RAL Jazz Band: Portland Jazz Festival

The RAL Jazz Band took second place in the University of Portland Jazz Festival on April 9^th, 2009.

At the UP Jazz Festival, the competition requires every band to play three pieces and sight-read a piece.

“I was really happy with how we played,” said Mr. Klander, RAL band teacher. “We made a huge amount of progress since the concert last month.”

In the playing portion of the festival, the RAL Jazz Band showed an outstanding performance. The selections played started with “Something for Ernie” by Fred Stride, with solos by Peter Spurgeon 11, Isaac Klander 12, Brent MacKenzie 9, and Alex Ahlgren 10.

 “Gentle Breeze”, by Jeff Taylor, featured Isaac Klander as the soloist. RAL played this song second.

The final selection, “Blue Bossa” by Kenny Dorham, included solos by Garrett Nelson 11, Aubrey Johnson 9, Taylor Sturdevant 12, MacKenzie, and Ahlgren.

“I thought we played our pieces really cleanly and played a solid performance,” said Mr. Klander. “I was really pleased.”

Next, the sight-reading part took place. Every group had to play an original piece written by the judge, Greg Yasinitsky, entitled “Preferred Blend”.

“We did not do a great job with the sight-reading piece,” said Mr. Klander. “It was in a style we were not familiar with, so we struggled.”

However, RAL received a score of 235, the highest score the band has gotten in ten years at this competition. This score also put the RAL Jazz Band in second place at the festival.

“I’m really happy with this year with the level of accomplishment,” said Mr. Klander. “We took first at the Christmas parade; we got a superior rating at the Wind Ensemble contest, and now this. People have worked hard this year and it shows.”