On Saturday, February 10th, Fieldston’s Improv IV and Concert Jazz Ensembles made their way to Philadelphia to compete in the 5th Annual National Jazz Festival, an annual high school and middle school jazz competition. For decades, The Fieldston Jazz Band competed in a similar competition in Boston, the Berklee High School Jazz Festival, until the competition came to an end after 51 years. Since its beginning in 2019, Fieldston has competed in the National Jazz Festival for four of the last five years.
This year, 50 schools across 15 states participated in the competition. All 50 schools do not compete against each other; there are multiple categories, including small ensemble, large ensemble and many vocal jazz and acapella categories. Additionally, within the categories, there are divisions based on school population. Ensembles only compete against the other schools in their division, each division typically consisting of 8 or 9 schools.
Over the years, Fieldston has generally done well at these competitions, occasionally bringing home 3rd place and Honorable Mention (4th place) trophies, and other times placing somewhere between 4th and 9th place. When talking with Tom Christensen, head of the music department and jazz program, he said that Improv has gotten 2nd place once, in 1998, and Concert Jazz has never placed (gotten 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th). However, this year, Fieldston jazz musicians strived for more. And they did more than strive. But first… a little about the musicians.
Typically, the Improv IV and Concert Jazz ensembles compete in the festival. However, this year there are two Improv IV ensembles, Improv IV-1 and Improv IV-2, which meant three groups traveled to Philly and competed.
Improv IV-1 consists of Amelia Citron (Form V), Alexa Citron (Form V), Judah Goren (Form V), Margot Stone (Form V), Rachel Stulman (Form V) and Zeke Tesler (Form V)
Improv IV-2 consists of Daniel Bean (Form V), Keiran Eldridge (Form IV), Judah Goren (Form V), Amiri Moreno (Form VI), Nate Schmelkin (Form V), Ariana Sidman (Form V), Zachary Sussman (Form VI) and Davis Williams (Form V).
Lastly, Concert Jazz consists of Ishaan Akileswar (Form V), Reanna Bilbao (Form V), Daniel Blauner (Form V), Alexa Citron (Form V), Lorenzo Cohen (Form IV), Max Kletter (Form IV), Rohann Moresky-Madhavan (Form V), James Pollack (Form VI), Joey Ravikoff (Form VI), Lyla Santemma (Form VI), Oscar Shapiro (Form VI), Rachel Stulman (Form V), Sophia Thompson (Form IV), Zoe Ventura (Form V) andJack Zirin-Hyman (Form V).
At the crack of dawn on Saturday morning, the bus left from Fieldston with twenty-seven eager musicians and lots of instruments, including an entire drum set, guitar amps and a vibraphone. When the group arrived at the Philadelphia Convention Center, it was already abuzz, with groups wearing matching black suits and colorful bow ties filling the hallways. The Fieldston ensembles also looked sharp but they decided they did not want to wear matching outfits and instead wow the judges with their playing.
Improv IV-2 performed first. They began practicing as a group at 10:40 am, running the melodies and the difficult parts of songs. At 11:00 am, two judges and a competition official entered the room. The official announced the group to the judges, including what school and city they were from, and then the ensemble began their set, which had to be no more than twenty minutes. Improv IV-2 performed three energetic songs: “Rigor Mortez” by Blue Mitchell, “Byrdlike” by Freddie Hubbard and “Change of the Guard” by Kamasi Washington. Throughout the performance, the judges jotted down notes and filled out a score sheet, and after the performance, shared their thoughts with the group. The judges were very impressed by Improv IV-2, describing their performance as “fiery” and applauding the talent in the rhythm section. They gave suggestions about dynamics, asking the group to try playing the bridge of “Change of the Guard” very softly and then crescendo into the chorus. They also mentioned that they would’ve appreciated a little more variety in the music selections, suggesting they played one ballad. After an overwhelmingly positive response from the judges, they named drummer Amiri Moreno (Form VI) as an outstanding performer/soloist of the group.
At 1:45 pm, Improv IV-1 performed their set, which included “Blue Minor” by Sonny Clark, “Summertime” by Miles Davis and “O Mama Enit” by Blue Mitchell. On the morning of the competition, the ensemble experienced a pretty big road bump: their bassist was sick and couldn’t compete. This was definitely not the first challenge this group has faced! Their pianist was concussed and couldn’t play for weeks, and one of their drummers was away the first semester, limiting practice time with them to only a handful of classes. Nevertheless, Improv IV-1 persevered and played a strong set. The judges were impressed with their togetherness, presence and overall sound, despite not having a bassist. They also liked the variety of the songs and the inclusion of a ballad, “Summertime.” Going forward, they suggested spending more time fleshing out solos, although they had a great foundation. After their response, they named Judah Goren (Form V), who played drums and piano, as an outstanding performer/soloist!
Finally, Concert Jazz performed at 3:45 pm. Their three songs included “Better Get Hit in Your Soul” by Charles Mingus, “Central Park West” by John Coltrane and “Tall and Lanky” by Jeff Coffin. Firstly, the judges loved the song selection and arrangements. They also enjoyed the solos and the blend of the different sections. The judges gave a few suggestions, including an idea on how to end “Tall and Lanky” and to extend the length of the drum solo. Lastly, they named Jack Zirin-Hyman (Form V) on trumpet as an outstanding performer and nominated Ishaan Akileswar for the superior musician award in the large ensemble division!
At the end of the day, the judges announced the top four ensembles in each division at the Award Ceremony, along with a Superior Musician and three Outstanding Musicians in the division. After waiting anxiously through all of the middle school and vocal jazz awards, they finally began announcing the winners of Fieldston’s categories. Both Improv IV-2 and Concert Jazz won second place in their divisions! Fieldston not only left with two group awards but Ishaan Akileswar also won Superior Musician in the large ensemble category, and Amiri Moreno won Outstanding Musician in the small ensemble category. Improv IV-1 did not place this time around but got 6th place out of 8 schools. They beat the Trevor Day and Trinity ensembles, who came in 7th and 8th place, so that was a win in itself.
When asked how it felt when Concert Jazz got 2nd place, Reanna Bilbao (FormV) said, “Oh it felt really good. I just ran up to the stage, pushed TC (Tom Christensen) out the way, and was like ‘I gotta accept this award on behalf of the class.’ I was just so proud.” While this might be a little bit of an exaggeration, Bilbao did indeed eagerly sprint up to the stage to retrieve Concert Jazz’s trophy.
The Fieldston jazz musicians were especially proud of their accomplishments because they faced tough competition. Keiran Eldredge (Form VI), who plays piano in Improv IV-1, said, “It was great to win, especially because we were competing against art and music schools.”
Overall, it was a very successful and fun trip. When reflecting on the weekend, Alexa Citron (Form V) said, “It was great to be in a place where everyone there had a common interest and strived for the same things.” Bilbao added that her favorite part of the trip was “winning and bonding with the rest of my class.” Congratulations to the Fieldston Jazz Ensembles that competed at the National Jazz Festival.
