Arts & Entertainment
Bands, Chorus Are Big Hit at Lynbrook H.S. Concert
Musicians play tunes for high school audience.
“An Evening of Jazz,” a showcase of Lynbrook High School’s jazz-influenced groups, including the Chamber Orchestra, the Jazz Band, Jazz Combo, and Show Choir, took place at Lynbrook High School’s John F. Branciforte Auditorium on Thursday.
The Chamber Orchestra, performing in its first jazz concert, started the show with George Gershwin’s “Prelude II.”
Chamber Orchestra Director Alyssa Panitch said that all of the students involved in the Chamber Orchestra are also members of the larger school orchestra, and this extracurricular group consists of some of the more advanced students.
“It made a lot of sense to involve [the Chamber Orchestra in the jazz concert],” Panitch said. “We’re always looking for more performance opportunities.”
Panitch said that the group is planning several performances around the village throughout the school year and she hopes that the group picks up speed after this concert.
The high school Show Choir, a jazz performance vocal group, performed arrangements of Bruce Springsteen’s “The Rising,” Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” and Ronnie Spector and Ellie Greenwich’s “Be My Baby.”
Susan Sussman, who teaches all vocal classes and is the director of the Show Choir, has been a teacher at the high school for 21 years, and is also an alumni. She said that the Show Choir has been around for 20 years, and that her career “has really come full circle” since she was a music student at the school.
Sussman said that this concert was the only one for the Show Choir, and the next step for the choruses, which include the Concert Choir and Mixed Chorus, will be to begin rehearsing for the spring concert.
Brian White, the director of the Jazz Band and Jazz Combo, has been the high school band director for three years. He said that the Jazz Band is an extracurricular activity that rehearses one evening a week and has been preparing for this concert since November.
“It has become something where the students have learned to embrace improvisation,” White said. “The setup is an authentic big band setup in the vein of Duke Ellington and Thad Jones.”
The band performed pieces by Count Basie and Eddie Durham, among others. In the middle of the Jazz Band’s set, the Jazz Combo, a group consisting of some of the top jazz musicians in the band, performed John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps,” one of the most difficult songs to solo over, according to White.
White, a professional jazz guitarist who joined the Jazz Combo during their performance, said he brings a unique element that many other band directors can’t bring to their bands. “I’m able to really teach them the art of improvisation in a way that most of [the students] have never done before,” he said.
In addition to the extensive experience in improvisation that the students receive, White said that the band plays music written exclusively for professional jazz bands, not just arrangements for high school groups. “What they’re doing in high school is playing professional level big band music,” he said. “We treat this like a gigging band.”
