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.