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John Jay High School Vocal Jazz
Feb 21, 2008
Students sing traditional jazz at music festival
Seven years ago, John Jay High School teacher Steven Morse began an experimental new singing group at the school: Vocal Jazz. Starting as an extension of the chorale program that Mr. Morse ran on the side, this year Vocal Jazz was made an official school group. And at the beginning of February, the 17 students of Vocal Jazz brought their music to the Berklee College of Music’s High School Jazz Festival in Boston. Singing traditional jazz songs, both with and without a rhythm section, Vocal Jazz placed seventh out of 16 groups in their division, despite being ranked against schools where jazz singing is a part of the music curriculum.
“The festival was mind-blowing,” said John Jay senior Ben Moss. “The amount of talent and passion for music was beyond apparent when walking around the convention center.”
The students gathered to practice for the festival once a week this year, the group’s fifth trip in six years. Last year, the festival conflicted with the high school’s spring musical, in which many of the group members were performing.
For their performance, the group sang three pieces: Here’s That Rainy Day, Birdland and Chili con Carne. The first two were performed with an accompanying rhythm section, while the last was sung a cappella.
They were competing with groups from around the country. More than 130 schools attended the festival, sending jazz bands and combos as well as vocal jazz groups. While most of the schools were from the Northeast, some were from farther away — the top two in John Jay’s division were from Sarasota, Fla., and Denver, Colo.
“My favorite part of the trip was seeing all of the other jazz ensembles that were performing,” said junior Luca Buccellati. “All of the groups were respectful to one another. This made the festival seem comforting, seeming less like a competition.”
While not performing, the students all had the opportunity to go to jazz workshops and demonstrations, and to attend performances by other schools and some Berklee groups.
“The festival was such an incredible experience to help us learn about ourselves as musicians, performers and people,” said junior Madeline Skillman. “It was a chance to meet new people, listen to phenomenal jazz ensembles, and improve ourselves and the group.”
Vocal jazz is offered as an extracurricular activity to students at John Jay. In addition to vocal jazz, the school also offers two extracurricular a cappella groups, the all-female Noteables and the all-male Rolling Tones, as well as a chorale program that is part of the music curriculum.
“They’re all just different because of the different rhythms and styles,” said sophomore Conor Cashel, who is also in the Rolling Tones and the chorus. But so much singing has only whetted his appetite for more. “I’ll definitely be in Vocal Jazz for the rest of John Jay,” he said.
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