had strong volunteer and raffle prize support. I look forward to building from the momentum from last night.

Oh yeah, my apologies to Mr. Fiddmont. Last night during my intermission announcement, I stated that we are heading to Reno to take first place. Well, as Mr. Fiddmont tells the students, it's not about going to Reno to win, it's about the experience of performing in the midst of other musicians and learning from that experience (I am paraphrasing). I agree. Mr. Fiddmont is right, the experience and journey along the way far outweigh the prize...but it would be nice to win, too.

Fill Those Seats!

Those of you who stayed after the IM back-to-school night to attend the jazz meeting, "Thank you". I think it was a good meeting and believe we are getting off to a great start. One of the things that stuck out most to me was Mr. Fiddmont's request to get more people to the concerts. This is my fourth year with the program and we've always had trouble filling the venues. Part of the problem is that there are only 20, or so, students involved in the program, but another problem, in my opinion, is the lack of exposure. One of things we've tried in the past was to send ticket sales sheets home with each student and challenge them to invite and sell at least 10 tickets. This worked to some extent, but still didn't fill the venues. We've also performed at various venues such as the Coach House, Segerstrom High School, and Laguna Beach High School to name a few. This seemed to help increase exposure and attendance, but is much more difficult to pull off on a regular basis.

We used to do theme-based concerts (latin, funk and fusion, legends, etc). and I remember OCHSA's Spanish department giving extra credit to any student who attended our latin concert. That helped "put butts in seats" -- as was the battle cry back then.

So, what can we do this year? Maybe advanced ticket sales by the students can work again and as well as some local advertising in the OC Weekly, on KJZZ radio, etc. Maybe the IM department can offer some extra credit to jazz theory/history students. With only 20 students in the program, we have to get creative.

Any ideas? Please share them.

a new AJO year

I'm sure the kids will agree that this summer has gone by very quickly. Mr. Fiddmont did a fantastic job last year and I'm looking forward to the kids having new experiences this year. Seeing AJO students graduate only reminds me to enjoy every moment! Soon my own kids will be graduating and off to college.