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One of Utah's most successful high-school musical groups, the Crescent Super Band, is adding to its many accolades this week, as one of 15 bands from around the country to compete in the 21st annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival.
The three-day event — named for legendary jazz musician and composer Duke Ellington — takes place May 5-7 at Jazz at Lincoln Center, part of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex in New York City. Nearly 100 high-school jazz bands across North America entered the competition by submitting recordings of three tunes from the "Essentially Ellington" library.
While the competition has been held annually for 21 years, this is the first time The Crescent Super Band, based in American Fork, was eligible to compete. "It was originally only open to bands that were associated with a specific high school, and our musicians come from many different schools," said Super Band director Caleb Chapman. Organizers recently changed the rules to allow conglomerate groups from a wider area.
This year, in addition to Utah, finalists hail from Arizona, Florida, Massachusetts, Missouri, North Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin. All 15 bands will spend three days immersed in workshops, jam sessions, rehearsals and performances. The Competition & Festival will conclude with a concert and awards ceremony featuring the three top-placing bands and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. Fans can watch at jazz.org/ee .
Chapman likes the band's chances, but during a recent telephone interview with The Tribune, he remained cautiously optimistic.
"A musical performance is not like a horse race with a camera at the finish line to tell you who won," he said. "It's so subjective as to what people's tastes are. Just to be a finalist is a great honor for the state and an incredible experience. At the end of day, this group has won so many awards, the fun isn't actually the winning but playing music at a really high, high level."
The Crescent Super Band is the premier youth band put together by Chapman and Soundhouse, the musician training program he founded in 1998. About 250 student musicians from Utah and the surrounding region are involved in Chapman's youth bands. The groups run the gamut of musical styles from salsa and Motown to soul, swing and American songbook.
Over the past decade, the bands have received nearly three dozen DownBeat Student Music Awards and have shared the stage with Grammy winners such as Gordon Goodwin, Poncho Sanchez, Randy Brecker, Esperanza Spalding, Dave Weckl, Ernie Watts and Dave Samuels. They also have performed or recorded, or both, with members of well-known bands including Maroon 5, Dave Matthews Band, Journey, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Tower of Power, the Rolling Stones, Neon Trees and the Saturday Night Live Band.
For the Essentially Ellington audition, the Crescent Super Band recorded "St. Louis Blues," "Rhapsody in Blue" and "Rockin' in Rhythm." Chapman and assistant director Dave Faires combed through dozens of Ellington's works, all the while keeping the strengths of their performers in mind.
"Our vocalist are always our strength, thanks to assistant director Jennifer Madsen — she's one of the finest vocal coaches in the country," said Chapman. "When the judges called to tell us we had been accepted into the competition, they said far and away it was because of our vocals."
The ability to improvise — the heart of jazz — also is a trademark skill of the Super Band, said Chapman. "We have some really strong improvisers who are just writing music as they play it. It's amazing."
The bands had the option to learn new songs for the New York competition, but the Crescent Super Band is sticking to the audition tape, said Chapman. "The kids have really fallen in love with these pieces and have an emotional attachment to them."