Blair's Jazz Band participates in festival

The Blair Honors Jazz Band participated in events at the first annual Silver Spring Jazz Festival on Sept. 11, 2004, which included performances from Blair graduate Marcus Johnson and Keter Betts, recipient of the 2003 Living Legacy Jazz Award.

Susan Hoffmann, Marketing and Special Events Manager for the Silver Spring Regional Center, organized the event with the help of the Silver Spring Urban District, an affiliated office. While the Jazz Festival is part of "Silver Sprung," Silver Spring's effort to revitalize the city, Hoffmann pointed out that her office is always planning special events.

"We were doing special events before the revitalization effort and we will be doing special events after the revitalization effort," she noted.

The free, seven hour-long festival featured experimental jazz combos, vocal singing performances, and poetry recitations by notable figures in the jazz community, some of whom paid "out of their own pocket" to play, according to Hoffmann. "Most of them are here to honor our very own Keter Betts," she explained.

The day's events began with the Blair, Blake and Einstein jazz bands playing on the flatbeds of three trucks and being driven through parts of Silver Spring. The caravan's path was circular, starting near the Silver Plaza and traveling down Colesville Road and through a residential area before coming back to the plaza to compete in a "cutting" contest.

"It's meant to call out to the neighborhood 'follow the moving trucks,'" Mr. Doyle, Blair's music director explained. As to how the band would adapt to playing on the flatbed of a moving truck, Doyle commented, "We'll find out."

The band arrived fifteen minutes before the trucks were to begin their slow procession through Silver Spring. The truck they were provided with was shorter than expected by about six feet band members said. As a result, they were forced to leave behind Garret Brown, who plays the baritone saxophone, and Greg Jukes, who plays vibraphone.

The seventeen-member band, composed entirely of juniors and seniors, had practiced playing in a compact configuration during 5A Honors Jazz in the weeks before the performance, but many members expressed concern over conditions in the caravan that could not be rehearsed for.

"There's a major potential for chipped reeds," said Ana Karimi, tenor saxophone, pointing out the many bumps in the road that will inevitably jar the performers.

"My slide hits people's music," said Gabriel Osbourne, trombone, referring to the crowded configuration of players. When mapping out the positions of equipment and players, the band took into account stools, music stands, which include band fronts that feature the Blair Music logo, and electric amplification equipment.

The high school "bands cutting" contest started soon after the trucks rolled into the plaza around 4:00 p.m. The Blair Jazz Band, reunited with Brown and Jukes, who played in front of the truck, went first with "Groovin' Hard" and "Sweet Georgia Brown," followed by the Blake and Einstein jazz bands, both of which played two songs as well. The bands, judged by a panel that included Betts and Johnson, were evaluated on the quality of ensemble playing, the quality of solo playing and the musicality of the performance. The Einstein Jazz Band won the contest and was presented with a Borders/Jazz Times trophy shortly before 6:00 p.m.

Hoffmann originally predicted there would be a total attendance of 1,000, but actual figures come to approximately 7,500. After the Marcus Johnson Project performed, Hoffmann climbed onstage and assured the audience that the festival was a success and that "we'll definitely do this again next year."

Hoffmann expressed that Silver Spring is the perfect location for a jazz festival. "Of any location in the county, this is the one. The community is the most diverse and it's a very sophisticated area and jazz is one of the most sophisticated forms of music."