Jazz Band
Pinedale Jazz Band. Photo courtesy Craig Sheppard.
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Max Burns
Max Burns on trombone. Photo courtesy Craig Sheppard.
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Jazz Festival
Pinedale High School Jazz Band performs at the Greely Jazz Festival. Photo courtesy Craig Sheppard.
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Pinedale Jazz Band attends Greeley Jazz Festival
by Craig Sheppard
April 24, 2006
The Pinedale High School Jazz Band traveled to Greeley, Colorado last week to participate in the 36th annual UNC/Greeley Jazz Festival. This festival, put on by University of Northern Colorado and the City of Greeley, is the largest event of its kind in the nation. This festival brings together internationally recognized artists, award-winning clinicians, and over 250 college, high school, and middle school big bands, combos and jazz vocal groups. Each year over 7000 participants enjoy the concerts, performances and educational workshop sessions.
The band performed four tunes for their judges and received a I rating and a I- rating. They also received two IAJE solo awards with Conor Raney earning one on his tenor sax and Forrest Michnevich receiving one on his trumpet.
One of the band’s judges was Art Bouton. He is a woodwind specialist at the Lamont School of Music at Denver University. He is also very active performing professionally around the nation on his saxophone. The other adjudicator worked with the band and gave them a half-hour clinic on jazz performance. He was Vern Seilert who is an Assistant Professor of Jazz Studies at the University of Washington. He is an accomplished trumpet player and also jazz composer and arranger.
There are five different adjudication rooms at this festival with each venue featuring different groups at the same time. The room the Pinedale group played in had mainly large schools from Colorado that have more population in their high schools than in the entire town of Pinedale. There were groups from nine different states and even a group from Thailand in attendance this year.
The Pinedale band played well and represented their community in a fine manner. They were definitely one of the smallest schools at the festival (if not the smallest), but they did not play or act that way.
Students performing in Pinedale Jazz Band I at this festival were Kendall Brunette, May Rose Huntley, Joe Pearce, Conor Raney, Kristin Corwin, Jeff Biffle, Andy Waxe, Joe Steege, Meredith Noble, Ken Walker, Max Burns, Colter Bennett, Shanna Corwin, Ashley Transtrum, Abe Pearce, Dylan Strike, Trevor Howard, Cody Higgins, TJ Knutson, Nate Stroud, Morgan Holz, Kathryn Konicek and Forrest Michnevich. They are under the direction of R. Craig Sheppard.
They will be performing at the Senior Lasagne Dinner May 4th in the school cafeteria. Come out and listen to this year’s jazz band perform for the last time this year.
Related Links:
Pinedale High School Sublette County School District #1
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