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in Yorkshire and the Humber
Jazz Jamboree - Young Musicians take centre stage
Helping young musicians develop their jazz skills
140 musicians of school age took part in an all-day event to develop their jazz skills in January 2010. Jazz Yorkshire had organised the day, with the facilitation of James Lancaster, Head of Music at Ripon Grammar School who hosted the celebration.
Martin Coultas, Chair of Jazz Yorkshire, welcomed the participants at 9:00am and then the students were allocated to one of two activities. Three of the six schools who had entered gave a series of thirty minute performances adjudicated by two top Jazz professionals, John Ellis MBE (director of renowned Doncaster Youth Jazz Association) and Al Wood whose professional Big Band closed the performances. The other youngsters took part in workshops to improve their improvisatory skills with members of the Al Wood Big Band led by Mark Chandler (trumpet) and Bob Howard (drums). During the afternoon the groups of youngsters swapped activities.
more information about Jazz Jamboree
Following the Big Band performance, at about 5:00pm, the adjudicators paid tribute to the enthusiasm, musical skill and understanding of the jazz language shown by the musicians involved. They also commended the dedication and encouragement of the teachers from the six schools for preparing their students so well. They went on to give extensive and insightful analysis of the performances of the ensembles and individuals.
Thirsk School Jazz Band and Harrogate Youth Jazz Orchestra were awarded Bronze Certificates. St. Aidan's Jazz Ensemble, the youngest group, and Ryedale School Big Band were awarded Silver and both Ripon Grammar School and Wakefield Grammar School Foundation's combined band earned Gold Awards. Ryedale School were also granted the special award of the opportunity to be mentored by staff on the Jazz Faculty of Leeds College of Music. This will give them the opportunity to upgrade their jazz skill and prepare to record a CD in a professional studio. There were also five further special awards for most promising improvisers and twenty-six more certificates. Those were awarded at Bronze, Silver and Gold levels to players of all jazz instruments represented and vocalists, and finally for the best sectional performances.
John Ellis went on to praise Jazz Yorkshire for its initiative in arranging this successful undertaking and hoped that it would, indeed, become an annual event as intended. Martin Coultas then thanked all participants, the many parents present and all who had helped in the event for their involvement. He particularly thanked Leeds College of Music for its support.
