CWU’s Jazz Band 1 Top Group at National Next Generation Jazz Festival

Despite formidable competition from larger schools, Central Washington University’s Jazz Band 1 was named the best college big band at the Next Generation Jazz Festival held March 27-29 in Monterey, California. Now they will play at the legendary Monterey Jazz Festival, the longest continuously running jazz festival in the world, in September.

Jazz Band I is the premiere jazz ensemble at CWU, and focuses on performing big band music from the 1940s to the present.

“The students were really psyched-up for playing after learning who the judges were,” said Chris Bruya, director of CWU Jazz Studies and leader of Jazz Band 1. “When they stood on the stage on Sunday, they knew they were playing for their heroes.”

The judges included Terell Stafford, jazz trumpeter and director of Jazz Studies at the Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University; and Luis Bonilla, Grammy-winning jazz trombonist, and professor of music at Temple University, Manhattan School of Music and the Aaron Copeland School of Music, Queens College.

The band performed three pieces: “Rhythm-a-ning” by Thelonius Monk, arranged by Bill Holman; “St. Louis Blues”, by W.C. Handy, arranged by Bob Bookmeyer; and “Nutville” by Horace Silver, arranged by Greg Hopkins.

“The second piece was a special challenge,” continued Bruya. “It was a signature piece for the Village Vanguard Band, one of the best professional big bands in the world, of which both Luis Bonilla and Terell Stafford were members. It was both terrifying and exciting to perform a piece that the judges knew intimately.”

The group received a standing ovation after their set. In addition to the group's first place award, trombonist Beserat Tafesse received the soloist award of a full scholarship to the weeklong Stanford Jazz Workshop.

“Your sound, compared to the other bands, was monstrous!” said CWU President James Gaudino to Bruya after the concert. Both Gaudino and his wife, Katie, attended the competition.

After receiving the first place prize, the band was “ecstatic, jumping up and down,” said Bruya. “It was so rewarding to go up against larger schools like the University of Southern California and University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and come out on top." Bruya also noted that unlike other bands in the competition, Jazz Band 1 members were primarily undergraduates.

“It goes without saying that we got tremendous support from Central, the music department and our donors, and it was a collective effort to get us to this place,” said Bruya. “And the best part is knowing that this is going to be one of the greatest things these students have ever done. This will live with them forever.”

Members of Jazz Band 1 are: Robert Rutherford, trumpet; Darin Greif, trumpet; Braden Waddell, trumpet; Pavel Spichak, trumpet; Dan Baker, trombone; Tanner Cornell, trombone; Beserat Tafesse, trombone; Audrey Stangland, trombone; Ryan Donnelly, bass; Lucas Simpson, alto sax; Brian Lawrence, alto sax; Kevin Lane, tenor sax; Austin Hass, drums; Alex Worland, tenor sax; Conor Jonson, baritone sax; Drew Medak, piano; Skyler Floe, trumpet; and Chris Bruya, Director.

Annually, more than 130 groups apply to the Next Generation Jazz Festival, and from these the very best compete to perform at the Monterey Jazz Festival in September. Introduced in 1971 as the California High School Jazz Band Competition by Monterey Jazz Festival Founder Jimmy Lyons, the competition was conceived as a way to bring talented student groups to Monterey, and to cultivate musicians for the future.

The Monterey Jazz Festival was co-founded by Jimmy Lyons and Ralph J. Gleason in 1958. Since then, the nonprofit event has presented nearly every major artist in the world—from Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Dave Brubeck, Tony Bennett, and Miles Davis, to contemporary masters Diana Krall, Wynton Marsalis, Trombone Shorty, Esperanza Spalding, and Terence Blanchard.

Audio from the performance can be found at https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2TxNs1oHWyucVlGbjNoZm84REE/view

Photo by Katie Gaudino

Media Contact: Valerie Chapman-Stockwell, Public Affairs, 509-963-1518, valeriec@cwu.edu