Agoura High School jazz bands earn key accolades

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers WINNING PERFORMANCES- Above, Agoura High School Studio Jazz Band director John Mosley, right, with the Agoura High School Studio Jazz Band, which brought home second place and a $750 prize from the Jazz at the Lincoln Center's 12th annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival in New York City last week. Below, the school's Jazz A Band, directed by Chad Bloom, top row left, was one of 15 finalists in the competition. Agoura High School made history recently after two of the school's jazz bands competed in the Jazz at Lincoln Center's prestigious Essentially Ellington competition and festival.

For the first time in the history of the 12-year event, one school was invited to enter two jazz bands into the competition.

Agoura High's Studio Jazz Band won second place overall, and several individual students captured recognition as soloists.The top three bands performed at Avery Fisher Hall at the Lincoln Center in front of an audience of 5,000.

Both the Studio Jazz Band and the school's Jazz A Band were among the 15 schools from the U.S. and Canada to be chosen for the finalist competition that took place May 4 through May 6 in New York.

Bands were chosen by a panel of judges comprised of distinguished jazz musicians and historians, including Wynton Marsalis, artistic director of Jazz at the Lincoln Center and the music director for the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. Composer and conductor David Barker, Ellington authority David Berger, and author, composer and conductor Gunther Schuller, were also among the professionals to select high school bands for the competition.

"First of all, I thought the kids played extremely well," said John Mosley, Agoura High's Studio Jazz Band director.

But playing well wasn't the only source of Mosley's pride. "I was also impressed about the way they treated the other ensembles," he said. "They gave them all standing ovations. Many of the directors from other schools commented on how well our kids performed and behaved."

"It was just truly amazing," said Chad Bloom, director of the Jazz A Band. "It's unbelievable that the kids performed at such a high level. We're really proud of them.

Mosley said he believed the Jazz A Band gave their best performance to date at the competition. One student from the Jazz A Band- Christian Choh- received a soloist award for a stellar performance on the tenor saxophone.

As for the Studio Jazz Band, Mosley and Bloom said the players were exceptional and deserved the accolades they received.

Several individual students from the Studio Jazz Band won soloist awards at the event. Senior Daniel Jenklow made history by being the first and only student in the 12-year history of the competition to win soloist awards for performances on clarinet, tenor and flute.

Jake Higgins, also a member of the Studio Jazz Band, won a soloist award for his performance on the piano. Eric Lamm of the Studio Jazz Band was recognized for his performance on bass.

In addition to winning second place overall, the Studio Jazz Band was honored for their performance in the rhythm section.

Danny Jenklow has taken his celebrity in stride. Danny has attended the festival three of the four times the school has been invited to compete.

"Playing on the Fredrick P. Rose Hall stage is what we really practice for," Danny said.

"This year was especially magnificent," he said about winning second place in the competition. "It was the best musical experience of my life."

"Mr. Mosley is one of the greatest teachers in the U.S," Danny added. "He worked day in and day out to prepare us. For example, our rehearsals and sectionals averaged at least two to three hours a day, five days a week for seven months."

"In my opinion, playing on the stage at Lincoln Center was the most exciting aspect of our trip to New York, and having the opportunity to meet and learn from the best jazz musicians, including Wynton Marsalis," said Christian Choh. "John Mosley encourages his students by expecting the best from them and pushing them to succeed. His passion for music rubs off on all his students"

"I don't know how the judges do it because the level of talent is so high and everyone is performing at their best," said Rick Markovitz, father of Ethan Markovitz, Jazz A Band member.

"It was like the kindergarten play on steroids watching the other parents and audience members file in with anticipation. Seeing people attend who didn't even have students in the competition was also impressive," said Rick Markovitz.

"There are many music performance competitions that high school bands can set as a goal, but Mr. Mosley and Mr. Bloom set the bar high with the Essentially Ellington competition," said Terilyn Finders, president of the Las Virgenes Unified School District Board of Education. "But beyond performing, I hope these rich experiences (showed) the students that an individual's hard work is the only chance for group success, and group performance success is a result of dedicated individuals."

This year, Jazz at Lincoln Center distributed more than 5,400 newly transcribed Ellington scores, reference recordings and other educational materials to 920 high schools in the U.S., Canada, and American schools in Bolivia, Brazil, France, Japan, Malaysia and Switzerland. Of those, 88 high schools entered the competition by submitting a recording of three Ellington works. The entries were evaluated in a blind screening by jazz education aficionados Ronald Carter, Loren Schoenberg and Reginald Thomas.