Our AM Jazz Ensemble returned from NYC late last night, after a fantastic five days participating in the Essentially Ellington Festival. Mr. Kiesner and I will be back at school tomorrow. Our thanks go out to the many of you who followed us on the live streaming webcast. Jeric Rocamora was featured nationally on the CBS Evening News!
The top three groups were-
Tuscon Jazz Institute (a conglomerate group of kids from Southern Arizona)
Jazz House Kids (a conglomerate group from New Jersey)
Dillard School for the Arts (Florida)
Rio players won many awards, presented by Wynton Marsalis-
Outstanding saxophone section- Lucas Bere, Hannah Oldfield, Mikey Escobar, Kimberly Dunning and Erik Ramazzini
Joshua Kravitz- Honorable Mention piano
Emma Hollis- Outstanding Bass
Devan Kortan- Outstanding guitar/ banjo
Lucas Bere- Outstanding alto sax
Andrew Stephens- Outstanding trumpet
Here’s a link to the CBS News story that included lots of Jeric, and brief footage of Rio in rehearsal- http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/young-musicians-gather-for-master-class-with-jazz-great/
SJUSD filmed an excellent feature on Jeric too- http://vimeo.com/93424041
And a link to the performance with a great interview with Mr. Murray and Andrew Stevens –
Ellington 2014
Congratulations and great job to all the kids!