Pleasanton Student Talks About Experience At Grammy Week

Chris Palowitch, an Amador Valley junior and bass trombone player, was among 30 high-school musicians chosen to be part of the 2011 Grammy Jazz Ensembles, made up of students from all over the country.  

Read more about him .

Pleasanton Patch, asked Palowitch about his experience and what he will remember most about the events. 

What was your experience like during the Grammy events? What was the most memorable part of the week?

GRAMMY week was no doubt the best experience of my life so far. To have the chance to play with such high quality musicians under the direction of some of the best jazz educators in the country is a very rare experience.

Also, all the events that we performed at, from the GRAMMY Nominee Reception to the official GRAMMY after party,  were places where I never saw myself being a year ago. Probably the highlight of the week for me was the last Sunday of the trip; that day, we first attended the Pre-Telecast Awards, where I was able to see and meet many celebrities, and also watch many GRAMMYs awarded to artists I recognized, one of which included Herbie Hancock, who walked right past me on the way up to receive his award.

After the telecast, we made our way to the Staples Center for the GRAMMY Telecast; being able to see the most famous names in music perform was unreal. After the telecast, we performed at the after party. I think it’s pretty cool to say that I was part of the entertainment for the largest names in music.

Did you meet anyone exciting during the week?

While I was able to see many celebrities throughout the trip, unfortunately I was unable to meet the personally. However, I was able to meet all the members of the Hip-Hop/Rap group “The Roots”. The greatest part about me meeting them was that the drummer, “?uestlove” (yes, that’s spelled correctly), posted a picture of me on his Twitter after we met.

Some other celebrities I had a chance to see and get close to were Esperanza Spalding, Barry Manilow, John Legend, Randy Jackson, Barbara Streisand, Robert Deniro, Martin Scorsese, Roy Hanes, Bobby McFerrin, Patrick Carney, Kim Kardashian, Ryan Seacrest, Jennifer Hudson, Jordin Sparks, Sara Bareilles, and many others.

What will you take away from the experience?

Besides all of the amazing experiences playing with the band and attending the glamorous events, I really got an idea of where I want to head career wise. Since the beginning of high school, I’ve been getting more and more interested in the music industry: recording, engineering, production, event planning, etc.

The satisfaction of producing something, whether it be an album or a show, and having people genuinely enjoy it really appeals to me. Over the course of the week, I had chances to talk with members of the GRAMMY Foundation about how they got to their positions. Also, on one of our rehearsal days, eight representatives of the top music colleges in the country came to our hotel to give us information about their colleges, and gave me a good sense of what options I have.