By Abril Pereznegron ’18
The Pritzker Jazz Band went to Boston from Feb 4- 8 for the Berklee High School Jazz Festival.The Jazz Band went for the festival in a competition that any high school can enter in, which gave feedback to students directly from Berklee professors.
This year, the Jazz Band got into a much smaller division compared to last years. This meant that the band was competing with tougher schools.The result of the Jazz Band as a whole was in fifth place out of sixteen, but, once again, they were in a much tougher division so as Benjamin Das, band teacher and one of the three directors of the Jazz Band, said “ five is not the same as two, but there was much tougher competition.”.
Senior Bryan Lorenzana won the Judges Award for the large assemble, and senior Adrian Ortega received the Judges Award for the Jazz Combo.
The Jazz Band members overall enjoyed the trip. Lorenzana looks forward to this trip with the Jazz Band as he explains “Every year the Boston trip is such a gratifying experience. I cherish every moment from eating chicken feet, to sleeping late nights and hanging out with the jazz band.”
Ortega mentioned that winning the Judges Award had to do with the band all together: “ Winning the judges award was an amazing experience but honestly the award goes to the whole combo group as whole. We have put in the many hours after school, before school, and even time on the weekend to make sure the music we played was perfect in nearly every aspect.”
The Jazz Band practices on average twice a week but change it to 3-4 times a week when preparing for a competition.
The Jazz Band received feedback from the Berkeley college professors and was not taken for granted. Lorenzana stated, “The feedback from the judges can always range because you can interpret music in a variety of ways. Especially in jazz. Jazz is such a divergent genre of music that any feedback is valuable, but never do I ever take the feedback for granted.”
Brian Pavloff, Choir teacher, along with Phillip Stosberg, Russian teacher, and Das direct the Jazz Band.
While the Jazz Band was in Boston, they also made some type to go see the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which featured composer Shostakovich and Prokofiev.
Additionally, the Jazz Band took a trip to China town where many tried dim sum and chicken feet at the Faneuil Hall in Boston.
And as the Jazz Band goes by, “Deeds not words” (by Max Roach) are what make things matter.
