When entering the Fine Arts center, classical music is what most hear. But venturing further into the building and opening one door reveals a whole new community. Tucked away in one room, the Jazz Orchestra, run by Mr. David Lown, has won numerous awards over the past few years.
Now, they have the opportunity to prove themselves as one of the best bands in the world.
On Jan. 14, the Carroll Jazz Orchestra was selected along with 29 other high school jazz bands from all over the world to compete in the international Essentially Ellington jazz festival and competition. The competition is taking place on May 7-11, the festival’s 30th anniversary, and is located in New York City at the Lincoln Center. The five international bands that will be performing will not be competing against the U.S. bands. The winning band will receive $1,000 as well as a composition lesson led by renowned composer and musician Ted Nash.
“Through a blind screening process, they come up with, in this case, the 25 bands that make it in, but usually there’s only 15,” Lown said. “Once they decide, they announce the announcement. The cool thing about Essentially Ellington that makes it so great is that it’s not just a jazz competition; great musicians play and get great clinics and be in New York City.”
The Jazz Orchestra is mostly made up of juniors and seniors, all of which have been in the program for multiple years. They received their audition music, with at least one piece chosen from that year’s list of songs. Their two other pieces are chosen from Duke Ellington’s library. They finalized their music decisions in October and began recording.
“We recorded ‘Brasilliance’, ‘Symphony in Riffs’ and ‘Elegy’ for two Clarinets,” junior Satya Menon said. “The thing I’m looking forward to the most is being able to experience live performances from some of the best jazz bands, not only in the country, but internationally as well.”
In December of 2024, after working to perfect their recording, the jazz band achieved their three final recordings.
“Recording days were just doing a bunch of takes and listening back until we were happy,” junior Malak Almasry said. ”The most stressful part, in my opinion, was deciding which takes we wanted to send in once we got a couple of really good ones. In one of our recordings, we [woodwinds] had a lot of solo sections, which are always a challenge but a lot of fun when we take them down.”
Lown encourages his students to enjoy the opportunities that are presented to them because of their hard work over the years they have been in the Carroll Jazz program. Making Ellington is one of the biggest honors a jazz band can get; the program is the only chance where the best bands in the nation are able to compete against each other and interact with high-level musicians.
”The thing I’m trying to drive home is that we do not desire to win anything,” Lown said. “We want to go there and play with no fear.”
