HHS Jazz Ensemble Performs at Essentially Ellington Festival

The Harrison High School Jazz Ensemble performed at the annual Essentially Ellington Regional Festival at Greenwich High School. Twelve high school jazz ensembles from the tri-state region performed jazz compilations and were adjudicated by professional musicians.

Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) created the Essentially Ellington program (EE) in 1995 to make Ellington’s music accessible to as many high school musicians as possible and to support the development of their schools’ music programs. These non-competitive, education-focused festivals were designed to offer high school jazz bands of all skill levels the opportunity to perform the music of Duke Ellington and other seminal big band composers and arrangers.

Additional accolades were given to senior Sakura Tateiwa as the Outstanding Reed Soloist for her flute solo on Ellington’s “Bourbon Street Jingling Jollies” and junior Noah Mattisun as the Outstanding Trumpet Soloist for his work on “Basically Blues” and “The Chicken”.