On May 3, 2013, La Porte High School hosted its 24th annual Jazz Fest in the high school auditorium. This popular festival brings together the community to watch local schools and guests perform celebrated jazz pieces.
At 7:00 pm, La Porte High School jazz band director Mickey Stisher asked how many people had attended the concert before. Roughly 75% of the audience raised their hands; I was part of the small 25% that kept my hand down.
Stisher addressed us, “If you have never been to Jazz Fest, strap in. This is a night like no other.”
With that, the curtain rose and the music began. It took me no time to realize Jazz Fest was something special indeed. The music was full of rich, seductive tunes packed with energetic bursts of vigor. The blend of bass, horns, trumpets, trombones, saxophones, guitar, piano, drums was a sound all its own. This was the type of music that caused me to close my eyes and be transported to a different time.
Senior alto saxophone player Michael Kendall said, “I love jazz music because of the ability to express creation and innovation through improvisation and solos.”
The bands present were the Boston Middle School Jazz Band directed by Megan Sullivan, Kesling Middle School Jazz Band directed by Matt Sullivan, La Porte High School Lab Band directed by Charles Steck, and La Porte High School Jazz Band directed by Mickey Stisher. The bands performed respectively and each was packed full of solos from both the students and special guest professional artists.
Jim Widner, celebrating his 25th year with the Jim Widner Big Band, dazzled the audience with his talent on bass. Allen Beeson, a Yamaha Performing Artist, just released his first recording “First Time Out” and lit up the stage on trumpet. Charles “Chip” McNeill, a professor and Musical Director and Jazz Tenor Saxophonist for Grammy award-winning recording artist Arturo Sandoval, played the saxophone. Reginald “Reggie” Thomas, a professor and international performer, took a seat and wowed at the piano. Lastly, Harry Watters serves with the United States Army Band in Washington D.C., and electrified on the trombone.
The guest performers enraptured the audience and even took a shot at directing the students. The result was an energetic piece, full of movement and life, which had the whole audience snapping along. The student performers had a chance to meet with the artists the day before and learned a thing or two.
Lab Band Member Trevor Day said, “A lot of hard work went into this. It was a great honor to work with these artists.”
The local jazz bands have celebrated a lot of success through the year and the concert was the perfect way to culminate it.
Lab band director Charles Steck commented, “It has been a great year full of success. Here are tonight concluding our season on a very high note.”