[BHS Etree] JAZZ: BHS Jazz Combo A wins Downbeat Magazine's HS Combo of the Year Award

[BHS etree]

PLEASE do not reply to this email, contact Sarah Cline
sarahcline at berkeley.net 

 

It seems everyone has figured out how amazing BHS's Jazz Combo A is -- just
2 days after winning the combo division at the Reno Jazz Festival, and a
month after winning the same division at the prestigious Monterey NextGen
Jazz Festival, Berkeley High's Combo A has been named High School Combo of
the Year by Downbeat Magazine.  This is the number one jazz trade magazine
in the US, and Liam Collins (alto sax), Hugo Shiboski (tenor sax), Sam
Klein-Markman (guitar), Michael Orenstein (piano), Max Schwartz (bass) and
Marcelo Perez (drums) beat out groups from across the nation.

 

This is the SECOND YEAR IN A ROW that BHS's Jazz Combo A has won both the
Monterey Jazz Festival and the Downbeat Magazine Award -- and the 2 combos
that did this had entirely different personnel.  

 

Jazz combos are built around the values of individual expression within an
environment of intricate, sensitive group interaction and cooperation.  For
BHS to produce so many outstanding combo musicians for decades in a row does
not mean there is "something in the water up there in Berkeley," as some
journalists like to suggest.  Rather, it means we come from a community that
shares and supports these values.  There are tons of examples of student
creativity and voice and cooperative art-making bursting out of the seams of
the Berkeley High School campus, as well as the community at large.
Berkeley was named one of the best communities nationwide for music
education, in large part because our population has voted for parcel taxes
specifically to provide opportunities for our young people for just the kind
of creative growth and expression exemplified by our jazz combos.

 

Combo A's continued domination of the jazz world is reason for all of us to
be proud.

 

Congratulations to Combo A!  Keep your eyes on these guys, you'll hear about
them in years to come.

 

A reminder that auditions for the 2013-2014 Berkeley High Jazz Program are
coming up.  Visit berkeleyhighjazz.org for information.

 

There are THREE MORE OPPORTUNITIES to hear the award-winning combo A, as
well as the spectacular combos B and C as well as the wonderful BHS Jazz
Ensemble perform this year.  They are:

 

May 19, noon - 5  Jazz on 4th   FREE outdoor festival with great food,
sunshine, opportunity to support our Jazz program through purchasing raffle
tickets with fabulous prizes provided by the 4th street merchants.  The
combos play at noon and the big band plays at 4 p.m.  In between there are 3
great professional groups playing.  Sponsored by KCSM and the 4th Street
Merchants Association.

 

May 30, 7 p.m.  Ashkenaz on San Pablo at Gilman in Berkeley.  Combos and
Alumni concert.  Hear all 3 official BHS combos with alumni guest artists,
and then stick around to hear the alumni play on their own.  Guest alumni
will include Dayna Stephens, Josh Jones, Hitomi and Erika Oba, Chase
Jackson, and Sarah Cline, among many others (you never know who might stop
in...).  $20 adults, $8 youth/seniors.  This will be a fabulous concert,
highly recommended!

 

June 7th, 7 p.m. Florence Schwimley Little Theatre   Jazz Final Concert.
This concert is epic, bring a sleeping bag.  It will feature all 3 big
bands, 5 or 6 combos, senior awards, etc. etc. etc.  FREE to BHS staff and
students, $10 to other adults, $3 youth/seniors.

 

Some of you got to catch these groups at the assemblies we played in late
March -- others missed out.  All please mark your calendars and come out and
support the jazz program.  And it really is your last chance to hear this
year's fabulous combo A ever play together (unless you'll be at the Monterey
Jazz Festival in September):  Liam, Hugo, Sam, Michael, Max and Marcelo
would love to see you at any or all of these events.

 

Sarah Cline

Jazz Program Director

Berkeley High School

 

__________________________________

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