Northgate jazz band attends prestigious festival

Katie Easterly and Haley Enriquez

Few young jazz musicians have the opportunity to perform at a worldwide jazz festival, but some Northgate students have done so twice.

IMG_2521Northgate’s Jazz Band I attended the 58th annual Monterey Jazz Festival, performing Sunday Sept. 20. The group was invited to this prestigious festival for the second year in a row, playing on the stage where jazz greats have played every September for the past five decades.

The jazz band was given the opportunity to perform and spend the weekend, meeting some of their favorite music idols. Some Northgate students have had the opportunity of attending the festival twice.

“This is my second time attending the festival. I really enjoyed seeing all of the famous jazz musicians,” said senior James Willis.

“I’ve been playing the trombone since fifth grade and I plan to continue after high school,” Willis added.

The band’s first year at the Monterey Jazz Festival was 2014, but they have been attending the Next Generation Festival in Monterey for seven years. Next Gen is a March competition with for top high school, college and community student jazz groups. Northgate was one of the 12 top high school bands in the nation, selected from over 100 applicants which audition by audio recording. In order to perform at the Monterey Jazz Festival, a group must qualify by winning the Next Gen, which Northgate did.

The band that performed in September was made up of last year’s members, including six graduated seniors starting college. They practiced fourtimes prior to departing for Monterey.

The Northgate Instrumental Music Boosters organization raised a little over $3,000 of the more than $4,000 needed required for the transportation and hotel costs of the trip.

Band members were extremely excited to attend the festival as they all traveled down on September 19 by bus. They used this time to mentally prepare for the festival and bond with each other.

Natalie Jenkins attended the festival for her first time, eager to make a successful first impression.

“My favorite part was being there with all of my favorite musicians,” said Jenkins, a senior who plays flute, clarinet and saxophone.  “My favorite musician was there, Chick Korea, and I fangirled.”

“The best part for me was seeing all the other bands play,” exclaimed junior Adam Chatoff, who plays the bass.

Director Greg Brown has attended the spring Next Generation Jazz pre-festival 14 times in his career, and was thrilled to make it to the September festival two years in a row.

“It’s surreal they accomplished that two years in a row,” stated Brown. “It was a very huge achievement for the band.”

“Being there and performing is such a great feeling because you are a part of the whole thing,” Brown said. “It’s so inspiring. It’s also very special to have last year’s seniors come back-it’s a big reunion and that’s really cool.”

Asked about a favorite memory, he didn’t hesitate.IMG_2532

“Seeing Jonah Moss sitting next to Wynton Marsalis, seeing his reaction as he played his solo was mesmerizing,” he said.

Senior and trumpet player Jonah Moss played on stage with the jazz legend Marsalis as part of a Monterey Jazz Festival all-star group of teenagers. Moss also played with the SF Jazz group that he is part of on the festival stage.

Band members say they hope to continue their hard work in hopes of qualifying for the March Next Generation Festival, which might be their ticket to a third trip to Monterey.