Each year in January, the excitement begins to build for the Marshfield High School Jazz Band, in anticipation of the Berklee School of Music’s High School Jazz Festival. This festival is one of the few times when you can go to a single spot in Boston and be sure to hear just about everything the New England jazz world has to offer at the high school level.  

This year was no exception, and if anything was even more anticipated in Marshfield because of the increased practice and playing time our Jazz Band I now has built into the school day.

The day started early, with a 7:00 am impromptu practice in the band room, before packing the buses and heading to Boston. Even the packing was a little different this year, with drummer Dan Joyce opting to bring his own drum set from home – maybe for good luck – rather than using the tried and true drum set from the high school.

The musicians didn’t have a lot of time to settle in once they got to the Hynes Auditorium. A 9:00 am audition time meant they had to be set up, warmed up and ready to go at 9 o’clock sharp. No pressure there.

Before the music began, Mr. Jim Thomas, director of the Jazz Band accepted a certificate from a representative of Berklee for 15 years of bringing his high school jazz band to the festival. And then it was time to play. The first song was “Milestones” a funky tune by Miles Davis and Mike Tomaro and featured Will MacFee and Ryan Walsh doing solos. They sounded fabulous. Next up was 500 Miles High, a Chick Corea/Mark Taylor number with Victoria Medeiros, Chris Barry and Jeremy Guilbride taking the leads and as always, with these three exceptional musicians, they did not disappoint. The last number, and my favorite, was Count Bubba, a Gordon Goodwin piece. Soloists were Vicky Medeiros, Will MacFee, Brendan Fountain and Chris Barry. Brendan Fountain blew everyone away on this one (no pun intended).

The judges voting takes place while the students are performing and continues after they finish up. Mr. Thomas does not get the actual score card until a few weeks later but for the moment, it matters little. These musicians sounded great and can be very proud of themselves.

In the end, Berklee does give out one individual award to each performing group, which highlights a single musician that they believe stood out from the others. Its called The Judges Choice Award and this year it went to Dan Joyce, on drums. I guess bringing his own drum set was a good idea!

Congratulation to Mr. Thomas and all these talented students.