ALL THAT JAZZ HIGH SCHOOL GROUPS SET TO PLAY COOL TUNES.Byline: SUE DOYLE Staff Writer VALENCIA -- It could be the Coachella of school jazz band concerts. Super Jazz X is an annual festival at which local high school and junior high bands compete on three stages throughout the day, playing up to four of their best tunes. About 40 bands are expected to perform at this weekend's event. ``It's an excellent, excellent festival,'' said Jeff Stephan, director of La Mesa Junior High's Los Lobos Jazz Band. Residents are invited to attend this 10th annual event. It happens from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday at Valencia High School, 27801 Dickason Drive. Admission is $5 for an all-day pass. Professional judges evaluate the competitors in 10 categories, from how well bands play together to how well they improvise. Winners are announced at the end of the festival and receive plaques. One student will receive a $150 scholarship. While La Mesa is a returning competitor, this will be the first year for band director Jason Marshall at West Ranch High School. About 16 students in the high school's jazz band have prepared throughout the year for this festival and others that typically happen in the spring. Marshall said that because there's a concentration of festivals now, he balances out performances by having students play in public at other times throughout the year. They jammed at the Valencia Town Center in December and the Circle of Hope 5K walk in April. Just as the annual Coachella Valley Music Festival draws dozens of alternative and pop performers and more than 100,000 music fans to the California low desert, this jazz concert draws an array of school bands. ``What's neat about this one is that while there are festivals all over Southern California, all of the local high school bands will be there,'' Marshall said. ``So it's neat to hear the other groups and support them and to go up against them.'' About 20 students at Valencia High School play saxophones, guitars, trombones trombone [Ital.,=large trumpet], brass wind musical instrument of cylindrical bore, twice bent on itself, having a sliding section that lengthens or shortens it and thus regulates the pitch. The descendant of the sackbut, it was developed in the 15th cent. by adding a slide to the trumpet. Early representations of the instrument show it nearly in its present form., trumpets and piano in the jazz band. They have played at four festivals this year and only played the same group of songs at two of them, said Robert Babko, Valencia High School jazz band director. sue.doyle(at)dailynews.com (661) 257-5254 |
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